Exhaustive data in marketing is an essential element of success in the business arena. With accurate information, any team can simply develop a line of new products or adjust strategies for promotion with an easy heart and common sense. A lot of financial players often order research on only one market niche, for example, concerning a price policy of competitors or customer feedback about a particular item. But real victories promise a comprehensive study of external and internal factors, even indirectly affecting the establishment of links between the maker and a consumer through quality service.
Why Do You Need Marketing Information Management
First of all, the definition itself should be clarified. By marketing information management is usually meant the supervision of information flows in order to extract the maximum benefit for the company. Do not confuse this concept with typical examinations focused on getting answers to a specific question posed. They are of value for a particular project, but not for general tactics. According to Kotler’s approach for marketing information system, an ideal model should include 4 components:
- Internal reporting contains data on potential capabilities of the firm, its achievements and failures;
- External intelligence is conducted to better comprehend a target sector and outside forces;
- Project investigations stimulate new ideas and fresh approaches to production;
- The data support system collects and analyzes the sources received, allowing you to navigate faster in a specific subject block.
Experienced marketers have repeatedly stressed advantages of an established marketing information regime. It helps to improve your understanding of the business you are engaged in, stimulating the improvement of existing brands and creating innovative ones.
Ordinary studies are too limited and quickly lose own relevance, whereas such a tool let you track trends and anticipate their changes. That's why the information follows to collect comprehensively. By means of the mentioned method, it is possible to classify clients not only by their demographic data but by price policy, behavioral patterns or preferences. And social networks will facilitate the perception of their attitude to your company. The main thing is to simplify access to reports for use within an enterprise.
Of course, the presence of such a scheme involves risks. For example, you must ensure confidentiality and reliable storage of data so that excess materials do not leak into other channels. In the case, you produce goods subject to strict regulation of state laws, you have to make sure you are really offering a new commodity.
Information system data produce an effective exchange of views between marketing groups. This procedure aids generation of intentions for advertising campaigns and successful positioning of the firm among numerous opponents, which, in turn, will attract investment. The head will have a clear idea of the company's profitable and costly industries.
Improve Marketing Information Management: Tips from Adepts
The development of the indicated system is fraught with many difficulties, as well as any innovative technology. In addition to adequate domestic policy and coordination of efforts, it will not be superfluous to learn some management tools. For instance, the Smartsheet platform may alleviate an automation of work, permitting teams to quickly move from a schematic thought to an embodiment of the result. Such a program is perfect for monitoring initiatives, maintaining an organizational calendar, and planning events.
Such practices increase internal accountability, contribute to the concordance of actions between company departments, which saves time for interaction with representatives of authorities. It is significant to remember the smooth implementation of the platform for increasing the speed of reaction to market changes.
Common Pitfalls of Marketing Information Systems
It is hard to introduce an error-free component, and this system is no exception to the rules. Experts identify the next problem vectors are worth paying close attention to:
- Data risks. In the modern world of hackers and cyber-attacks, ensuring the preservation of personal information is a real issue for companies. There is always a great danger of unauthorized hacking. On the one hand, the more a person is revealed, the more the firm knows about him or her. On the other hand, such revelations may be announced without the user's consent and adversely affect his/her reputation. Therefore, it is worth thinking about balance, because a professional team will not be able to make a decision based on incomplete facts.
- Resource management. Prepare for the fact that the establishment of an integrated information regime will require a huge amount of material resources, time and experience. But good things are not installed fast. Internal elements may not have time to implement innovations either because of poor coordination of activities or because of the lack of innovation. Do not forget about speed. If the information block is too slow, you will lag significantly behind the competitors, thereby increasing a gap in profits. Or, you just have to react to shifts, not predict them.
- Additional factors. This system could affect ethical issues and legal queries. Thus, a company, actively using a mobile application, may monitor the location of a consumer, see the history of his/her acquisitions, or compare the behavior. Many customers can find such curiosity superfluous. Naturally, there are regulations that protect the consumers’ rights, and self-respecting firms observe them.
Thus, the correct marketing information management serves as a qualitative analytical tool for any serious business. It probes a competitive landscape, accelerates a sales cycle and expands a client base. Managing data, you may improve the service and strengthen an emotional connection with your buyer. This will strengthen your position in the markets, both in the present and in the future.