Big Data: Using Big Data Effectively as a Small Business
Big Data is being generated non-stop in every single operation made, both online and offline. From the slightest marketing effort to the biggest sales action, chunks of valuable information are created. The common belief among most business owners is that only big companies can actually take these chunks and make them actionable information to use in their business strategies.
This is a totally wrong approach that is making millions of small businesses to lose golden opportunities.
With the right tools and without massive investments, a small business can make great use of Big Data. Fortunately, you don’t need data scientists to properly take strong data-driven business decisions. Let’s begin with the very basics.
What is Big Data?
If you, as a small business owner, ignore what Big Data is, let us explain it in the simplest terms possible. Every single customers’ action generates little bits of data that tell us about their behavior and the way they interact with brands all around the world. The simple action of browsing around on the Internet generate a non-stop stream of data.
Processing data to acquire business intel has always been relevant. What changed and allowed the modern use of Big Data was the development of technologies that can effortlessly process a greater volume of information at a greater speed about a greater variety of indicators.
Big Data Tools for the Small Business
As we mentioned before, your small business can make the most of Big Data by choosing the right tools and using them properly. The following three tools are perfectly affordable and will not require hiring a wildly expensive research firm to help you.
Google Analytics
Even if your business isn’t making serious efforts yet in digital marketing, you probably know this tool. Google Analytics may be the most important tool for business who want to work on a well-oriented strategy without spending much.
Google Analytics tracks every single indicator on your website for free, generating rich reports where you can understand more about your traffic and visitors. Digging a little bit more, you can also extract relevant information like where your traffic is coming from exactly and when your copy fails the most.
Kissmetrics
As another marketing-oriented tool, Kissmetrics takes the best of two worlds to help businesses make better decisions: customer intelligence and web analytics. Notably, this tool goes beyond the traditional indicators and focuses on detailed segmentation for exponential sales growth.
Kissmetrics doesn’t come for free but it’s completely affordable at $120 per month. Also, consider that this platform includes an outstanding educational database to get up-to-date in no time.
ClearStory Data
If you want to take extremely complex data and generate simple, easy-to-understand reports, ClearStory Data may be your best shot. This fantastic platform takes in-house data you may have about your business and combine it with public information.
The result? A feature-rich software that delivers unique insights about your industry and customers. The dashboard offers a wide array of graphs that make the experience even easier and more enjoyable. ClearStory Data’s potential doesn’t limit to one department, making it a versatile resource for the entire organization.