In the recent years, we have seen a shift from using fixed, structured data to big data, which tends to be dynamic and really complex. It is also called big for a reason. The amount of data generated today is almost unbelievable. While it may seem like a lot of this data is trivial, it is not so. Big data analytics are regularly used by large companies to understand the world they work in, predict business outcomes and engage in expert business analytics. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) also can make use of the big data in a similar manner.
Both small and medium companies are beginning to understand the importance of Big Data analytics
A research shows that medium-sized companies have more Big Data deployments than larger companies. Smaller companies are actively involved in using Big Data too, according to a research published by Dell. This leaves us with, what companies are doing with big data to achieve competitive results and reach markets that they didn’t know existed. No company can easily say that they know what they want to the market and what is expected from the market and leave it at that. Even smaller companies cannot afford to do this anymore.
Big data helps companies to get the larger picture and often analytics help to predict in which direction the business might go well in advance. This kind of useful information and analytics can help a fledgling small company grow larger in size and stature. The common knowledge now is, if a company is using machine-generated data, customer attitudes and market behavior for their business, they should be using Big Data, according to an article published by Enterprise Apps Today.
How is the data used?
There are many difficulties in understanding how big data can be used. Most CEOs often wonder who is going to use the big Data, how much of it is useful for their companies and who in the company will actually be able to make sense of the analytics that the software programs will churn out. All the data that a company generates, even the ones in QuickBooks can be used to predict business trends.
According to an important study published by the Stanford University, the cloud is making Big Data even more accessible to smaller companies. In fact, cloud-based Big Data analytics will be the future of smaller and medium-sized companies, according to the report. This democratization will help companies to access market data that weren’t easily available.
Thankfully, to cut a long story short, big data analytics can be purchased through consultants, without smaller companies having to invest in either the software or the cloud infrastructure, thanks to Software as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service and Platform as a Service (SaaS, Iaas and PaaS). Most importantly, Big Data Analytics can help companies to tap into new markets that they didn’t know existed.
In this article, let us take a look at how this happens:
1. Helps you to break down the market
Small and medium-sized enterprises often do not have access to data that helps them to break down markets according to demographics and psychographics. Demographics provide details about socioeconomic status, ethnics, age and other such markers. Psychographics provide information about a target audience’s behavior. This kind of data helps marketing professionals to understand what makes people buy and what can make them motivated enough to make a purchase. SMEs desperately need this kind of data so that they can create branding campaigns that are better suited for the newer market. Analytics provide that data which is required by these marketing professionals.
2. Big Data helps in understanding future trends
A new market poses not only opportunities but also challenges and threats. A sensible marketing department will try to predict possible threats and risks in a new market before coming up with a marketing strategy. This is quite understandable as once we know what to expect, it is easier to face the threat. Big Data analytics help SMEs with the kind of information they need to predict future trends. This is one of the reasons why more companies are investing in big data analysis software. This helps them to not only predict future but also understand various quirks of a new market.
3. Big Data helps you to understand the data which you create
Big data is not all about the large amounts of data which is churned out by companies all over the world. Data analytics software programs help you to number crunch your own data. Most companies create large amounts of data every day and all this data can be processed to understand various scenarios. The more data that is created is analyzed, the clearer will be the picture you probably will have. For this, it is necessary to start using big data analytics. Interestingly, smaller companies are more aware of the data they create than larger ones, according to one research paper.
4. Big Data helps you choose an enterprise strategy
One of the biggest troubles with traditional market research is assessing who is going to market which product or service on which platform. While platforms are many, one still needs to understand the core audience and the kind of platforms they use. For this, analytics will provide valuable insight which you probably would not have found otherwise. Moreover, this kind of data analytics was previously only available to larger companies who could invest in their own servers. However, with the explosion of cloud-based services, data analytics are coming the way of SMEs too. In other words, it helps you to choose an enterprise strategy with respect to marketing in new waters.
5. Localize branding strategies
One of the biggest problems that smaller players encounter is, they do not understand the local market. The same marketing strategies that worked in a previous market will not work in a new one. They will need to re-brand and re-work their entire strategy. This requires expensive analytics and data-crunching. Only cloud-based data analytics can help companies to gain the kind of analytics they probably will want. This helps them to create marketing campaigns that are targeted at a local audience. Thanks to the proliferation of GPS-enabled apps, this kind of information is crucial and very important. At the end of the day, if a marketing department can communicate effectively in a way that resonates with the local audience, they will have inched way ahead of their competitors.
6. Avoid mistakes others brands committed
Most companies commit mistakes for souvenirs. They repeatedly make the same mistakes that others have done. The same marketing and branding failures are repeated all over again in a different market or sometimes even in the same market. To avoid this, one can use big data to provide answers that previously weren’t accessible to everyone unless they purchased certain expensive infrastructure. With the democratization of big data analytics thanks to cloud technology, it is easier to know what mistakes others have committed and to avoid the same mistakes being committed all over again. After all, it is important to avoid mistakes that have been made by others.
7. Tap into market demands that aren’t yet fully satisfied
One of the most important goals of any business is to meet unmet needs and demands in a market. Most of the times, every market has an unmet need or a tendency to open channels for creating needs weren’t actually needs previously. In other words, small and medium sized businesses can tap into markets that were previously unknown. This helps to build a larger target audience and branch out to areas that could prove to be more profitable than existing ones. Indeed, it is becoming clear why analytics and business intelligence are important to trudge ahead.
Big data analytics holds promise for SMEs
We live in a globalized world where it is not easy to understand different cultures, languages and even behaviors. In a world that is as diverse as ours, it is important to rely on analytics that breaks down the various data sets to analyses that can be understood. By understanding and even appreciating cultural differences, we can move ahead and build better marketing strategies which will eventually help us to tap into these newer markets.
Most companies do not succeed in new markets because they simply do not understand what is required to succeed in that particular market. If one can understand the differences and extend these analytics to marketing strategies as well, it will help them to create better campaigns.
Most importantly, the very same data sets help companies to nurture their leads and customers. Thus, they will build valuable relationships with their new customers which couldn’t have been possible without a deeper understanding of the particular market. Whether it is the purchasing power or the market preferences, everything can be reduced to data and analyzed in a way that will help you arrive at better marketing strategies.
