“Without data, you are just another person with an opinion”- W. Edwards Deming
The Big Data Scare
Big data is a set of a large amount of facts or statistics that can be broken down as per the requirement to yield useful results in order to study trends or patterns prevalent in the market.
While some see data as raw material, some are intimidated by its mere presence due to large quantities and complex characteristics. Nevertheless, data management and analysis are significant to the operational success of any marketing campaign. This is where big data analytics comes into the picture; the process helps to reveal trends so that market information can be understood through correlations and other analytical techniques.
It means using mathematical applications to convert unstructured data into useful business information that assists the management into taking worthwhile decisions.
How does big data analysis help in rural marketing?
The emphasis on collection and storage of data is heightened in the digital age due to the vast possibilities that come along with this compilation.
The same is applicable to rural marketing, data related to the target audience, market, and similar products are collected with the hope of getting insights into the current industry inclinations. The end usage of this data is to connect it to human behavior and make it expedient in rural marketing efforts.
Below are few areas where there is scope for improvement through usage of big data analytics techniques:-
– Campaign design and development
Big data analysis gives the marketer an understanding of the customer’s needs and preferences which helps them to give valuable inputs during the process of campaign design and development. It also acts as a pre-requisite for establishing marketing objectives, defining target audiences, channels of communication and content.
– Cost Reduction
Cost reduction can be a tricky area in rural marketing, to avoid expenses without compromising on the quality of the services. Big data analysis optimizes the operational processes and creates a controlled environment that helps in accomplishing the agency’s costing standards. Analysis of costs helps in studying every aspect of cost which is essential to mitigating them. It also prevents wastage and duplication of work as well as errors common to human functioning. All of which are responsible for reducing the overall cost of the campaign.
– Customer Engagement
The results from big data analytics give us insights into the customer’s preferences and needs, which assist in creating a campaign that, would attract such audiences. It also provides ammunition for content development as well as product promotion.
– Customer Satisfaction and retention
Not even a conversation can survive without the strong arms of logic and vision, the same way a table needs four legs to stand stable. For a rural marketing campaign, this support comes from knowledge about the target audience. Such information helps the marketer to know what the audience will be expecting which in turn develops brand identity. It is a well-known fact that a satisfied customer ought to stay loyal to the organization thereby improving their retention rate.
– More efficient decision-making
Decision making can often prove to be a very tedious and rather difficult at times. Analysis of such a large set of data can act as an aid to form a firm reasoning or logic behind the decisions. The support of such analysis gives the decision a stronger base and the same is seen in the results.
Data is a valuable resource and luckily, it is abundantly available. All marketers need to do is find an analysis technique which would get them what they need to improve the rural marketing campaign.
