Click to learn more about author Yuvrajsinh Vaghela.

Be it any business; consumers are the king. But how well do you know them? Do you have sufficient data about them? Most importantly are you able to use the insights to adjust your offerings and revenue strategies?

In partnership with the Google News Initiative, Deloitte conducted a study globally to help organizations evaluate and actuate their data to increase engagement of readers, improve direct-paying relationships with users, and earn better revenue through advertising.

The study, which included 80 executives of 50 prominent production houses, both print and digital, from 16 countries, discovered some interesting facts about data and how responsibly it’s used across the industry. The derivation, which were published in the digital transformation through data report, outlines the measures to evaluate your position with an understanding of data – is your organization using data correctly, nine methods in which to use data for your benefits, and data maturity level of your organization.

Though the most prosperous companies use their viewers’ data to energize innovation across business and revenue strategies, a large chunk is still struggling to pay more importance to data investment over other demanding needs of the business. In its report, “Digital transformation through data: how news and media companies to drive value with data,” Deloitte has positioned each organization into one of four categories.

The Four Categories

1.  Nascent

They are in the very initial phase of data journey – you can say that they have barely started. These companies have been collecting some elementary information such as page views, but digital initiatives are not at all a priority of their top management. And they have been keen enough to make adequate investments in crucial tools and methodologies.

2.  Developing

These organizations are one step ahead of the nascent companies and they have reaped some success from utilizing data. However, they are still struggling to implement improvised tools and technologies in their workflows.

3.  Mature

Though these companies value data but taking decision-based on it is not their top priority.

Many companies lie in this sector; when it comes to investing in data-driven decision-making tools, their other operational expenses are given more priority. And they still depend on gut feeling or other means for driving their business.

4.  Leading

Companies which consider data to be an integral part of their business and they rely on it for their decision-making lie in this segment. They don’t fret from adopting a culture which encourages continuous research and innovation. And, they consider themselves as technology companies who generate news products.

Very few companies lie in this segment, and most do not know how to utilize data or the importance of data in their business.

Ways in which you, as a business owner and decision maker, can implement data for your business’s growth.

4 Ways to Improve Data Strategy

1.  Embrace Data-informed Culture

To successfully embrace a new culture where data speaks, media organizations have to change their work culture, and it needs to start with the top-level management. Business leaders need to highlight their Data Strategy so that every employee in the down the line understand the importance of using data and how it can help them to contribute towards the organization’s progress.

We focus more and more on data-informed culture. It sometimes consumes time, but it delivers the result. It has to be a collaborative effort across all engagements, including the separate departments such as sales, human resources, technology, and marketing towards a common goal.

2.  Upscale Your Organization’s Data Skills

To grow in the digital age, specific skill sets are required which the enterprises mostly lack. To start with, find the skills sets missing in your organization. Then try to find out data planners, governors, analysts, and leaders who will be responsible for building an analytics team. This team can consist of upscale employees and new hires, and they can collect insights from data to plan actions accordingly. For data being the top priority of your organization, you will have to incorporate the analytics team within every department and sphere of your business.

3.  Use the Correct Technology

Along with skills, another crucial factor of data is technology, so for integrating data in your organization, you have to start investing in accurate technology. You have to keep in mind that every stakeholder of yours, and not just the data experts, should be able to use these tools. Whether you acquire new technology from the market or develop customized solutions depends on your organization, but in either of the cases to fulfill your requirement, you might have to customize it.

4.  Let Data be the Backbone of Your Decisions

Any content delivered becomes meaningless if it does not engage readers. And how do you find out if your readers are visiting your page or not, and even if they are then how much time are they spending on it? How do you know what is the demographics of the audience that visits your page, and how should you design your marketing plans? It is data that can help you to get the answers to all your questions. You can determine valuable insights and align your Data Strategy to develop a new plan for your clients.

A decision which is based on data and not gut feeling is always more logical and have better chances of success.

Now that we have disused the four segments how to implement Data Strategy in your organization. Let’s see some of the benefits of data in your organization.

Three Benefits of Data Strategy Implementation

Predict Audience Need

It can help you to decipher which content appeals to readers more. Browsing history, feedback, ratings, device and location data, and social media activities are some of the sources to help you understand your audience.

Better Retention

From the data collated, you can design the best promotional strategies to attract customers and to retain them. Unstructured data such as call records, social media activities, etc. if studied adequately, can give significant insights.

Advertisements

Data can help you to find out your target audience and by studying their digital and entertainment behavior, you can design content for best results, and can also include campaigns of the audience’s interest.