Sales and Marketing can be a challenging game to play. Business depends on making strategic decisions and putting them into action, which often leads to forgetting about the big picture. If sales increase, companies assume that their strategies are working and continue with them. However, if there are no improvements, the management becomes discontented and puts a lot of pressure on sales and marketing teams. Fortunately, technology has given specialists the ability to see how their strategies are helping them to acquire new customers.

Business Intelligence has been a gold mine for many companies that implemented such solutions. By using data analytics as well as many other tools provided by BI systems, sales and marketing departments can monitor consumers’ activities and connect them with specific objectives. And that is only the tip of the iceberg. According to The BI Survey, 57% of companies implemented Business Intelligence solutions for sales planning and forecasts.

But what exactly can BI do for sales and marketing departments? In this article, you will find out how BI technology can lead companies closer to their sales objectives.

Identify customers and sell more

Usually, the best customers are not those who sign significant contracts, even if sales teams love to receive large orders. The “dependables”, as they are called, are those who should generate interest for companies. Their regular good-sized purchases are essential for achieving business objectives. With Business Intelligence solutions, companies can create different rankings according to frequency, retention, or the value of the purchase, to find out precisely who their best customers are. According to a recent study, existing customers are 14 times more likely to buy again than a new customer. Data provided by the analytics could be essential in creating brand loyalty.

Moreover, by leveraging the data gathered, the sales and marketing teams will understand better which products or services are most valuable for customers, as well as those that are not. Tracking sales data will provide a full view of market trends and opportunities to cross-sell other products. For example, if someone is buying HR software, but not payroll services, companies can create targeted marketing campaigns for this specific opportunity.

Behavioral and demographic analysis

Business Intelligence solutions offer companies access to real-data analytics for online marketing efforts. Both search engine and social media marketing campaigns could benefit from the structured dashboards with sophisticated analysis that BI experts are already using to create competitive advantages in the marketplace.

Search engine marketing is becoming more and more a data-driven domain, as many Business Analytics platforms are providing essential insights that include demographic data, as well as other information related to customer behavior. For instance, if a website gets a higher number of visitors from one specific country and for some of its products, it makes sense to initiate further marketing activities according to those insights. By considering the data behind online campaigns, BI reports can show how those online efforts are affecting the bottom line.

Moreover, social media data is a great way to obtain overall demographic data, such as age, gender or location. The initial raw data might be overwhelming at first, but BI can use different metrics and formulae to filter the critical information that social platforms provide. Those parameters are not exclusively about numbers. They could also show the emotional patterns that customers express in social comments and posts, which help businesses understand how the public perceives them.

Event analysis

We can now see that offline events are usually promoted online, and that is an excellent opportunity to identify overall patterns, which can increase the effectiveness of event marketing. When marketing teams are using Business Intelligence solutions, they can, for example, determine the time and location preferred by their target audience, the easiest way of ticketing, the optimal price for tickets, and the type of event that could engage the most customers. Plus, data can determine when to create the advertisements to reach the target audience at the best time.

A sophisticated event marketing initiative could use BI to track online activities from start to finish. That includes monitoring how people found out about the event by using specific metrics such as referral sites or entrance pages to gathering their feedback after the event. The chance to combine offline events with online marketing activities is one of the best ways BI and marketing work together to achieve business objectives.

Evaluate marketing projects

As we mentioned before, BI solutions can be very useful in planning, monitoring, and measuring the success of promotional campaigns. Each company aims to achieve the maximum ROI, and BI can help people understand how different marketing budgets are more productive than others. For example, a big budget could generate consistent profit, but if a smaller one achieves almost the same income, the second program is more cost-effective. By leveraging the data the BI software provides, organizations can maximize revenues from each budget allocation.

Additionally, the reports created for the sales and marketing departments could be beneficial for other units too. Knowledge about which products are the most valuable could drive different departments to be more efficient. The operational staff could better plan product demand after receiving BI reports, and the management team can access highly detailed dashboards to make strategic and data-driven decisions for future investments.

The importance of Business Intelligence solutions continues to grow, and the amount of online data will not stop growing any time soon. Thanks to those technological developments, companies can now leverage data at the highest level and create customer-orientated strategies. Furthermore, customized Business Intelligence solutions are even more effective in helping organizations achieve their marketing and sales objectives. The unique approach of a customized BI solution could give departments the autonomy they need, but it also ensures collaboration between them.