The balancing act between numbers (data) and creative efforts while marketing

If you want your business to succeed, you have to be a master of numbers as well as creative ideas. Whether you're a big-idea person or a number-cruncher, you need to be able to apply at least two to three skills of each to further your marketing goals. Data-driven marketing has its base in science whereas creative marketing involves art. Most marketers find it difficult to make the two meet. However, contrary to popular belief, data and creativity can go hand-in-hand.

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A good campaign involves numbers as well as creative efforts. Here's how marketers can strike a balance between the two.

Create data sharing opportunities

Today, marketers have a better possibility to organically build data collection opportunities, as more and more creative communications are taking to the digital form. From mobile applications to online ad units, there are innumerable platforms where data sharing creates value and enhances the experience of consumers. The challenge is to conceive these opportunities to give the consumer what he values and to build them into experiences in organic ways. Both these goals are best fulfilled when opportunities are designed into interactions from the beginning. This is a place where collaboration between data scientists and their creative cohorts can be powerful and effective.

Predictive analytics

The growth of this strategic planning discipline has largely inspired great work by creative teams. If properly applied, predictive analytics has the potential to provide guidelines for creative teams based on data-fueled insights. Creative thinkers give importance to actionable insights which results in more exclusive and effective innovative decisions. At this point in the process, data scientists and their predictive models can inspire and inform creative teams to deliver the most interactive work they can produce.

Target creative achievement

Predictive models can serve as the base upon which targeted creative executions are conceived, drafted, developed and deployed. As marketing takes the form of one-on-one marketing, the ability to model each individual's expected response to offers, programs and messages can make developing targeted creative elements more effective and executing them more efficient. Data scientists can provide their creative co-workers with valuable insights into the different types of communications that will generate the desired results. Collaborations such as these not frame the content of the product, but also its form, including the optimal media channel for delivery. As marketing communications become more personalized, they will lead to more frequent interactions between creative people and their data science correspondents.

Striking a balance between creativity and numbers can open doors to new ideas that are more effective in producing business results. The real power lies where data science and creativity meet each other and work hand-in-hand.