How to use data in your work? Examples of data usage by occupation [Marketing, Sales, Human Resources, Accounting, Public Relations]

Recently, it has been said that "utilizing data is essential" in every industry and every occupation.

Advances in various technologies have made it much easier to collect data in various fields than before. However, many people may feel that they don't know how to use data or that it is difficult to utilize data in their line of work.

In this article, we will introduce specific examples of how data analysis is being used in job categories where data use has been active in recent years, such as marketing, sales, human resources, accounting, and public relations. If you are looking for tips on how to use data in your own work, be sure to check this out.

Marketing and Data Analytics

The current state of data utilization in marketing

With the recent rapid growth of the internet advertising market, the marketing field is generally seen as an area where technological advances are remarkable. However, the reality is that much of it still relies on the intuition of managers and marketers.

Marketing determines a company's sales and brand power. If a lot of data is wasted without being properly utilized and is ultimately left to the subjective judgment of those with discretionary power, it could seriously damage a company's growth opportunities.

Data usage examples [Marketing]

Identifying target customers

In order to be successful in marketing, it is important to have a deep understanding of your customers and think from their perspective.

When identifying target customers, first group them by age, gender, occupation, etc. (These groupings based on specific conditions are called "segments," and segmenting is called "segmentation").

By utilizing data analysis for segmentation,Get a more objective and accurate picture of your customersAvailable

Customer information includes "user attributes" such as email address, place of residence, date of birth, and occupation that are entered when registering as a member, as well as "behavioral data" such as purchasing data and what pages were viewed on a site or app, as well as data such as surveys and inquiry details.

Although it is necessary to consider the protection of personal information, by making effective use of this data,Better targetingYou can do it.

▼ For future prospects for personal information protection regulations and cookie use, click here
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Improved customer experience

Recently, advances in technology have diversified the opportunities consumers have to come into contact with information, and as a result, their purchasing behavior has also become extremely diversified.

For example, when purchasing a cosmetic product, there may be few consumers who would gather information only on the product's official website and then proceed to purchase it directly from the official website.

A friend recommends it, you check out reviews from other people on Instagram, you check out how to use it and what it feels like on YouTube, you check the ratings on a review site, you compare several online shopping sites and end up buying it on the one that offers the best deal. It's not uncommon for people to follow a complicated purchasing path like this.

Marketers need to design routes that are more user-first and lead to more sales. To do this, they need to interpret data that shows the trends in user behavior and understand customer psychology.

By being able to provide optimal value and services in line with customer behavior, we will be able to further improve relationships with customers.

▼ Why you should use marketing mix modeling to measure advertising effectiveness
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Improving business efficiency/reducing costs

The more data you store, the stronger it becomes. This is because it can learn more and become more accurate. Accumulating data makes it easier to go through the PDCA cycle of planning, executing, reviewing, and improving marketing measures.Enabling faster, more precise marketingBecome.

In addition, you can predict which measures are effective and which are not, so you don't have to waste time on unnecessary measures.This leads to cost savings in terms of both money and timeIt will be.

Sales and Data Analysis

Current state of data utilization in the sales field

There is a term that describes sales activities: "KKD," an acronym for intuition, experience, and courage. As this term symbolizes, corporate sales activities are often carried out in a subjective manner that relies on experience and intuition, and sales has been considered a relatively distant field from data utilization.

Sales activities that rely on experience and intuition have different standards for judgment depending on the person, and lack objective evidence. In addition, because experience, intuition, and courage are personal, there is also the disadvantage that know-how is difficult to share.

Data usage example [Sales]

Market Trend Analysis

When selling your company's products to customers, being able to analyze the trends of the market your company belongs to will make it easier to develop sales strategies.

Customer needs are constantly changing due to market trends, seasonal factors, and more.By understanding and visualizing market trends in real time through data analysis, sales representatives will be able to make more tailored proposals to customers..

Analysis of the process leading up to receiving an order

By analyzing sales data, you can visualize the flow of a series of tasks that actually involve sales activities with customers. This can be done by comparing the consistent flow from the first contact with a customer to receiving an order to a pipeline.Pipeline AnalysisIt is also called.

By extracting each process of sales activities conducted with customers, such as inquiries, interviews, initial visits, proposals, agreements, and contracts, and visualizing the situation chronologically, it becomes possible to see at which phase of which projects progress is slowing down.

Rather than simply dismissing the poor sales figures, you can understand which process the problem lies in, making it easier to discover issues for each sales representative.Utilizing for human resource developmentYou can also.

In addition, by comparing past sales data,Make more accurate sales forecastsThis also becomes possible.

Sharing sales skills and know-how within the organization

Sales data includes daily reports of sales activities, sales performance of employees, customer data, case data, etc. By integrating and analyzing these various data, it can be accumulated as know-how within the organization.Raising the sales skills of the entire organization and moving away from personalizationThis can be achieved.

It has been thought that it is difficult to systematize the skills and know-how that are useful for selling products when sales activities rely on the intuition and experience of sales personnel. This is because there are disadvantages, such as the fact that sales know-how is difficult to pass on when sales personnel leave the company.

