When providing the data to support marketing, it's important to frame and validate its quality based on whether it meets "the six C’s." Is the data:
- Clean
- Complete
- Correct
- Comprehensive
- Chosen well
- Calculable
In our conversation with Christopher Penn, Co-Founder and Chief Data Scientist at TrustInsights.ai, we discuss questions many in the industry are asking today including:
- Why does the expectation for instant data hurt business stakeholders (for instance, marketers)?
- Which tools help data pass the criteria of the above six C’s?
- What are the top issues in data privacy we must address now and in the near future?
“It always comes down to what is the customer most comfortable with in their own workflow.” — Christopher Penn
Instant gratification
Marketing functions handle massive amounts of potentially game-changing data.
Stakeholders are always asking them about the ROI, but without a good grip on their data, your marketing team can’t provide immediate answers.
Unfortunately, they’re usually deficient in one or more of the six C’s. “Marketers are notorious for being bad at this,” Christopher admits.
Unlocking value
As the author of more than two dozen books about the marriage of analytics and marketing, Christopher is a self-described “data detective,” and a vastly entertaining keynote speaker and podcast host. He’s also a fifth-degree black belt in ninjutsu.
His team utilizes AI and machine learning to help companies get more action — and more revenue — from every scrap of available info.
“Marketing data itself is particularly weird, it's very heterogeneous, very disconnected,” Christopher points out. To get the real picture, you have to blend data with conceptual ideas and experiences.
“You're trying to be data-driven, but you don't have the right data, the right tools, or the right people and processes to make what you want to do come to life.” — Christopher Penn
The hierarchy of analytics
Descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, prescriptive, and proactive analytics are all available, but most martech leans heavily towards descriptive.
You can’t crawl into someone’s head to determine why they abandoned their online shopping cart for a diagnostic approach.
Data privacy is of paramount importance and only becomes more so as threat actors become more sophisticated. New privacy regulations can trip up marketers when it comes to how they treat their data.
Trust Insights offers its clients expert guidance, training, and education on analytics and data science that can have a drastic impact on increasing your profits.
Synthetic data
To ensure compliance, many companies can’t share or acquire customer data without the consent of the people involved.
Christopher’s organization is developing a solution that extracts valuable patterns from customer information without compromising security. This synthetic data lets you create “complex models with multiple embedded algorithms” and drill down to actionable insights much faster.
“From a trending perspective, one of the things that is of paramount importance for legal reasons is data privacy.” — Christopher Penn
Cybersecurity
When you’re dealing with huge datasets, there’s a lot of potential for misuse. But there are also many benefits for your customers.
It’s a gray area. You want to avoid bias at all costs, and ensure your company is a “good citizen,” according to Christopher. He provides his clients with the proper plumbing and governance to handle their marketing data responsibly.
Data can be weaponized and have a stunningly negative effect. Cybercriminals lack ethics and will do anything possible to access valuable data and wreak havoc.
A breach in your information security is a near certainty if you don’t have “really good robust internal governance,” he warns. It’s past time to conduct a thorough review of your data processes and find the weak spots.
Looking forward
The pandemic changed everything. Christopher believes that any data collected before April 2020 is practically useless.
Every industry has been impacted by supply chain issues and shortages, and the war in Ukraine is going to cause some real chaos as that country is a top exporter of platinum, a key component of computer chips.
“There’s no such thing as certainty right now,” he says, so it’s crucial to focus on real-time data and marketing strategies that can adapt to whatever craziness comes next.
It’s a new world. Data is part of the holistic ecosystem of your business. And artificial intelligence can help you harness it — don’t be afraid to use AI and machine learning principles to power up your marketing capabilities and drive revenue generation.
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Additional Resources
Read the Blog: Cloud Data Retention & Analysis: Unlocking the Power of Your Data
Watch the Webinar: Choosing an Analytical Cloud Data Platform: Trends, Strategies & Tech Considerations
Check out the Report: The Future of Data: A special Raconteur report published in The Times
