Data, data, data… a word you hear so much these days you wonder if there is some kind of commission being paid to anyone who mentions it.
Well, as a business that uses the word a great deal, we can assure that there is not – although if someone was offering such a thing, we’d certainly be open to it!
That said there is a reason why people place so much emphasis on it and in today’s marketing environment its virtually essential to success.
Good quality data gives you the ability to reach the people most likely to use your product or service.
That said not all data is created equal and, in this blog, we’ll outline the three main buckets of data generally used to market online and the value of each.
First-Party:
Arguably the best kind of data. The kind you collect yourself and which arguably reflects your business the most accurately. First-party data is great because its yours and, if managed effectively, will provide a level of insight other forms cannot. Think CRM data, BI tools, transaction information and website analytics – all of which can be combined and analysed to give you the clearest view of who your customers are and how they engage with your business, enabling you to implement more effective marketing campaigns.
Second-Party:
Probably the least utilised of the three but potentially a very lucrative data pot to dip into. Second party data is essentially first party data but from another business. For example, businesses operating independently under the same parent company or a high-end clothing retailer partnering with a luxury car brand to share customer insights. These cross overs have the potential to help both parties to reach new customers.
The downside to second party data is that it is typically the hardest to come by with businesses wary (rightfully) about sharing information concerning customers and operations. It also represents the biggest potential privacy problem as any data collected that could be shared with another business would have the required permission from users and customers.
Third-Party:
The most abundant source of data and, by definition, the kind that is available to everyone. Third party encompasses things like social media audience data, large data sets that can be purchased from data aggregating companies and collected insights from publishers of content-based websites.
But this broad source of information doesn’t necessarily mean worse and if you can combine it with insights from the first two, third party data can offer considerable scale, allowing you to reach a wider pool of potential customers.
At Who Dares we work with our clients to establish how best to use all three of these data sources, helping establish ways to collect and use all three to make marketing campaigns more effective for both the user and business advertising.
For more information get in touch today.