Marketers feel underqualified to handle the challenges presented by the rise of “big data”, with 70 per cent admitting they don’t have the necessary skills, according to a GfK and Guardian Media Network report.
The report, which polled the views of 1,011 UK consumers and 157 marketers on the use of data between July and September this year, revealed the majority (86 per cent) of marketers believe “big data” is changing marketing, with over half of respondents classing it as “very important”, and 62 per cent saying their job has already changed as a result of it.
The overall sentiment from marketing respondents was that mining data sets is vital to improving cut-through to their target audiences via relevant, personalised campaigns, rather than “just relying on mass techniques and the old TV advertising standby”, according to the report.
Yet only 30 per cent consider marketers to be well-qualified to manage the challenges of big data. One respondent said: “How many marketers currently even know what an algorithm is – let alone how it can determine product development, placement, price etc?”
Meanwhile, although consumers are aware their activity is tracked by companies and that their data is used for targeting them with offers, almost half admitted they don’t know what actual data is being collected.
