Opinions: Data Strategy

Once upon a very brief period of time, ‘data marketing’ or ‘direct marketing’ was a specific, fairly niche area of marketing. It had to be called out as such because it was possible to be working in marketing that wasn’t data driven or wasn’t direct to the audience.

During that time, a role existed called Data Planner. The purpose of the role was to manage all aspects of data that related to a direct campaign, things like audience recommendations, managing list brokers and buying, campaign selections and mail merges, briefing analysts, sharing results.

Then the internet happened, and email happened, and later digital and social and omni channel happened, etc. And the role of the data planner naturally evolved for a little bit and became Data Strategist.

The role of the Data Strategist was to partner alongside the Brand or Comms Strategist, to bring audience thinking alongside brand ideas, to manage the movement of data from one channel to another, and to make recommendations on that holistic experience, making it more personalised, or capturing data, or testing messages, without becoming creepy or annoying.

And for some reason, that role seems to have disappeared as quickly as it came.

Now, Strategists are expected to manage all of that knowledge, despite the fact that the amount of knowledge has grown and grown, and become more complex.

I assume it is because the entire world has become digital, there is literally no escaping data. We’re all on social media (Yes, all of us. I hear people say, “I don’t use social media, only Reddit” or “I deleted my Facebook, so now I don’t look on my phone, I have to use my laptop”). We all have phones and computers and smart homes and notifications and reminders. We play our games online with strangers on the other side of the world. We have thousands of contacts in our address book. We read our emails and texts on holiday.

So it seems that the expectation is that because Strategists are immersed in this data driven world, as we all are, that the data aspect of the job is just baked in. Strategists should communicate directly with Analysts or Developers and they’ll all just know what each other are talking about.

But, I go to Sainsbury’s by my house every day, and that doesn’t mean I know how their inventory system works, or who manages their staff rotas, or when the crisps get re-stocked.

The idea that Strategists should just know data is so minimising of their jobs, and minimising of the role of Data Strategist.

And on top of that, the idea that they should know it well enough that they are driving the data agenda is, with no disrespect to the amazing Strategists that I know, quite honestly not viable and worse, commercially and legally dangerous.

Train your Strategists, for sure, but do not expect them to be the driving force. Data is too big, too complex, and too impactful when done wrong, to add to an overloaded work force.

If you are serious about ensuring that your marketing and your business are as effective, efficient, and data-driven as possible, bring back the role of the Data Strategist in 2024.