Despite a growing focus on analytics and big data within marketing, 59% of marketers believe that creativity is more important than data to their marketing campaigns. That’s according to new research from Episerver, a single platform to smartly manage digital content, commerce and marketing in the cloud.
The Episerver research, carried out at this year’s Technology for Marketing show, quizzed more than 100 marketing professionals on-the-spot about their views on data collection and whether marketing should still be considered a creative art form or a statistics-led science.
While 41% of those surveyed agreed that data is now more important than creativity, the majority believe that creative ideas still lie at the heart of a successful marketing campaign.
Commenting on the new research, Joey Moore, Director of Product at Peerius, an Episerver Company, said, “More than ever, successful marketing campaigns are being driven by data collection and an in-depth understanding of a customer’s wants and needs. Beneath this data, however, there must also be a fundamental element of creativity. Customer information is a vital vehicle for any marketing campaign, but without unique, interesting and attention-grabbing content, that data will never be used to its maximum effect.
ccording to Moore, the trick for retailers and brands is to develop a careful balance between creativity and data: “Marketers would be wise to focus their efforts on generating creative content, and then use the data available to them to personalise that content to provide uniquely tailored customer experiences.”
To find out more about how marketers can use personalised, data-driven content to improve their campaigns, download Episerver’s guide to Intelligent Personalisation.
Methodology
Episerver asked 107 professional marketers whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement “In marketing, data is now more important than creativity”. Marketers were surveyed on-stand at the Technology For Marketing event in September 2017.