Big Data Marketing: The book for the future and current CMO

by Marcos Ortiz

I have to tell you: I’m an avid reader. I think that I have read in my life more than 2000 books, and I’ve not stopped because that’s precisely have becomed in a better writer. There are books that have changed my mind and thinking like Adam Grant’s “Give and Take”, Josh Kaufman’s “Personal MBA”, Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Father, Poor Father”, Porter Gale’s “You Network is your Net Worth”. But when I had Lisa Arthur’s book “Big Data Marketing: Engage Your Customers More Effectively and Drive Value” in my hands, simple like that: I could not stopped reading it. Here’s my personal review about the book.

This book is perfect for me, because I don’t have a background in Marketing. My background is in System Engineering. So, the way that Lisa approached to explain every concept in the book is simply clean and amazing. But the greatness begins with the foreward written by Prof. Tom Davenport: AWESOME !!! One of my favorite quotes in the book is precisely said by Prof. Tom:

What would be more stimulating than being in a part of business where the foundations are being shaken on a daily basis? Where better to be than in the vanguard of this change? Wouldn’t you prefer to be a leader of this transformation than to be led by someone else? In short, it’s a wonderful time to be a data-driven marketer if you like change, excitement, and new ideas.

After this, Lisa explained in the first chapter why we are in the Dark Ages of Marketing, and talking about the clear advantages to be an advocated of Integrated Marketing Management (Lisa is the Chief Marketing Officer at Teradata Applications, formerly Aprimo, a division of Teradata dedicated to this kind of solutions). Then, she introduced the Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI), trying to explain why you like a marketer should communicate the value of your marketing efforts, and the Data Hairball, where you should identify the data silos in your company that you should drive more leads for your business; and use them wisely.

One of my favorite chapters is the # 4: Definitions for the Real World of Big Data Marketing, where she made the definition of Big Data Marketing, Integrated Marketing Management, Marketing Operations Management, Digital Messaging, Digital Marketing and Customer Interaction Management; terms that you have to know very well if you want to become in a savvy Data-Driven Marketer.

In the Chapter 5, she, based in her expertise like CMO; she let a clear message about why Marketing department have to be updated with new roles like the Data Scientist, the Chief Marketing Technologist, the Chief Digital Officer, and the alignment that should exits between the Chief Marketing Officer and the Chief Information Officer.

Then, in the next chapters, she described in a brilliant way the strategy that you have to follow to embrace Data Driven Marketing:

But the fun doesn’t stop there. In the Chapter 11 she proved the value of Marketing with relevant use-cases, explaining how several companies have driven value using Integrated Marketing campaigns. My favorite use cases is Warner Bros’s and the Global 2000 Financial Services company’s case. And of course, the American Red Cross is the another case that it’s in all the book(Did I say to you that all profits of the book are for the American Red Cross? )

The last chapter comes with the single but strong message: You need to embrace Big Data Marketing right now, just that. Then, you will begin to see the benefits.

So, my dear friends, don’t wait more and buy the book, enjoy the reading, and after send me a tweet about your experience. And the last bonus point: Share the post at Twitter with the #DataDrivenMarketing hashtag mentioning to @Lisaarthur and @SocialScouters, and the author of the most engaged Tweet will receive a copy of the book thanks to my friends Gaelen O’Conell and Melinda Venable from Social Scouters. So, start today to become in a Data Driven Marketer.