Tuesday, June 28, 2016

How Big Data can Enable Targeted Marketing

Traditional marketing has used the broad broom approach, where advertisements are placed on media for general consumption, such as TV, Newspapers, etc. However, these media are attracting a smaller cohort than they did and therefore the ads miss their targets. Also, advertising on broad based media has become very expensive. The best example of this is the massive millions that are spend on superbowl ads.

Many of the people who are missed through the broad based marketing are now using hand held devices, such as smart phones and tablets. This applies to many younger people but is not limited to them. So advertising campaigns need to be segmented so that multiple campaigns can be run simultaneously that are directed to those segments.

This is where big data comes in. Data can be obtained from social media networks and internet usage data that show where and when the target audiences are using their media. Such advertising can then be much more effective in reaching audiences and promoting sales.

This article shows how targeted marketing techniques can be used in election campaigns and what business can learn from politics. Check it out.

Friday, June 10, 2016

Big Data for Cybersecurity

The growing use of big data has definite links to the problem of cybersecurity. Contrary to what many might think, the linkage is not all negative. While the risks in use of big data need to be controlled as do any other IT application, nevertheless big data can be useful in helping to control that risk. For example, predictive analytics can be applied to a combination of historical data and statistical metadata to give enterprises the ability to predict the probability of an intrusive event happening in the future. Also, big data analytics enables the data to be retained in its original form, whether structured or unstructured, thus providing much more flexibility in the analytical process. For a good rundown on this area, click this link.