The great benefit of digital technology is not in the tools and buzzwords, but in the ability to bring factors such as beliefs and behavior patterns together and so they are more than the sum of their parts, “taking these disparate things and bringing them together to create better experiences,” said Marcus Collins.
Marketers are seeking to create experiences in order to connect emotionally with consumers and build loyalty for their business, but in spite of having more data than ever before, their ability to get the necessary insights from it is not keeping pace, said Collins, SVP of social engagement at Doner Advertising.
“I haven’t heard very many CMOs saying ‘my marketing is killing it because of all this data.’ It leads to this idea that we have all this information about people, yet we don’t really know people,” Collins told Velocitize Talks. “We confuse information for intimacy.”
Marketers have been relying on a “blunt instrument” of demographics to analyze consumers. “I keep remixing the same song: We have to understand people. Until we get there, the marketing will be random,” said Collins.
Tomorrow’s marketers will have to be students of behavior. “They’re already thinking about how people are wired … but most importantly, they’re empathetic,” said Collins.
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