Data and creativity. As a marketing professional, you need both, but how do you find the balance? Data is structured and analytical, while creativity is intuitive and qualitative. One is almost a science, while the other is emotional in nature. How do you combine these apparent opposites into a coherent strategy? In this blog, Sebastiaan de Ruiter explains why the right balance is essential for successful marketing.

The power of data-driven marketing and creative flair

Whereas data-driven marketing focuses primarily on ROI and conversion, the creative side focuses more on generating brand awareness and brand experience, which is a lot harder to quantify. Finding the right balance is key. You need data to determine which campaigns are effective and how to use your marketing budget most efficiently. But that one fantastic campaign that makes you wonder "out of whose top hat did this gem come?" can never come about without a heavy dose of creativity. It is the creative touch with which you tap into sentiment that makes for an unforgettable campaign. If you rely purely on creativity, it becomes a game of chance, and if you only use data, you will never truly touch the heart of your target audience.

Creativity as a starting point, fine-tune with data

But how do you achieve the optimal balance between data and creativity? Every organization starts with zero data and can only rely on creativity. When you're just starting out, you simply don't have your own data at your disposal yet; you have no idea how people are going to react to your product or service. Creativity is the starting point; only then can you start collecting and analyzing data. What resonates with your target audience? On what basis can you start personalizing and differentiating? How can you create targeted content? Based on that data and feedback from your target group, you can refine your approach further and further. And note: it's not about creating one creative idea for all audiences. Take a bank, for example, which has a wide range of customers: from children opening their first savings account to seniors retiring. You have to appeal to all of them, and you can only do that by fine-tuning your creativity based on data.

Comparison to sports: lessons from 'Moneyball'

In that respect, you can kind of compare marketing to the world of sports, where data is also becoming increasingly important. As an avid baseball player, I am a big fan of the movie "Moneyball," a 2011 sports drama starring Brad Pitt as Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics baseball team. This film, based on a true story, follows Beane on his way to winning the Major League. Through clever use of data analysis, he knows exactly how to recruit the right players. His vision? A team does not have to consist solely of Shohei Ohtani's - for the non-baseballers among us, Ohtani is the Messi of baseball. If you make sure you compensate for one player's shortcomings with another's strengths, you'll get very far. Despite this data-driven approach, creativity is also indispensable in sports. After all, we all cheer when another magnificent goal is scored from an impossible angle. Take Van Persie's world-famous nose dive: only a creative brain can figure out that this is where the shot should be made. You can be so analytical, but creativity makes all the difference. It's the same in marketing; of course you have to use data, but as a consumer you want to feel seen and appreciated. When everything comes across as chewy sameness, you ask yourself: am I being taken seriously? That's where creativity comes in.

DAM's role in finding balance

Digital Asset Management (DAM) plays a crucial role in finding the right balance between data and creativity. With a good DAM system, teams can quickly find, use and reuse the right assets, which simplifies collaboration. Automating and organizing repetitive marketing tasks creates more space for the creative process. I'm certainly not claiming that deploying a DAM system will make you suddenly produce the most brilliant creative expressions, but it does contribute to a campaign that is both scientifically sound and deeply creative. In addition, you can in turn use the data obtained about your content to keep your assets up-to-date and relevant, leverage your strongest assets and determine the right content for your specific audiences.  

Curious?

Want to learn more about the benefits of Digital Asset Management? Then download one of our DAM guides. Immediately discover how Comrads can help your brand? Then request a no-obligation demo right away. We like to think along with you. Now and in the future.