Sadly, most marketers are failing the data test despite the fact that we now live in the age of data, where more data has been produced in the past few years than all the years in history combined up to this point. Marketing is one disciple really feeling the pressure to utilize all the new data driven capabilities, and yet a study of Fortune 1000 companies found the majority of marketers still rely on intuition while the few who use data often use it badly.
Below are some key areas to consider checking to see if your marketing team is passing or failing the data test:
A study by CEB of over 800 marketers at Fortune 1000 companies showed that marketers only use data for 11% of their customer related decisions while 89% came from intuition or past experience. That shocked me! Using data for decisions came at the end of their priorities. Today’s Pharma environment is completely different to what it was in the past. For example, we have more impact from payers than ever before, most primary care (and specialist) markets are highly genericized, the blockbuster model is dead, we have to think around services beyond the pill – what you bundle in terms of services with the pill can have a major impact on your results, and the patient has more influence than ever before on your results.
A test with 5 questions around basic statistics and math to marketers gave a disturbing result.
Only 6% got all 5 questions correct…and these were basic math questions. Some marketers are great at math, but many are not, and the danger is that the ones that are not great at it prefer not to bother with it. The fact is that you need to perform strong analyses and that means having strong math knowledge. However, you should not expect marketers to do it. Marketers should, nonetheless, know the pros and cons of different approaches, what works for different data and what to ask their data geeks or their vendor analytics companies.
Although most marketers do not use data enough, some go to the other extreme and get too distracted by it.
This same study found 11% could not get enough data; they consulted their dashboards daily and were always plugged into the data. They loved data. These guys had the potential to be great marketers, but the reality is that many of them received lower performance ratings from their managers than their peers.
These people focus on the goal (maximum revenue and market share) and examine high quality data and analytics to achieve those goals. They tend to be comfortable with uncertainty, can ask good strategic questions based on the data points that matter for the result of the goal, and they narrowly focus on their top goals and what it takes to achieve them. In addition, they have the ability to not get distracted by day-to-day blips in the datasets, and to stay focused on the business goals and the data that helps them achieve these. I can think of several of our clients that fit into this category well.
Conclusion
In summary, to pass the data test as a marketer, you need to ensure that you have the highest quality data you can afford, the best math approach you can afford, and then use the insights from these to guide your marketing decisions while firmly keeping your business goal of maximum revenue and profit firmly in your sights. You also need to be aware of common data interpretation errors, how to spot these and avoid incorporating them into your marketing plan. By doing this, you and your team will achieve your revenue and profit goals with your brands and become a high performing marketing team.
For more information on ensuring you and your team are getting the best data and the optimal analytics approach, please contact the author, Dr Andree Bates, at Eularis: www.eularis.com.
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To learn more about how Eularis can help you find the best solutions to the challenges faced by healthcare teams, please drop us a note or email the author at abates@eularis.com.