We’ve talked a lot on this show about how today’s marketers are consumed by data. After all, it’s how you get a better picture of who your customer is and how you get a clearer understanding of what’s working and what isn’t across your channels. But the real question is how are you turning all of that data and all of those insights into action that has a measurable effect?

“Data isn't this thing that you look at every now and then, it's just something that becomes part of your everyday workflow.”

Those are the words of Jay Wilder, Vice President of Product Marketing for Marketing Cloud at Salesforce, and on this episode of Marketing Trends, Jay dives into some of the ways that he has seen marketers optimizing data recently. He also gives an insider’s look at the latest Marketing Intelligence report, which analyzes the trends that are driving performance in 2021. Jay touches on everything from how the rapid shift to digital impacted customers’ expectations of companies and their behaviors, to how this digital-first world has led to an increasingly more complex marketing analytics landscape and he explains why the data we have now is not coming in fast enough.

Main Takeaways:

Marketing Analytics is Complex: On average, marketers today are using eight different channels, which can lead to 21 different marketing platforms. With so many different platforms collecting data at various locations, marketers are struggling to understand their overall performance.
Single Source of Truth: 60% of marketers say it is imperative for them to prioritize a single source of truth for customers. By having a single source of truth for all your data, it allows you to build a better view of who your customers are, allowing marketers to build more personalized experiences.
The Future of Data is Faster: The pace at which marketers are using data and analytics remains too slow. With data coming in at such a slow rate, by the time marketers receive monthly and quarterly reports, the information that they are looking at is no longer a complete picture of what is happening in the real-time market. Soon, marketers will be able to have a clear and distinct workflow of data coming in on a daily basis, which in return will lead to a better understanding of their customers.

---

Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing.

To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

---

This message is brought to you by Salesforce.

Hey marketers. Today’s B2B buyers are more complex than ever. And every buying committee has different needs and goals.

Salesforce can help.

We'll show you how to put each and every customer at the center of your B2B marketing strategy. And you'll learn how top brands like Lyft approach account-based marketing.

Salesforce. Market to every account. Speak to every buyer.

Find free B2B marketing and ABM resources at https://sfdc.co/every-buyer