What happens when marketing truly takes the driver's seat with data and insights? In this episode, we hear from Jenn Chase, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President at SAS, a company that operates with a data-first culture.

Translating Data into Meaningful Insights

Jenn explains what insights SAS focuses on from a marketing perspective and how that helps her team and other departments work together to drive results. She talks about the different types of surveys and brand studies that SAS conducts to collect data both internally and externally, plus the impact that has on working toward business goals.

For SAS, it’s clear that data is embedded in its culture, but for that data to be useful, it needs context. Jenn’s team makes an effort to translate that data into insights that matter for different departments, including sales and finance.

Jenn also shares some examples of clients SAS works with and how they have transformed how they use data to enhance the customer experience with personalization. In a cookie-less world, brands need to think outside the box when it comes to collecting data, but Jenn shares some top tips for companies to get started.

In This Episode:

• 1:30 - The vision that Jenn adopted when taking on her role at SAS
• 2:45 - The insights that SAS’s marketing team provides the rest of the company
• 5:42 - How Jenn encourages her team to drive value of marketing across the organization
• 7:44 - The art to connecting the dots across the organization on ROI
• 9:36 - How Jen builds strong relationships with other teams
• 11:43 - The importance of marketing, sales, and finance learning each other’s languages
• 13:48 - How SAS uses data to help clients better serve customers
• 16:08 - Jenn shares an example of a beauty retailer who transformed their data strategy
• 19:05 - Why we’ll see the evolution of commercial industries thanks to better data management
• 19:56 - How SAS is helping sports organizations with data
• 21:32 - Helping clients take a customer-driven approach with data
• 22:48 - How brands can get ahead in a cookie-less future
• 24:50 - Why brand personas are crucial
• 28:02 - Advice for organizations who are beginning to use data
• 31:19 - Why we need to democratize data
• 35:45 - How SAS strikes the balance between being data-driven and human-centric decision-making

Quotes:

“From a B2B perspective, we understand that we need to meet our buyer, not just as their work persona, but recognize that they live in a broader world, and you can reach them in a more personal way.”

“Start with the end in mind. What are the questions that you want to be able to answer about your customers that you can't today? Really paint a vision for what the end state could look like and how it can have business impact."

“It’s imperative we know not only the demographics but also the psychographics of those personas so that you understand what's motivating them and then making sure that that information is fed into a creative brief so that all of the content that you create downstream as part of an integrated campaign is based on what that persona wants.”

Resources:

• Connect with Jenn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennchase/
• SAS: https://www.sas.com/en_gb/home.html

Purchase the book at koganpage.com/datadrivenpersonalization (use code CCData20 for 20% off and free shipping in the UK and US) and sign up for more content at convinceandconvert.com.

Data is being used more and more to help businesses make the best decisions, in part thanks to the greater selection of tools available to capture it. But what if you struggle to access that first-party data? And what can you do with data once you do have it?

A Balanced Approach to Data-Driven Decisions

In this episode of Data-Driven Decisions, we sit down with Rand Fishkin, Co-Founder and CEO of SparkToro, an audience research tool that helps organizations understand their audiences better. Rand explains how SparkToro helps businesses learn about and target their audiences, and shares examples of users who have seen success with the platform.

We hear his thoughts on common mistakes marketing teams make, such as relying too much on Google and Meta ads, and why sometimes more unconventional marketing can achieve better results. Rand also shares his balanced take on the use of data to drive decision-making. While data can be a great guide, there are certain blind spots that the data can’t tell you about. Rand recommends a more balanced approach to data usage and supplementing data-driven insights with experimentation, intuition, and direct customer conversations to really get to know your customers.

In This Episode:

• 0:27 - How SparkToro works
• 3:11 - Why marketing is too focused on Google and Meta ads
• 4:20 - What companies typically underinvest in
• 6:57 - Examples of how clients use SparkToro
• 12:49 - The problem with focusing on channels and tactics rather than the audience
• 14:46 - How uncommon tactics are inexpensive (and sometimes more effective) compared to ads
• 16:31 - How a brand used Reddit in a unique way
• 19:15 - Zero click marketing tactics that help customers know, like, and trust you
• 20:45 - Are pre/post-purchase surveys misleading?
• 25:54 - Why Rand prefers to look at correlation not causation
• 27:05 - How Rand’s relationship with data evolved from Moz to SparkToro
• 29:17 - Why it’s harder to prove the value of tactics today
• 31:23 - The problem with attributing value to search engines
• 34:07 - Advice for organizations embarking on their data-driven journey
• 35:47 - Rand’s take on why data doesn’t tell the full story
• 39:18 - How to recognize what data can and can’t solve

Quotes:

“One of the big frustrations that I have is that marketing has gotten more and more Google and Facebook advertising shaped... SparkToro is trying to show you where your audience actually spends time.”

“I think it pays to be responsible in your recognition of what problems data can solve and what it can't solve. It's not always the case, in my opinion, that every culture needs to be more data-driven."

“I'm always shocked at how much I learn when I spend a bunch of time talking to customers or watching interviews.”

Resources:

• Connect with Rand on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randfishkin/
• SparkToro: https://sparktoro.com/

Purchase the book at koganpage.com/datadrivenpersonalization (use code CCData20 for 20% off and free shipping in the UK and US) and sign up for more content at convinceandconvert.com.

How did this non-marketing but data-driven leader become a Chief Marketing Officer? Shafqat Islam, the CMO of Optimizely, may have had an unconventional introduction to marketing, but he brought a wealth of insights on the power of data to his role. Hear how he’s leading Optimizely’s marketing team into building a culture of data and experimentation.

Let the Data Do the Talking

In this episode of Data-Driven Decisions, we dive deep into the world of marketing data, measurable targets, personalization, and customer-centric marketing.

Shafqat shares invaluable insights on how to approach personalization strategically, emphasizing the value of starting simple and scaling up gradually. He discusses the challenges of content creation for personalized experiences and offers practical advice on leveraging AI to find patterns in customer feedback from support tickets and sales calls.

We also explore the critical role of experimentation and testing when it comes to new marketing ideas, and why Optimizely considers experimentation part of its culture. Shafqat explains why it’s so important for marketers to have a rock-solid understanding of the typical customer journey and why this should be documented and measurable.

In This Episode:

• 0:37 - How Shafqat ended up in his role
• 2:36 - Why Shafqat wanted to build a more data-driven culture
• 4:58 - How this approach affects the marketing team
• 7:07 - The importance of experimenting with new ideas
• 8:28 - Optimizely’s approach to experimentation
• 12:33 - Why personalization is still a huge topic for marketers
• 15:22 - Finding a balanced and realistic idea of personalization
• 18:20 - How Optimizely helps its clients use their own data to make decisions
• 20:54 - Why all marketers need to map out the typical customer journey and document it
• 24:25 - How to ensure customers get the right resources
• 27:09 - How Shafqat researches and understands his customers
• 30:14 - The most important marketing metrics
• 31:56 - How Optimizely uses AI to find patterns in customer interactions

Quotes:

“Marketing is as much about the customer as it is about the prospect. In fact, in the business of our scale, it may be more customer than even prospect.”

“It's really, really important to document the customer journey and understand all the touchpoints and then come up collectively as a marketing organization, with what we want that ideal journey to be."

“Experimentation is much more than tools. To me, the idea is how do we create a culture of experimentation?”

Resources:

• Connect with Shafqat on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shafqat/
• Optimizely: https://www.optimizely.com/

Purchase the book at koganpage.com/datadrivenpersonalization (use code CCData20 for 20% off and free shipping in the UK and US) and sign up for more content at convinceandconvert.com.