Marketing Maturity In-Depth: Digital Alignment Stage

Businesses in the Digital Alignment phase have taken a significant step forward from the Legacy stage. While still focusing heavily on content, they have started incorporating data into their marketing strategies. At this stage, primary marketing capabilities include basic data collection, regular content distribution, and basic audience segmentation. In this article, we will do a deep dive into the challenges and our recommended next steps for businesses in this stage. Additionally, we will look at a small children's clothing company called "Tori's Tots" as an example to help us understand how these challenges and recommendations can impact businesses in the real world. Tori’s Tots is a small single-location business with an e-commerce site. They are beginning to leverage data but face several challenges that must be addressed to progress further.

Challenges

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Siloed Data

One of the most significant challenges for businesses in the Digital Alignment phase is siloed data. This means that data is often stored in separate systems or departments, making it difficult to get a unified view of the customer. Data points can be collected throughout a business network of tools. Whether a POS system or a marketing communication platform, important customer data points are collected but never put together to create a holistic picture of a customer’s behavior. 

Tori's Tots Example: Tori’s Tots collects customer data both in-store and online, but this information is stored in different databases. They have customer purchase history data through Shopify, which they use as their POS and e-commerce platform. Additionally, They use a marketing automation platform for marketing emails but that data is only stored on the Marketing Orchestration platform. The store manager has access to in-store purchase data, while the e-commerce manager handles online transactions. This separation creates a fragmented view of the customer, preventing Tori's Tots from understanding overall customer behavior and preferences.

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Manual Data Imports and Exports

Another challenge is the reliance on manual processes for data imports and exports. These tasks are time-consuming, error-prone, and hinder the ability to make timely marketing decisions. 

Tori's Tots Example: The marketing team at Tori's Tots spends hours each week manually exporting data from their e-commerce platform and importing it into their email marketing tool. This process not only delays campaign launches but also increases the risk of errors, such as incorrect email addresses or duplicate entries. Because data is so isolated, the only way Tori’s Tots can analyze the data is through exports into a spreadsheet. They spend a lot of time trying to match up purchase data with marketing engagement data. They Are desperate to understand the performance of their marketing engagement tactics but it's a very time-consuming process to see this information next to their sales data.

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Audience Segmentation is Manual

In the Digital Alignment phase, audience segmentation is often performed manually, limiting the ability to create targeted and personalized marketing campaigns. Creating manual audience segments is incredibly time-consuming and often leads to less-than-accurate segments. It's unlikely that each segment is being updated frequently enough to remain accurate and the data points used in manual segments is typically very rudimentary (basic demographic information being the most common). 

Tori's Tots Example: To segment their audience, Tori's Tots relies on manual filtering of customer data based on simple criteria such as purchase history or location. This basic approach results in broad, generic segments that fail to deliver personalized experiences to customers, leading to lower engagement and conversion rates.

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Limited to No Reporting

Without robust reporting tools, businesses struggle to track the effectiveness of their marketing efforts, making it challenging to optimize campaigns and allocate resources effectively. This heavily relates to siloed data points. Not being able to connect all these vital pieces of information means understanding the attribution and ROI of marketing engagement is nearly impossible. 

Tori's Tots Example: Tori's Tots does not have a comprehensive reporting system to measure the success of their marketing campaigns. They can see basic metrics like open rates and click-through rates for their emails, but they lack deeper insights into customer behavior and campaign ROI. This lack of detailed reporting prevents them from making data-driven decisions to improve their marketing strategies. 

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Next Steps

Before we move on to our recommended steps for Tori’s Tots, let's recap where they’re at. All of their data is siloed, they’ve been running marketing campaigns but have no way to create impactful engagements due to manual audience segments, and when they do run marketing campaigns, they have no way of understanding its performance. These are incredibly common issues for many small businesses so if Tori’s Tots struggles resonate with you, there is no reason to worry. There are clear and straightforward next steps to solve these challenges and create a path to more effective marketing. 

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Invest in a Marketing Database

To overcome the challenge of siloed data, businesses should invest in a centralized marketing database. This database will integrate data from various sources, providing a unified view of the customer and enabling more effective data analysis and decision-making. Modern CDPs use APIs to integrate systems that don’t talk to each other. This means you can create a 360-degree view of your customers by pulling purchase data, demographics, and marketing engagement data into a single view. 

Tori's Tots Example: Tori's Tots decided to implement a Customer Data Platform (CDP) that consolidates data from both their physical store, e-commerce site, and marketing automation platform. The CDP allows them to track customer interactions across all touch points, providing a comprehensive view of each customer. With this information, Tori's Tots can create more personalized and targeted marketing campaigns, improving customer engagement and loyalty.

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Create Basic Customer Journeys

Understanding and mapping out basic customer journeys is crucial for creating personalized marketing experiences. By identifying key touch points and designing tailored interactions, businesses can enhance customer satisfaction and drive repeat purchases. This is often powered by a CDP, the ability to collect real-time data, and dynamically segment your audience means you can personalize their shopping experiences at a deeper level. These journeys increase customer retention, Average Order value, and order frequency. In fact, strong retention marketing strategies have proven to increase Average Order Value by over 60%. 

Tori's Tots Example: Tori's Tots starts by mapping out a simple customer journey for new online customers. When a customer makes their first purchase, they receive a welcome email with a discount code for their next purchase. A few days later, they receive a follow-up email showcasing new arrivals and personalized recommendations based on their previous purchase. This structured journey helps nurture new customers, encouraging repeat business and fostering brand loyalty. After just a few short months of implementing this strategy, Tori’s Tots have increased customer visits by 20%, customer churn has reduced by over 50% and the average order value has increased from $34.50 to $56.25 (that's a 63% increase in AOV). 

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Hire a Marketing Operations Professional to Manage the Data

To ensure efficient data management and utilization, businesses should consider hiring a marketing operations professional. This role focuses on managing marketing technology, data processes, and analytics, enabling the marketing team to focus on strategy and creativity. Automation is the future but there still needs to be an individual behind the scenes creating those automation rules and analyzing the data. 

Tori's Tots Example: Tori's Tots hires a marketing operations manager responsible for overseeing their new CDP, managing data imports and exports, and generating detailed reports on campaign performance. This professional also collaborates with the marketing team to develop and implement data-driven strategies, ensuring that Tori's Tots can make informed decisions and continuously improve their marketing efforts.

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Conclusion

Businesses in the Digital Alignment phase, like Tori's Tots, are beginning to harness the power of data to enhance their marketing strategies. However, they face significant challenges, including siloed data, manual processes, and limited reporting capabilities. By investing in a centralized marketing database, creating basic customer journeys, and hiring a marketing operations professional, these businesses can overcome these challenges and advance to the next stage of marketing maturity. Embracing these next steps will enable them to deliver more personalized and effective marketing campaigns, driving growth and success in an increasingly competitive market.

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