Data analyst or digital marketer? Who do you want on the team?

THE LOWDOWN ON DIGITAL MARKETING CONSULTANTS VS DATA ANALYSTS

Adding weekly grocery shops to virtual baskets, catching up on world news via social media or buying a new iPhone from an iPhone provider – it’s no surprise that reaching customers on digital platforms is a huge priority worldwide. Global digital ad spend is predicted to cross the $600 billion mark this year – and will continue to skyrocket.

As the world becomes increasingly digital and data-driven, businesses are turning to marketing data analysts and digital marketing consultants for the holy grail of campaign effectiveness – perfectly positioned to speak directly to their customers and deliver dream results.

But who exactly will help them hit the mark? Here, we examine the key differences between marketing data analysts and digital marketing consultants for campaign support, explore the many benefits of their collaboration, and uncover why that doesn’t always happen.

DIGITAL MARKETING VS DATA ANALYTICS?

While one’s digging deep in data for insights, the other is shouting out loud about what they’ve discovered. Here’s an overview of what you can expect from digital marketing and data analytics consultants:

THE LOWDOWN ON DIGITAL MARKETING CONSULTANTS

Digital marketing consultants specialise in developing marketing strategies using digital media. They’re pros at social media marketing, content marketing, customer experience, SEO and CRM, and they’re typically tasked with driving brand awareness, expanding customer engagement, and ultimately turning leads into happy customers. Often creative and strategic, they use data to inform strategies, optimise campaigns, and drive ROI.

THE LOWDOWN ON DATA ANALYTICS CONSULTANTS

Data analytics consultants, on the other hand, tend to be more technical and analytical, focusing on collecting, processing and interpreting data. But it’s not just numbers. They’ll use them to identify trends, create targeting segments, automate activity, monitor campaign effectiveness, and interpret performance metrics in a way that’s easier for the rest of the business to digest. Data analytics consultants are experts at digging up actionable insights that help businesses continually improve their customer strategies and show digital marketers where to cast the net.

KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO

While their purposes are both customer-centric (and there should be a lot of collaboration in an ideal world), the key differences between digital marketing consultants and data analytics consultants are:

WHY THEY'RE BETTER TOGETHER

Research shows that businesses using data-driven strategies drive five to eight times as much ROI as businesses that don’t – making data a powerful tool for nailing your customer strategy. When digital marketing consultants and data analysts collaborate, magic happens in the form of:

Continual campaign optimisation

Forget set-and-forget – data analysts track campaign performance in real time. Ongoing adjustments and optimisations are the norm, and things like A/B or multivariate testing are a breeze.

Informed decision-making

Insights from real customer data are worth their weight in gold, and data analysts are experts at uncovering them. Digital marketers can use the decoded data to better understand, communicate with and retain customers.

Predictive not reactive

Predictive analytics models help digital marketers understand trends and patterns and anticipate customer behaviour before it happens. This can get you well ahead of the game.

Highly targeted communications that convert

An in-depth understanding of your customer makes up a huge part of a winning marketing strategy. Data analysts assist with audience segmentation, making it easier for digital marketers to personalise and target campaigns to specific segments.

IMPROVED EFFICIENY, BETTER CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Data analysts and digital managers work together to expand their collective customer understanding. The result is seamless efficient omnichannel marketing and enhanced customer experience.

WHAT'S STOPPING THIS UNSTOPPABLE FORCE? 

While the use of data analytics in digital marketing is on the rise, nearly 90% of marketers still say that data is their company’s most under-utilised asset. Often, a gaping divide exists between the two roles due to a lack of understanding of how (or why) they should be working together. The individual teams get bogged down in business as usual, and sometimes, plain old hierarchy is to blame – with the heads of marketing and digital being two distinct job titles.

MARKET SMARTER - START WITH DATA

Digital marketing and data analytics really are a dynamic duo – when combined, you’ll get all the benefits of this powerful partnership. Starting with data gives you valuable insight into your customers, and your digital marketing strategy becomes clear. You’ll know where to find your audience, how to talk directly to them and minimise any wastage along the way.

Ready to leverage data to market smarter? Talk to the experts at Datamine today.

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