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| Data Collection and Data Analysis |
Making the decision to outsource marketing responsibilities to an
external company can be a big decision for companies of all sizes and the
financial implications of doing so can certainly be a deciding factor. One
aspect that can be vital when choosing which route to take is having the
appropriate data to back up any budget requests. Establishing effective data
collection routes from inception to completion of a campaign can provide
marketers with comprehensive sets of data that can be used for the pre, during
and post analysis of field marketing campaigns, allowing for accurate
comparison of effectiveness which can be essential for securing a bigger budget
for the next marketing push.
When it comes to running an effective field marketing campaign,
companies really have two options. Unless a firm already has full time
employees with expertise in field marketing and data collection, it is highly
likely they will need to hire in short term staff in order to set up
appropriate in house systems from which to run and manage a field marketing
campaign. This approach can be seen to have both advantages and drawbacks.
While it does mean you can hand pick your team to be as in sync with a
company's objectives and ethos, it does mean that a firm has to put a huge
amount of time and effort into advertising, interviewing and allocating the
positions that become available throughout the course of the campaign. The
other option is to outsource to an outside field marketing firm that
specialises in running tailor made campaigns for external companies. By taking
this approach, businesses can benefit from having the field marketing firm take
care of the hiring process guaranteeing you get only people who have been
deemed suitable by experienced recruiters that maintain databases of candidates
and regularly advertise for new recruits (eg. cosineuk.com/join-us/).
Once a firm has established a team, be it in house or external, they can focus
on ensuring the data collection process runs smoothly from start to finish.
One aspect of data collection that is becoming more and more prolific
and important to marketing campaigns is web based analytic solutions. These are
not to be confused with simply straight web analytics but instead offer a far
richer array of data for marketers to interpret. This article does a fantastic job of underlining the key differences between the two
disciplines. Data generated through platforms such as Facebook, Foursquare and
Twitter can provide great insights as to how the public are responding to your
campaigns and strategies. Digital interaction with consumers through technology
such as mobile phone scannable QR codes can also be great for accessing the
effectiveness of field marketing campaigns that focus on increased brand
interaction.
Here's a short video that gives a brief insight to the use of Facebook's
inbuilt 'Insights' tool for data collection:
By amassing a diverse selection of datasets firms can arm themselves
with the necessary tools to compare the range of different field marketing
campaigns. Data gathered either in house or externally can enable budgets based
on efficacy of previous campaigns instead of speculation. This can be
absolutely essential for securing a bigger marketing budget as the relative
costs of campaigns are far more justifiable in the eyes of accountants if you
have the necessary figures to back it up.