On Monday, Ad Age published an article with a headline that caught my attention: Wells Fargo Aims to Beat Banking-Biz Woes with Data. (Reading the headline, I couldn’t help but think about Wells Fargo physically fighting these ‘banking-biz woes’ with data)
The article is an interview with Wells Fargo’s CMO Sylvia Reynolds. I’m always interested to hear about how companies are using data to support their marketing efforts, and while the discussion about data was only part of the interview, Reynolds did offer some good insights:
Marketers can play a significant, strategic role in times like these by bringing the voice of the customer into the company, making sure that our lines of business and executives have the data they need to understand the customer mind-set so that we can help our customers succeed in this very difficult economic climate. More than ever now, my team is digging deep into market, competitive and customer data to provide that insight. That in turn will help us ensure that we are communicating successfully with our customers about how we can help them in these unprecedented economic times.
We are using these customer insights to inform everything from deciding which products and services we’ll focus on in a given period to where we advertise and the language and images we use. Our previous advertising campaign — “Someday/Today” — was about customers imagining what financial success looked like for them in the future. But people aren’t focused on saving for their dream vacation anymore. So our new “With You When” campaign is much more oriented to how Wells Fargo can help customers manage through whatever life throws their way. The message is still positive, but it’s grounded in the reality of today’s environment.
While Reynolds’ points are pretty straightforward, it reminds us that data is an important element of an effective marketing strategy – especially in today’s dynamic marketplace. As I read this I couldn’t help but think about companies that aren’t letting data help drive their marketing decisions. If you’re not using data, you’re in trouble.
In my mind, there are some key takeaways for marketers from the points made here:
- We should not only be looking at data, but digging deep into market, competitive and customer data
- We need to listen to our customers – how else are we going to understand their mindset?
- Data should support our decisions relative to products offered and promoted, and the messages we use
- Everything must be grounded in the realities of today’s environment
We all have a general sense of how our markets have changed over the last year, but most of us simply can’t afford to let our instincts guide important marketing decisions. As data becomes more readily available, marketers should be looking for ways to use it.