For B2B marketers, using data is imperative for targeting key accounts and the stakeholders and buyers within them. By doing so, one can create more focused, relevant campaigns that produce less budget waste and higher returns.

In the marketing world, there is a huge, ever-growing divide between creativity and data-driven marketing.

Many creatives worry that the increasing reliance on data will kill the freedom to take risks and try out some of their more outside-the-box ideas.

Advocates of data-based marketing argue that marketing dollars shouldn't be wasted on potential crash-and-fail ideas that aren't guaranteed to hit their target audiences.

Customer data is abundant these days. Some even say it’s overabundant. There is no shortage of ways to find, collect, analyze, and utilize it as part of one’s marketing strategy.

In a way, brands no longer have an excuse to not use it.

In this age of Big Data, it’s easier than ever to develop campaigns that resonate with your audience and target them directly. While it was once a queasy notion that advertisers have so much data on everyone, by now, most consumers accept—and even expect—personalization throughout the customer experience...

...as long as they feel like they can trust you.