DATA-DRIVEN MARKETING TRENDS 2024

In today’s digital landscape, utilizing data is more than just a competitive edge—it’s essential for marketers striving to stay ahead and adapt to their audience’s changing needs.” – Neil Patel, Digital Marketing Expert.

Data is the foundation of effective marketing. Every year, marketers increasingly focus on leveraging data to create personalized and targeted campaigns that connect with specific audience segments. A successful data-driven marketing strategy is crucial to outpacing the competition.

For years, Ascend2 has been a trusted resource for marketing professionals, providing insights into data-driven marketing trends to help them stay competitive. This year’s study delves into the influence of AI on data strategies, data sources, technology trends, and more.

The Data-Driven Marketing 2024 Survey was conducted by Ascend2 and our Research Partners during the week of June 23, 2024, with 319 marketing professionals participating.

Other data-focused reports in the Ascend2 research library include:

• Data-Driven Marketing 2023
• Outlook on Marketing Data Quality
• Using Data-Driven Marketing to Predict Future Performance
• And over 10 additional digital marketing topics! Explore more research!

This Survey Summary Report, “Data-Driven Marketing Trends in 2024,” reflects the views of all market segments that responded. Our research partners provide exclusive reports on specific segments separately.

This report, produced by Ascend2, is designed to be a practical tool for enhancing your marketing strategy. Use it to deepen your knowledge, clip the charts for quick reference, feature the findings in your blog, or share them on social media. We encourage you to share this research with proper credit to benefit others in the industry.

We hope this report inspires you to develop innovative and effective strategies as you explore the insights it provides.

Happy reading!

The Ascend2 Research Team

Success of Data-Driven Strategy

Nearly one-third (32%) of respondents rate their data-driven marketing strategy as very successful (best-in-class) in achieving their strategic marketing goals. Meanwhile, a majority of 63% consider their strategy to be somewhat successful. This indicates that while many organizations understand the advantages of data-driven marketing, there remains ample opportunity for improvement and optimization to elevate their strategies from somewhat successful to best-in-class.

DATA-DRIVEN MARKETING EFFECTIVENESS

The data shows that email marketing (47%) and customer experience/journey mapping (46%) remain the top areas where data-driven marketing proves most effective. These trends have held steady for the past three years, underscoring the crucial role of personalized and targeted communication in achieving marketing success. Paid advertising (41%) and product/service development (38%) also demonstrate significant effectiveness, emphasizing the value of data in optimizing ad spending and tailoring offerings to meet customer demands.

The rising importance of data-driven marketing for paid advertising—from 29% in 2022 to 41% in 2024—indicates a growing reliance on data to optimize ad spending and enhance targeting accuracy. This trend reflects marketers’ increasing recognition of the benefits of leveraging data insights to boost the effectiveness and ROI of their advertising efforts.

Tip: To take advantage of this trend, businesses should invest in advanced analytics tools and platforms that provide real-time insights and allow for dynamic adjustments to advertising strategies. This enables quick adaptation to market changes and maximizes ad performance.

Greatest Challenges of Data-Driven Marketing

The 2024 data reveals that the biggest challenge in executing a data-driven marketing strategy is targeting segmented audiences, with 45% of respondents citing it as a key issue—down slightly from 49% in 2023. Ensuring and maintaining data quality has become a more significant concern, rising from 34% in 2023 to 38% in 2024, reflecting growing worries about data integrity.

Other prominent challenges include real-time decision-making (32%) and the implementation and management of the right technology (31%), with the latter increasing from 27% in 2023. Meanwhile, centralizing data and eliminating silos, though still a concern, remains the least mentioned challenge at 17% in 2024, up from 14% in 2023. These trends indicate a shift in emphasis towards improving data quality and effectively managing technology to enhance data-driven marketing efforts.

TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGY

The large volume and complexity of data necessitate the right tools and technology. The data indicates that most respondents are generally satisfied with their organization’s current tools and technologies for data-driven marketing, with 27% being very satisfied and 58% somewhat satisfied. However, 12% are somewhat dissatisfied, and 3% are very dissatisfied, suggesting there is still room for improvement.

This overall positive sentiment indicates that many organizations have effective tools and technologies in place but may still encounter challenges or gaps in fully addressing their needs. To further boost satisfaction, organizations should regularly assess and upgrade their marketing technologies to ensure they address specific pain points and evolving needs. Investing in user training and support can also help maximize the effectiveness of these tools, leading to greater satisfaction and productivity.

Continue reading to uncover key insights from the 2024 Data-Driven Marketing Report. Download the full report for in-depth analysis and strategies!

Related reports: Marketing, the Maestro way How a new approach is driving relevance and growth | Accenture

• Methodology and Participants
•  Introduction
• Success of Data-Driven Strategy
• Data-Driven Marketing Effectiveness
• Greatest Challenges of Data-Driven Marketing
• Tools and Technology
• The Extent of Use of AI in Data-Driven Marketing
• Use of AI in Data-Driven Programs
• Data Integration From Multiple Channels
• Data Sources
• About Ascend2 Research

Number of Pages:

• 14 pages

Pricing: 

• Free

Methodology

Ascend2 benchmarks the performance of marketing strategies, tactics, and the technology that drives them with a standardized online questionnaire and a proprietary 3-minute Survey format. This survey was fielded to a panel of marketing professionals and marketing research subscribers.