At a Glance

Nearly 90% of marketers consider data their organization’s most underutilized asset. Forty-nine percent feel significant pressure to increase the role of data in their marketing strategy. Getting started, though, is daunting. Said Differently takes a step-by-step, systematic approach to building true data-driven marketing organizations that demystifies next-generation strategies and allows companies to make meaningful changes, fast. The process begins with us drawing from our global network of 3,500 experts to assemble just-right teams. 

Insights:

→ A strategic and gradual approach to adopting data-led marketing strategies allows companies to identify ways to drive meaningful improvements without halting their marketing programs. 

→ Data-driven performance strategies can and should reflect brand ideals and deepen customer relationships while generating immediate results.

→ Companies must establish channels for seamless communication and data-sharing across departments, teams, and partner organizations to reap the most benefit from data-driven strategies.   

An agile approach to applying data-driven marketing strategies

We have seen how other consultancies approach developing data-driven digital marketing systems. The process is expensive, intimidating, and takes years to complete. Most companies can’t afford to wait that long. 

To enact change quickly, Said Differently developed a system for building data-driven marketing strategies inspired by agile software development processes. Our collaborative, flexible approach focuses on the clean delivery of individual parts of the processes, rather than the complete delivery of an entire organization or system. Our marketing and data experts begin by assessing where an organization is today. Then, we identify the best high-impact first step towards becoming more data-driven, such as agreeing upon a useful existing data signal to optimize against immediately. In tandem, we organize a data marketing wishlist - a backlog of tasks and goals. Then, we apply a scoring framework to prioritize tasks based on a number of criteria, including ease of execution and potential impact on the organization.

Our approach has allowed consumer brands and B2B enterprises to realize the benefits of data-driven strategies quickly, without negatively disrupting their organization. One example is our partnership with UScellular. When the telecom leader shared its goal of becoming more data-driven in its digital marketing, we curated a team of data scientists, analysts, and creatives with experience working in highly-regulated industries. This team proposed an organized approach to leveraging existing data signals to make smarter decisions. That way, UScellular wouldn’t have to wait for the completion of a perfect, omniscient data system to see key performance indicators (KPIs) improve. 

In one year, UScellular was able to reduce digital marketing costs by 30%, while increasing performance, content creation, and speed to market.

Dynamic creative optimization across markets and channels 

Dynamic creative optimization (DCO) is a display ad technology that optimizes ad creative in real time based on data to serve the most relevant ad possible to each user. Part of our work for UScellular was designing and building a dynamic creative optimization system based on agreed upon data signals and messaging needs. The system we built reduced time to market by 40% and increased user engagement by 10%. 

Our work also made AI-powered testing and hyper-local marketing a reality for the brand. One example is a digital campaign (display & paid social) we launched across nine states. The campaign relied on 600 digital assets to deploy localized messaging and used AI and machine learning to continually update creative based on new data insights. 

A bespoke approach to casting teams drives speed and results

For every project we take on, we draw from our global talent network of 3,500 experts to assemble a precise team. By casting the right people to execute each project component, we ensure work is done effectively, and as efficiently as possible. 

One example is a performance marketing success story that proved to be one of our client’s best-performing campaigns of 2022. For this initiative, we called on one of our award-winning creative talent partners to conceptualize the campaign. Then, we secured production partners who were able to create and launch all assets for 50% less than the estimated cost provided by other agencies. The campaign outpaced the acquisition target by 31% and drove 60% YoY growth, becoming one of the company’s new gold standards for data-driven marketing.

Decision-making founded in test planning and data & analytics

Obviously, performance marketing is not the only use case for data. Said Differently has supported enterprises, luxury retailers, and direct-to-consumer brands in harnessing data to improve decision-making across the organization. For every engagement, we use test planning to outline project objectives, strategies, timelines, and deliverables, whether we are designing and developing a commerce app based on new consumer insights, or restructuring a brand’s call centers to improve customer service. When a leading direct-to-consumer brand called on us to map its customer journey, find ways to increase customer acquisition and customer loyalty, and redesign its app and landing pages accordingly, we mapped every single decision our teams made to brand objectives & key results (OKR). The process ensured we made data-led decisions that aligned with company strategies.

Along the way, we coached the brand on how it could leverage data to improve processes and results. Additionally, we encouraged the client to democratize data and share information between systems, departments, and partner agencies. This can set off a cultural shift with far-reaching benefits for the organization. We are currently partnering with an enterprise company’s marketing team to build processes and technology for sharing insights across departments, so product teams can benefit from marketing findings.    

In sum: data-driven marketing, demystified 

When companies let us under the hood of their marketing programs, we always remember an important rule of camping: leave the campsite better than you found it. 

Our meticulous and transparent approach to discovering opportunities to activate data results in immediate improvements for our clients, as well as foundational changes that pave the way for organizational transformation. Systems are better than they were before, and designed to grow and change with the organization.