Which big data personality are you? [Infographic]

According to Google Trends, in 2011, when the hype of big data had just begun. In 2015, the hype still exists, but big data has evolved beyond the hype!

Companies are using big data to generate profits and receive insights about their consumers. Even companies in different industries, such as retail and manufacturing, are using big data to grow their revenue. Big data projects do have reported ROI and positive outcomes, especially in sales and marketing.

Big data is a big deal

Big data is growing at an exponential rate. At least 3 billion people are online, 247 billion emails are sent each day, and 8 zettabytes of data will be created in 2015. In fact, 90% of the world’s data was created just in the last two years. Big data is a big deal. If you do an exact google news search for the term, “Big Data,” you will come up with at least 8 million results! That’s not to mention the nearly 54 million results you will get from doing a regular google search.

Why big data is a big deal

Many people wonder, first of all, “How is big data even used (not to mention in marketing)?” Of course, the main uses of big data will vary from industry to industry; however, there are common reasons why companies use big data. According to KPMG, four of the top reasons include: to identify insights that would other have been missed, analyze with greater speed, gain more sophisticated/granular insights, and save costs due to improved efficiency.

The ROI of big data marketing campaigns

Marketers are increasingly under pressure to justify the effectiveness of their campaigns by proving ROI. In fact, 72% of CEOs report that marketers are asking for more funding but cannot explain what return this will have for the company. Big data gives value to companies in two major ways: savings and growth. According to an Experian report, the average company loses 12% of its revenue due to its own data being bad. This could mean the data is incomplete, wrong, or a duplicate record. When a marketer sends a direct mail campaign to a prospect list and 25% of the list is to wrong addresses, marketers are wasting marketing spend.

Research on the direct ROI of big data is still emerging, but there is ample research on the ROI of effective campaigns big data enables marketers to run. For instance, with a 360-degree view of a company’s customers and prospects, marketers can run email and direct mail campaigns with personalization and segmentation strategies.

According to ConversantMedia, personalized media programs such as email campaigns have 56% better response rates and lead to 55% increased sales. In addition, companies with access to their data can identify cross-sell and up-sell opportunities by sending targeted offers to customers who are frequent buyers and recently purchased a specific product.

Which big data personality are you?

As big data continues to trend, marketers and companies alike fall into at least three categories. There are data newbies who are still learning about the big data trend and its benefits, data groupies are on board the big data train and starting to experiment with its use cases, and data experts have the big data expertise to know what works and what doesn’t. Where do you fit in the big data world? This simple rubric should help you figure it out, and decide what next step will build upon your knowledge and help you towards increasing marketing ROI with big data.

Originally appeared on DataMentors.