Are Marketers Set to Become Data Analysts?

The digital world is largely expanding. Today more than 5 billion people are using the Internet which is developing in a correspondence increase in the flux of data that is being generated. A lot of researchers highlighted the importance of big data and the challenges, abilities, and capabilities associated with collecting and analyzing such huge data sets to support a level of decision-making that is more precise and time-consuming than anything previously attempted. This article aims to shed light on this phenomenon from a marketing perspective. Contrary to what has often been assumed, the familiarity, usage, and benefits derived from data are not for scientists only. Marketers have always dealt with research to get data and today they are challenged more than ever through dealing with big data-driven decision-making. There is more and more of a need for marketers with knowledge of data because the insights derived from big data, the decisions made, and the actions taken make all the difference. Instead of data moving purposelessly around in the ether, marketers find value in this data that will help businesses take better actions. In this article we attempt to prove how combining big data with an integrated marketing strategy will have a substantial impact in areas related to customer engagement, customer retention, and loyalty and finally on optimizing marketing performance.