The Basis of Future Marketing: Data Science & Analytics

Growth and profits are two prominent drivers behind any business. But both of them require time and effort. With the advent of technology, we have got new tools and concepts for better growth and profits. One of the widely used concepts in business' online strategy is Data Analytics. This article will look into all the particulars of Data Analytics and how you can use them for your business.

Data Analytics: Introduction

The word data analytics comes from two words 'data,' meaning the collected information and facts, and ‘analytics’ means the systematic analysis of something. So, Data analytics refers to the analysis of all the data to make ideal decisions. Whenever we have to make some important decision in our life, say choosing the right college, we first collect the data of different colleges. Then we analyze it to understand which one is ideal for us.

Data Analytics: Usage

Data analytics is used by businesses to analyze enormous amounts of information and formulate good policies. This data is mainly in the form of an extensive database on consumer preferences, transactions, web servers, and much more. Using the right tools, this data is then analyzed to formulate efficient business decisions.

Benefits of Data analytics

Data Analytics is beneficial for any business. The prominent benefits include:

• Efficient Decision Making When you analyze something and then make a decision, you are less likely to rely on guesswork.
  Using data analytics, businesses can understand the market trends and gaps. This helps them to make efficient decisions and policies for marketing, consumer satisfaction and better productivity.
• Better Customer Services Another benefit of data analytics is that you can deliver better services to your customers. Since Data analytics reveals the performance and lacunas of your product, you can try different policies for formulating better results. This, in turn, helps you to build strong customer relations through interaction and recommendations.
• Streamlined Business Imagine two situations: one where you know what your customers need and another where you are guessing consumer preferences and then making products. Which one do you think will give better results? Obviously, the first one!
  This is because when you know about customer preferences through data analytics, you are more likely to streamline your business for the same. This will also save you time, money and efforts.
• Better Targeted Marketing Data Analytics are a proven way to boost your marketing. As Data analytics reveal the performance of your campaigns, you can easily optimize your marketing efforts. By knowing the target audience through data analytics, you can generate more leads for your business.

Methods to Efficiently Use Data

The understanding of data analytics will not bring results for your business until you know the crucial data analytics steps. So here are the vital tips that you need to follow for efficient use of data analytics:

• Assess The Business Problems And Goals The first key towards optimum usage of data analytics is to understand your business problems and goals. When you know what your business goals are and what it lacks in, you can choose the appropriate data analytic tools.
  Example: If your business goal is gaining more customers, then you have to analyze the consumer behavior and related parameters, but if your business has a good consumer base, but the mounting costs are a problem, then your data analytics would be different.
  So, first step in data analytics always remains the evaluation of business goals and problems.
• Collect the data Once you have understood your business goals and problems, the next step is to collect the related data. This data primarily consists of past information on business transactions, customer behavior, sales and costs, etc. So we can say that past data of your business is the stepping stone for your business future.
• Data Organization The next vital step is to organize your data and remove the unnecessary data from the collected data. For this step, your business goal would again come into the picture. You will organize and keep track of only that data that is vital to your business.
  Example: If you are in the ladies cloth-making business, you don't need data on men's clothing, and you will remove all the unnecessary and redundant data.
• Data Analysis and Exploration Once you have followed all the steps mentioned above, you are ready to go for data analysis and exploration. The tools that will aid you in proper data analytics are Business intelligence and digital visualization tools.
  What you expect from this analysis is always based on your goal. Some of the common questions that are looked for in data analysis are:
  • What are customers' preferences, and how can I use them for my business?
  • How much production would be optimum for the coming year?
  • What are the areas on which I can cut my costs?
  • How my business can earn more profits without increasing costs? Etc.
  Once you have found out the answers to your business-related questions through data analytics, use them to make better decisions.

Best Data Analytics Tools

Besides the right approach, we also need the right tools for data analytics. So here's a list of some popular data analytics tools that can aid even a beginner in efficient Data Analytics.

• R open source programming language: An efficient tool for statistical and numerical analysis
• Python: Used for data modeling and visualization
• Power BI: An effective tool that allows you to ask questions from data for better understanding.
• Tableau: A simple data visualization tool that aids in interactive visualization.
• ApacheSpark: A fantastic tool for analyzing sophisticated data through various algorithms.
• Qlik view: Interactive data analytic tool with in-built storage

Data analytics is a vital part of business management. Given its benefits, it has massive applicability in different sectors like retail, healthcare, Banking, manufacturing etc. But understanding the proper steps and right tools is crucial to gain beneficial insights from data analytics.