“You can have data without information, but you can’t have information without data.”
– Daniel Keys Moran

Even if you personally don’t have much to do with data, the world seems to revolve around it. Businesses are controlled by data that needs to be monitored, analysed and clean to drive success. 

Yes – it’s true, information is power, and you can’t have information without facts.

Nowadays, marketers are mostly following the Inbound methodology, which focuses on customers and caters to them accurately. For this to work, they need as much information on their audience as possible.

Suppose you understand that – then subscriptions and cookies are not a surprise to you. You need to provide your email and possibly other details almost every time you use a new website. It is asked whenever you attempt to download resources, try to watch educational video tutorials, or access additional content – the list goes on.  

Data is used to get statistics and measure your success in your marketing efforts.

Let’s get the basics right – firstly, let’s define data.

Data is the name given to a collection of basic facts and figures such as names and numbers. Primary examples of data are clients names, addresses, zip codes, phone numbers, or prices, costs, numbers of items sold, product names, registration marks etc. 

Data is “the raw material of the information age.” A database is a structured set of data held in a computer, imagine an Excel spreadsheet with endless rows and columns of numbers and details.

Data is just a part of a solution to a problem; by itself, it is meaningless. Its job is to get statistics and measure your success in your marketing efforts. For this to be possible, the data needs to be analysed.

Data versus statistics – what is data analysis?

While these terms; ‘data’ and ‘statistics’ are often used together, there is an essential difference between them that we should clarify.  

To sum it up – data is individual pieces of factual information recorded and used for analysis. Without analysing the raw information is often useless on its own.

Statistics are the outcome of data analysis – its interpretation and presentation. In other words, some calculations and processes have taken place that provides an understanding of what this data means. Majority of statistics present in the form of a table, chart, or graph, because it is eye-catching and displays the information logically.

We use both statistics and data in a variety of different industries – from hospitals to governments to schools to fashion brands, sports teams and marketers.

Statistics are often reported by government agencies – for example, unemployment statistics or educational literacy statistics. Usually, we refer to these types of statistics as ‘statistical data’.

How to use data analysis for success?

Here is an interesting fact – all the data oriented companies are growing faster!

Good customer experience comes from perfecting the customer journey. This is done by measuring and analysing the customer feedback regularly and making the required adjustments based on that information. This, in return, can enhance a business and in the long run – improve the profits.

Continuous improvement is possible only by analysing data.

Even political speeches can be created by reading the people’s mindset through social media comments and considering their likes and interests – which is also data.

You can collect data on almost everything.

Importance of Analysing and Cleaning your data. 

By translating and analysing data, it becomes relevant – in other words, computed into statistics.

Every business is generating lots of data within its systems and software. However, without a way to understand this information, it is useless. 

“Information is the oil of the 21st century, and analytics is the combustion engine.”

Data can also be incorrect, or out of date, or focusing on the wrong information to be useful for reaching your goal.

Data is almost always wrong to some extent, so you need to figure out to what percentage and degree and try to keep it to a minimum.

There are amazing tools and ways to analyse, update and clean your data.

MMR has come up with an excellent solution for cleaning and updating your database in an EDM campaign. Check out how it works on datacleanse.com.au.

Data discovery and analytics are methods and techniques to understand how a business is performing. They take the data and prepare it, and analyse it to find the causes of problems, forecast results and improve strategies. In the case of research, data can reveal patterns, trends and other crucial facts. Data can drive success for your business.

Above is just a quick summary, and there is a lot more you can talk about regarding data.