Tips for finding your way through the sea of data

Visitors to SOM will learn how a company can keep track of all the available data and use it wisely. It's the dominant theme at this year's Swiss Online Marketing Fair: Big Data. The evaluation of large, complex data volumes promises unexpected insights. And it raises many questions: How can the data be generated? What is useful data? How can it be filtered out and read? What changes is the advertising market experiencing? Analysis and interpretation of the data should open the eyes of marketing managers: This is what makes the customer tick, this is how the individual behaves. Numerous aspects of Big Data will be in the spotlight at the 7th SOM.What do data experts have to say about the possibilities of Big Data in marketing? For Ivano Celia, Managing Director of Media Bros, it's clear: "By analyzing customer behavior and recognizing patterns, much more than just marketing trends can be identified. Marketers can identify the effective needs of customer groups, allowing marketing spend to be more economical and targeted." Big Data allows marketing measures to be made more measurable. In addition, advertising can be managed much more dynamically and economically: "This also benefits the customer. Advertising is tailored to interests. This is a development that I advise TV marketers to watch closely, because Big Data will overtake TV advertising and change it permanently."Tailored offersTwo keynotes at SOM will address the topic of Big Data and how marketers can use existing digital data to make tailored offers to customers. With Caroline Taylor, Head of Marketing at IBM Europe, the trade fair organizers were able to win over an exciting personality for one of four keynote speeches. She says: "Through the accurate analysis and interpretation of data, marketers gain a better understanding of their customers as individuals." In her keynote, she will explore trends in data-driven marketing and how marketers can use Big Data to adapt their marketing mix to more fully meet customers' needs. Her presentation will take place in English on Wednesday, April 15, from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m. in Hall 2. The title is "Towards the Data-Driven Marketing Profession." On Twitter, by the way, you can follow Caroline Taylor at @green_goddess will follow.24 hours later, on April 16 at 4:15 p.m., Zuzanna Gierlinska will deliver her keynote address at the same venue. Oracle's EMEA director of Data Management Platforms says: "In today's digital world, consumers expect brands to respond faster and more relevantly than ever before when interacting with them. Using the data consumers leave behind in digital interactions, brands can now deliver on the promise of delivering the right message to the right audience at the right time." In her presentation, she will show how companies can capitalize on the data they have by combining it with data sets from partners or other vendors - and drive their marketing efforts in this way.Programmatic marketingDespite the current bright spotlight, big data has been around for ten years, and programmatic marketing for about four years. "In Switzerland and German-speaking Europe, people have the feeling that big data is new, but that's not the case," says Ivano Celia, "instead, everything that's finally starting to roll out in Switzerland is very mature." And it's important to know that "Programmatic marketing works better and better over a longer campaign duration because more and more profile data is available." To ask right back: "What do you think, will this customer continue to rely on programmatic marketing? "In inbound marketing, it's mainly aspects like marketing automation, lead management and smart content that lead to better results thanks to Big Data, says Celia. The key is to understand where the prospect is, what they are looking for, how you can help them as a company and what they need to buy. The key performance indicators (KPI) in this regard are visits, visits to leads and leads to customer rate. In between, there are countless more finely defined KPIs.Reach into the big potBut it all still sounds very complex, and not just for marketing beginner. Here's an attempt to shed some light on the subject: Big Data is the basis for Programmatic Marketing, the big pot, so to speak, in which algorithms search for the most economically potent user and advertising space for a marketing target. Bids are placed in real time on these users and on the placements, and the most cost-effective advertising contact is auctioned off. The pot is enriched with all conceivable information. Effective data from the campaign is combined with linked data from third-party providers. For example: browser, browser language, country and region, time, income or socio-demographics.A finding from such data, their evaluation and analysis could sound like this: Most deals come from users with their browser set in English, who surf from the canton of Bern, are between 40 and 55 years old and have an income of less than 100,000 francs - and they are mainly made in the evening as well as on weekends. The Programmatic System continuously enriches the knowledge with the elicited data and optimizes the advertising media in real time, placing them where the conversions generate the highest prices.Tips and tricksThe practical approach to the topic can also be made in numerous forums during the Swiss Online Marketing Fair. For example, Rolf Schmiedke, Senior Sales Executive at IBM Switzerland, will reveal many good tips to beginners without specialist knowledge (April 15, 10 a.m.). His presentation will focus on how companies can graphically display the data they have acquired and how to assess it correctly.Philipp Sorg, Data Mining Manager at Econda (April 15, 11:30 a.m.) will describe how personalization can be used to gain customer satisfaction and sales. His practical examples show which options are open to web store operators to provide visitors and customers with personal and individual offers when visiting the store and thus significantly increase sales. Prior knowledge is required for this presentation; the target audience is marketing managers and e-commerce managers.Consumer behavior is changingFollowing a panel discussion organized by IAB Switzerland on the state of Programmatic Buying in Switzerland (April 15, 11.30 a.m.), the presentation by Sandra Emme, Industry Head of Google Switzerland, will focus on how consumer behavior has changed in the digital world in recent years. She will show how consumer decision-making processes can be modeled. The presentation by Alexander Krull, DACH Head of Sales at Webtrekk, will also focus on Big Data (April 15, 3:15 p.m.). He will focus on the user and ask: How much is user data worth? And what changes will the data revolution bring? And at 4:45 p.m., mathematician Marcel Altherr, head of CAS at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, will share his insights. His talk will focus on the fine line between the opportunities offered by Big Data and the sensitive and risky handling of customer data.The other day, on April 16, at 9.20 a.m., Mirja Bettels, Senior Partner Manager at Etracker, will take on web analytics: What is the significance of KPIs and metrics in times of "Omni Channel", "Cross Device" and "Personalized Dynamic Content"? Do we need "data analytics" or "data intelligence tools"? She will be followed at 10 a.m. by Ewald Kristoffer, Chief Analytics Officer of Metapeople. He will use a customer journey to show how data mining can be used in practice to further enrich this journey.Author: Gregor Waser