A Marketer’s Guide to Business Intelligence

Some of the buzziest words in marketing today are “business intelligence.” But what does it mean? How will it affect your work? And what could it do for your business? Today we’re giving you a quick download of exactly what you, as a marketer, need to know about business intelligence.

What is business intelligence?

Business intelligence (BI) leverages software and services to transform data into actionable intelligence that informs an organization’s strategic and tactical business decisions.

Why implement business intelligence? 

Business intelligence tools have the capability to analyze vast amounts of information to provide key insights into overall patterns that impact your business. In marketing, you can use this information to make more effective marketing campaigns targeted at the right audience and gain a better understanding of which initiatives have the best ROI.

How could implementing business intelligence help you reach your marketing goals?

Business intelligence can help you identify your best customers.

Using business intelligence software, you can rank your customers based on the criteria that matter most to you. You may consider frequency or value of their purchases to determine exactly who your best customers are. Once you get clear on the criteria for your best customers, you can identify similar prospects and adjust your marketing accordingly.

Business intelligence can help you set better goals.

By leveraging the insights provided by business intelligence software, sales and marketing goals no longer have to be based on a gut-feeling or just based on last year’s performance. You can now create a sophisticated formula that takes into account considerations like changes in clients, seasonal demand, causal variables, product promotions, outliers, and more.

Business intelligence can help you measure the performance of your marketing programs.

Business intelligence tools can give you key insights to determine how your marketing initiatives are performing. If one area is underperforming, you can reallocate budget to another higher performing area. This helps you market smarter, not harder.

In short, business intelligence is a fantastic tool for marketers. By using business intelligence tools, you can make more informed decisions and increase the ROI of your marketing efforts.

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