How to Leverage Industry Data to Drive High-Growth Decisions

In today’s fast-paced market, making business decisions based only on intuition or gut decisions is far from effective. While experience and unique perspectives are always helpful, data-driven decisions turn guesswork into real value and business growth.

Growing and scaling a business in modern industry sectors comes with a number of new challenges. One of these is knowing where and how to apply important operational changes to maximize growth opportunities.

Industry data can be a very helpful tool in this capacity, empowering your company to move from reactive to more proactive growth strategies.

Identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Within Your Sector

Tracking the right KPIs can make a significant difference for any business looking to accomplish its goals. As with every business metric, your company’s KPIs will be unique to you and are likely to vary in relevance from one industry to the next. Identifying the best KPIs for your company to track is the key that unlocks smarter strategies and stronger results.

For example, a software company may be more concerned with a customer's churn rate along with monthly recurring revenue, whereas a manufacturing company would likely be more interested in pinpointing its production efficiency or product defect rates. The key is that the metrics are quantifiable with actionable data.

When your business regularly monitors changes in its KPIs over time, you are better positioned to detect ongoing trends, improve the effectiveness of growth strategies, and modify internal operations to stay competitive.

Analyze Market Trends and Consumer Behavior

Industry data provides useful information to your company about both customer behavior and trends in the market. By closely examining key data points, you can better predict the needs of your customers as those needs and preferences change.

Understanding market dynamics all comes down to identifying certain patterns that can impact business growth. Restaurants, for example, may want to monitor regional food preference trends by reading online reviews or checking social media. When you identifying new preferences, you can adjust your menus to provide what customers are most interested in.

Collecting this type of data helps your business quickly adapt to market fluctuations instead of just going through the motions and potentially watching sales decline over time.

Benchmark Against Competitors

It's important to know how your business measures up against competing brands. Part of this effort includes analyzing how your competitors answer customer demands and where their priorities are focused.

Tracking this information can help your company discover if you're providing similar levels of service or should shift your strategy. For example, you may notice a competitor gaining a lot of attention through their Instagram marketing efforts, but your own social media could use more attention or your advertisements could be better optimized.

By being more observant of what your competitors are doing, you'll be able to identify key business gaps that should be addressed.

Use Data to Optimize Operational Efficiency

Data is key to making your internal operations smoother and more efficient. By closely tracking key data points, your business can get the information it needs to address important bottlenecks that slow your forward motion and impact profits.

One way to accomplish this is by improving staff scheduling. Data can help businesses predict busy periods throughout the month, allowing you to ensure that you always have adequate staffing. This can help you avoid over- or under-staffing on specific days throughout the month while creating better customer experiences.

Improve Targeted Marketing and Customer Acquisition

Marketing a product to the right audience isn't always easy. But with the right strategy and data analysis, your company can make sure the messaging you deliver is always relevant and engaging for the audience you serve.

Instead of launching generic marketing campaigns, focus on creating more personalized messages based on what the data reveals. That can help you deliver messaging that resonates with potential customers and makes them more likely to engage.

Data can be incredibly valuable when launching ad campaigns or content marketing initiatives. By delivering more targeted brand messaging, your business can grow its lead counts more quickly and start seeing better conversion rates.

Refine Product or Service Offerings

To remain relevant, sometimes you have to pivot or make adjustments to your products or services. Data is a critical factor in determining if and where these changes are needed. Customer feedback, in particular, can be very helpful in this process.

Your current customers are a goldmine of knowledge and can give you invaluable perspectives on whether or not your company is checking all the boxes. Listen to their feedback and then let data lead the way.

By regularly collecting and analyzing the comments they leave online or in customer service surveys, you can identify areas ripe for improvement. A continuous cycle of refinement ensures that you are constantly tweaking and adapting the services or products you offer to more closely align with customer needs.

Start Leveraging Data to Make Better Decisions for Your Business

Using industry data wisely can give you the power to handle any market challenges that come your way while still working to achieve your long-term goals. Prioritizing the use of data in your decision-making leads to smoother operations, more valuable products and services, and a stronger competitive advantage.

By Chris Bretschger, Managing Partner at Bastion Agency, A seasoned marketer with over 20 years of experience in integrated marketing, Bretschger has developed brand strategies, managed media campaigns, and built analytics tools for clients including Mazda, Adidas, Jenny Craig, and Kia.