The “D” in DMA took on a new meaning in 2016. On the eve of the professional group’s 100th anniversary in October, the Direct Marketing Association rebranded itself to become the Data & Marketing Association. This new naming convention reflects the fact that data-driven marketing is going to get bigger, better, and more integrated into consumers’ experiences in the coming years. Consumers crave spot-on experiences, and savvy marketers want to deliver! Data-driven marketing services represent a double-digit growth opportunity for service providers (print and agencies). The DMA reported the impressive growth and value that data-driven marketing brings to the U.S. economy—966,000 jobs and $202 billion in revenue—and confirmed that data is a catalyst for the economy and employment.

Technology-savvy, data-driven marketers want to get the right message in front of the right audience at the right time so they can drive the desired consumer behavior. It’s not about more data—it’s about better data that can drive business decisions. A couple of weeks ago, InfoTrends completed a Multi-Client study entitled Lead with Data: Follow with Print. The objectives of this study were to define the range of utilization sophistication among marketers’ data and examine how data is being used to drive better sales and marketing results. The research examined data sources, critical data processes (from auditing to mining and predictive modeling), and how data was being deployed in print and digital marketing campaigns. Over 250 marketing executives and 50 agency executives completed the survey, and these respondents highlighted the following areas of importance as we move forward into 2017:

While marketers want to take a data-driven approach with their customers, many are still focusing on data collection and lagging behind when it comes to making data actionable. A significant number of marketers still lack the internal experience—either at the functional or operational level—to be successful. More than 70% of the marketers that InfoTrends surveyed highlighted challenges related to quality data, disparate data sources, and inadequate skills/technology/expertise. Key areas where they needed to enhance capabilities included social media strategy development, mobile strategy development, optimizing purchasing behavior on ad exchanges and search engines, tracking direct mail campaigns, aggregating data from multiple sources, keeping data clean, and creating a personalized and relevant customer experience. There was also a willingness to outsource to partners with key expertise. For service providers, this means that there is an opportunity to add value to print. The key question is, how will you meet the data challenge?