For the past few years, people have been talking about big data. Surely you’ve heard of it, but do you take advantage of it for your small business?
Big data has left its mark on every industry imaginable, including healthcare, advertising, marketing, retail, telecommunications and insurance. My business uses big data to better understand who our customers are -- we want to know who is buying our products and what they use our products for. With this information, we can more successfully target consumers who might benefit from our products and can design and manufacture better products for our customers’ specific needs.
In 2017, companies can know more about their customers than ever before. All of the data companies compile from their online stores, purchase histories and more can be used to improve every aspect of how a company operates.
Big Data Is About Speed More Than Quantity
Big data is not all about having unlimited amounts of information -- it's more about receiving high-quality information in a timely manner that is specific to your business. Big data is also about knowing the right questions to ask for how to make your business better and how to have the ability to predict future trends. To be successful in this day and age, you have to be ahead of the game.
The more we know about our businesses, the better the decisions we can make for our businesses and the better the performances of our businesses will be. Without big data, it’s possible to know who buys what from your company, but you simply can’t understand why they buy what from you 100% of the time.
Now Is The Time To Start Using Big Data
Big data is the driving force behind machine learning technology. The healthcare and wellness industries use machine learning algorithms to reduce drug discovery times and improve medical imaging accuracy and procedures. Companies in advertising and marketing use big data for intelligent email marketing and content-aware video advertising.
Right now, here’s how you can use big data for your business:
Know your customers better. Big data can help you understand your customers’ preferences better and drive product improvements. You might think you know your customers and what they are thinking or doing, but big data will show you what your customers are really doing. Use big data to know who is buying your products, which can help you to determine who you should target moving forward. You can capture customers’ experiences and behavioral information from any type of device, including laptops, desktops, smartphones, tablets and more. There's practically no limit to how you can use big data to know your customers better.
Create better marketing campaigns. You can use big data to make better marketing decisions for your company. For example, if you keep track of performance data, then this information can help you guide your company’s content strategy. Also, you can use big data to predict what groups of people will respond to the different marketing strategies you put out for your business. Big data makes it possible for you to know exactly who’s buying from your business -- their ages, ethnicities, income brackets, locations, etc. You can also understand what impacts their buying decisions. Having all of this information and being able to analyze it properly allows you to send your target audience the right message that will get them to buy from you. Not only is big data vital to your marketing campaign -- it's also revolutionizing marketing as a whole.
Make sense of social media. Big data can be used to identify mentions of your business on social sites, including positive experiences and complaints, and analyze unstructured data to find valuable information that you can use to make smarter business decisions moving forward. Take advantage of every social media platform that makes sense for your business -- Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. Use these platforms to leverage positive customer experiences, and make sure to reply to customers who mention your company as much as you can. By knowing your customers better and understanding how they interact with different social media platforms (does your target audience even use Instagram?), you can find more effective ways to reach them and sell your product to them.
Embrace The Future Of Big Data
There are already many sources of information, and more seem to pop up every day. In the near future, we will see many businesses, including small- and medium-sized companies, moving their products, processes and other information to the cloud. We will also learn more about big data -- what we can do with it and how it will shape our respective industries.
The tools for big data have never been better than they are right now. The amounts of information you can gather about your customers -- and the ways you can analyze this information to drive growth and innovation for your company -- is remarkable. Now is the time to start using big data to transform your business into a more efficient and smarter operation. Stay ahead of the game and take advantage of big data now to drive sales and boost growth for your business.
