Big Data In Advertising: How We’re Using It
Big Data is a nifty phrase to throw around in today’s world, but often most people have no clue what these words can do for them. They really don’t understand what Big Data is and how it can be used in their marketing strategy. They don’t realize that even small businesses can use Big Data in a very real way too! So, how does Big Data help you in your marketing? Let’s explore!
What is Big Data?
Before we go too far, let’s put some basic context around Big Data. This concept has been used for many years now, but many don’t understand it. Frankly, it makes sense because it presents endless possibilities so it can be hard to tie a neat little bow around the concept. Below is the dictionary’s definition of Big Data, and it does a good job of giving a broad understanding to the concept.
big da·ta
“extremely large data sets that may be analyzed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behavior and interactions.”
Yes, Big Data has so much more complexity than what is shown in this basic definition, but when you boil it all down, it’s simply making sense of the massive amount of data sets that’s available to us today. In the world of digital advertising, this can be extremely effective. In fact, we have an entire offering around it called Deterministix, which focuses on using multiple data sets together for better results.
Big Data in Advertising
In the past, the focus was always around individual data sets. We knew a lot of data around demographics, geography, buying propensity/patterns, etc., but they were all in their own sets of data. So, while we could combine the lists somewhat, it was a clumsy process that cost marketers more money than it was worth. However, today technology has improved so much that we can pull multiple data sets together to match the information to a specific person.
One of our favorite ways to do this matching is by taking IP address ID numbers and correlate them to demographic data and addresses. This can make print marketing so much more effective because we can essentially track actual Internet activity to a specific household. We can also further correlate the data to match up with specific mobile device ID numbers, which takes the data down not just to a household level, but to an individual user – as well as personas of users with similar attributes.
Big Data For Small Business
In the past, the power to combine datasets was much too costly and complex for small and mid-size businesses to harness. The larger companies of the world were able to manage these kinds of projects, but there wasn’t much opportunity for the rest of us. However, as technology evolves, this advertising capability is now available for anyone to use. There really is no excuse for a small business to guess when reviewing advertising filters in their campaigns.
Big Data has the power to make businesses of all sizes smarter with advertising, targeting just the people who are truly ready to purchase or interested in their offer. Data allows you to do that – always has – but now it’s making business owners even more savvy. As you consider your upcoming advertising campaigns, consider how you are using data to make the smartest decisions possible for your brand!