• by Lori Wright , October 8, 2014

Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, just your average scientists in “Breaking Bad,” were unique and genius marketers. Sure, they were selling to a slightly different type of customer than your average marketer, but the facts of any seller/customer relationship remain the same: the quality of the product, the consistency of the message, and the virality of word-of-mouth all lead to larger demand and bigger revenue windfalls. While the science of today’s marketing doesn’t take place in a high-school chemistry lab, it is closer than ever to being a carefully controlled experiment where technology and data are analogous to the Bunsen burner and beaker.

Marketers have always had to balance art and science but a number of outside influences means today’s marketer needs to strongly consider another factor: IT. A widely reported stat from Gartner predicts that by 2017, CMOs will spend more on IT than CIOs, a sign that the roles and responsibilities of both sides of the C-suite table are evolving.  

So what’s driving this change towards more IT spend and what’s a marketer to do to embody the genius of Walter White? 

The Renaissance Marketer
Marketing used to be about who’s the most creative person in the room — the person who could develop the most unique campaign to reach potential customers, and whose big idea was bold enough to break through the noise of the crowd. This concept still exists, but today it’s more about the ability to. Of course the best and boldest idea isn’t always the safest route; there wasn’t a day when Mr. White would come home without using his ever-present first aid kit. I’m certainly not suggesting that everyone should keep an empty bathtub or a dark basement close at-hand after a marketing pitch, but taking the road less traveled is a talent that exists only to those who take risks and think outside the box.

This talent is important today. However, the rise of digital and Big Data means that CMOs need to be marketing scientists who mine and cultivate data to help them better connect with customers. They need to know as much about how to use mass quantities of data as they do about how to be creative. And they need to do it quickly to maximize profits, the end goal of any marketer.

If they don’t, they’re at the mercy of the increasing number of businesses — many of whom are their competitors (i.e., Gustavo Fring) — who are leveraging Big Data to gain actionable insights into customers’ buying behaviors and tendencies, thereby giving them the ability to more intimately market to them.

Marketing Science in Action

Let me give an example of what I’m talking about: in the retail industry, prior to the rise of Big Data, a retail marketer knew very little about who came into the store and what that customer was likely to buy. Items that were most popular or in fashion were placed strategically around the front of the store and near the most-trafficked aisles. What happened from there was up to the floor sales rep to read the customer as best as s/he could.

Today, retail marketers know infinitely more about who’s in their store and their shopping preferences, and can act on those insights in real time. Walter White used his savviness in “Breaking Bad” but the real-life secrets are Big Data and streaming analytics. Retailers leveraging the value of Big Data are using tactics like loyalty programs to track the purchasing history of customers in their database. Let’s say Jane Smith has bought three pairs of sandals from her favorite store in the past month. As soon as she walks into that store, real-time streaming analytics (read: Fast Data) know she’s in there, know that she’s a big fan of their footwear, and can alert a sales associate to approach Jane and suggest the newest sandal. 

Big Data also allows these marketing scientists to quickly adapt to changes in the market. Customer purchasing patterns and market trends are shifting all the time — marketers know this better than anyone — and business systems need to be able to pick up those changes immediately or risk losing customers. Today, the fashion trend is ankle boots and ripped jeans. Tomorrow, it might be spats and slacks so brands must adapt to those changes as quickly as possible. In years past, marketers had to update their systems manually, which took time. But with dynamic Big Data software, systems can now be updated automatically and in real time.

The Marketing Scientist’s Formula: Big Data + Context + Action = Fast Data

What makes all of this possible is Fast Data – the idea of analyzing fast-moving transactions and understanding their context to help businesses make better decisions. It’s an extension of Big Data; Fast Data uses Big Data to take things a step further. It’s one thing to simply capture and analyze data coming into a marketer’s systems, but it’s another to actually do something with it, quickly, that boosts bottom lines by engaging with customers and drawing them into the purchasing funnel from start to finish.

If all of this sounds technical, it is. If all of this sounds like it should be the responsibility of the CIO, it was. Big Data is where marketing is headed and it’s why today’s CMO is no longer just a marketer. Gustavo Fring based his success on attention to detail and, more importantly, attention to the data. The job of a great marketer is to determine what data is valuable and what isn’t, and to use that to generate revenue. With more data about customers available than ever before, and with a staggering array of tools to help marketers capture, analyze and take action on that information, the marketing scientist may be the most important person at the table.