The New Romantic Era In Business And Tech
Regular readers here know we have long championed the critical importance of the “human” aspects of data and marketing. We frequently stress that to be successful, today’s marketing campaigns must be data-driven and, at the same time, more personable, more individualized, more “real” than ever before.
Is it possible to data-driven and yet human? Sure. It’s not a contradiction.
As we’ve mentioned before, the key is to remember that data is a reflection of people. Once you start digging into the data people share with you, you’ll be able to integrate it, analyze it and uncover insights that helps you connect one-to-one. Those insights will help you better understand your marketing operations, your campaigns and most importantly, your individual customers.
Tim Leberecht, CMO of the global design and architecture firm NBBJ and author of The Business Romantic, agrees. In fact, he believes businesses today, and marketers in particular, are at a tipping point, of sorts. He feels that now that we’re a century past the industrial age, we are facing another “great disenchantment,” one that’s propelled by the connected age and its growing “datafication,” constant digital overwhelm and radical transparency. As Leberecht sees it, business has become increasingly divorced from the full expression of our humanity. That means many people are left longing for something that’s missing, something both essential and immeasurable that lets us see the world with fresh eyes every day.
How does Leberecht define what’s missing?
He calls it “romance.”
Leberecht says that we can find romance in products, experiences and organizations that connect us with something greater than ourselves. For strategy, workplace, product innovation, branding, customer relationships and sales, he stresses the value of choosing intimacy over transparency, mystery over clarity, devotion over data, vulnerability over control, desire over satisfaction and love over like.
Intrigued? Want to learn more about this new “romantic era” in business and tech? I’ll be discussing it with Tim Leberecht on Wednesday, April 8, at 12:00 pm CST, during a new webinar presented by the American Marketing Association. We’ll be talking about how humanity can be found in data and how you can use data to connect more intimately with your customers. We’ll also explore specific examples to help you build more individualized experiences for employees and for customers.
At Teradata, we know that today’s consumers want you to put data to work. They want marketing that’s built around their individual preferences and behaviors, marketing that’s meaningful and delivered in a timely way. We also know that marketers like you are eager to put data to work, too. According to our Teradata 2015 Global Data-Driven Marketing Survey, 90 percent of marketers said that making their marketing individualized is a priority.
If you’ve been curious about how data-driven marketing can make your campaigns more individualized, more human — and even more “romantic!”— please join us.
You can register for the webinar, The New Romantic Era in Business and Tech, here.