• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, October 29, 2019

Marketers are looking for new sources of data. Artificial intelligence will become the catalyst.

Some 62% of marketers predict that data from virtual assistants and vision tracking will become available in the next 10 years, according to recent research that suggests early adoption will position businesses to make the most of future opportunities.

LoopMe, in collaboration with research company Sapio, has released a report focused on the state of data-driven companies. The survey interviewed more than 400 marketers in the U.S. and U.K. on their current perceptions surrounding the use of data.

These marketers support financial, retail, fast-moving consumer goods, automotive and travel. The data also identifies the steps businesses have implemented to make the best use of data.

Artificial intelligence might provide a new source of data, but what's the point if only 33% of marketers believe in their ability to fully optimize advertising investments in real-time, with 36% admitting they are one or more years away from achieving this goal?

Ironically, only 37% of marketers fully understand the types of data that work best for different campaign objectives. One in three marketers say they need another year to reach this understanding. One third of marketers say they will be able to identify the best type of data according to their campaign objectives within two to five years.

The findings also suggest that 92% of their business is data-driven, while 47% still use cookies for advertising and 64% use financial data on their advertising campaigns. The data also found that 37% of marketers think they understand the most relevant types of data for each campaign objective, and 33% said they will have the ability to identify the best type of data for each campaign objective within two to five years.

Marketers use data in a variety of ways. About 64% use financial data with their advertising campaign. Location data comes in second at 63%, followed by behavioral data at 53%.

When asked which department manages and who should be responsible for the data, just 12% of the insights department laid claim, compared with 49% of marketers, despite 92% of marketers claiming to be data driven.

Many factors can affect an audience data profile, making it more difficult to determine user behavior over time. LoopMe’s research found that marketers, on average, consider mobile data to be reliable for 14 months. Some 15% believe they can rely on mobile data for up to two years, 29% say six months.

Data diversity, such as using sales data, creates possibilities. Some 71% of marketers believe they can plan impactful campaigns when they have access to these data insights, yet nearly 30% don’t regularly use sales data for marketing purposes.