However, by recording and analyzing the sales activities and performance of your employees, you can identify the causes of success and failure and share sophisticated sales know-how and working styles within your team.

HR and Data Analysis

The current state of data utilization in HR

In recent years, trending words such as "people analytics" and "data-driven HR," which analyze and utilize human resources data, have been attracting attention.

Human resource management, too, is now being called for to shift from one based solely on experience to one that is more rational and strategic, using data.

However, in reality, many companies are not making progress in utilizing data because they have not accumulated the necessary human resources data, or even if they have the data, they do not have the personnel to promote data utilization.

Data Use Cases [Human Resources]

Improving the hiring process

Analyzing human resources data makes it easier for a company to understand the ideal employee profile and clarify the criteria for hiring and interviews.

Once you have a clear idea of ​​the talent you want and the criteria for making decisions,Approaching a demographic closer to the recruitment targetThis will be possible. If the number of applications from the target demographic increases,Increased matching rate and reduced recruitment costscan also be expected.

In addition, even after joining the company, it will be easier to arrange benefits and the working environment, making it easier to create a comfortable working environment.Increased employee retentionYou can also expect.

Improve the human resource development process

By utilizing data, you can visualize each employee's work history, goals, personnel evaluations, skills, etc.

Once you can do this, employee evaluations, training progress, and achievements will become clear, allowing you to analyze the employee from multiple perspectives and evaluate them objectively.

By visualizing employee data, the employee's strengths and skills that need to be developed become objectively clear.Human Resource DevelopmentIf you can provide proper training to your employees,Retaining talented personnelThis may also lead to...

Thereby,Gaining employee trust and increasing employee productivity and motivation

Retirement Prediction

By comprehensively analyzing the data from the time of application and the candidate's grades and performance after joining the company, it becomes possible to analyze the candidate's compatibility with the company and future potential.

Predict turnover and employee turnover ratesThis allows for appropriate employee care and redeployment, making it easier to manage human resources within the company.

Accounting and Data Analysis

Current state of data utilization in accounting

Accounting's main job is management, which involves carrying out the necessary procedures for the money that the company manages.

Systems to improve the efficiency of accounting work and prevent human error have become widely used among the general public.

However, there may still not be many companies that are practicing "aggressive accounting" that utilizes data to further drive their business.

However, recently there has been a growing focus on using data in the accounting field, such as quickly utilizing information obtained from accounting data held by the accounting department in management decision-making.

Data usage example [Accounting]

Supporting accurate management decision-making

There are two types of accounting: financial accounting and management accounting.

Financial accounting is accounting conducted to report a company's financial status and business performance to external investors, creditors, tax offices, etc., and is an accounting task that all companies must perform.

On the other hand, management accounting is used by management to determine company policies and has no legal force.

However, by introducing data analysis into management accounting, you can quantitatively evaluate the business situation.Accurate management decision-makingWill be possible.

Specifically, it can be used for business planning, which involves determining business policies and making budget forecasts, as well as for analyzing actual sales, expenses, and profits, and for making investment decisions.

By using objective accounting data rather than relying on your own intuition when making important management decisions,Not only can you make rational decisions, but you can also clearly explain the reasons for those decisions.It will be like this.

Improving work efficiency and preventing mistakes

When accounting work involves a lot of manual and paper-based tasks, such as journal entries and linking to accounting software, it is inevitable that mistakes will occur.

When these tasks are digitized,Not only does it reduce work time, it also helps reduce human error.Yes, you can. By streamlining your work,Accelerating settlement of accountsAlso useful.

The revision of the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Corporate Governance Code in June 2021 has made it mandatory to disclose information on human capital, and with the spotlight on ESG (E: Environment, S: Social, G: Governance) management, proper disclosure of tax information is required, etc., which has led to a tendency for the workload to become more complicated. Utilizing data from the accounting department is said to be an effective way to solve these problems.

Public relations and data analysis

The current state of data utilization in public relations

In today's world where consumers can easily access a wide variety of information, the purpose of what a company does is becoming more important than ever. It can also be said that the importance of PR activities, which are responsible for this, is also increasing.

However, it has been said that the indicators that public relations and PR aim for are difficult to quantify and make it hard to measure their effectiveness.

For example, the current situation is that the only way to measure the impact of media exposure on brand power, awareness, and favorability is through indirect indicators such as intuition or "advertising equivalent value."

Data Utilization Examples [Public Relations]

Effective branding is possible

By utilizing data on your company's users and recruitment targets,More effective brandingThis is because by clarifying the target media and the image of the content's readers, it becomes possible to determine the ideal branding style for your company.

It is said that it is difficult to confirm the effectiveness of a campaign by combining quantitative surveys such as awareness and favorability with qualitative surveys after clarifying the target.Measuring the effectiveness of brandingIs also possible.

Effective branding will help you gain more fans and increase the value of your company.

Trends made easy

Recently, public relations support services have been developed that use AI to analyze data such as press releases and then scientifically propose and execute trend predictions and media analysis.

Leverage industry trends and seasonality data toPR strategies aligned with trendsIn addition to understanding trends, you will also be able to select keywords that are highly compatible with each media and consider the appropriate timing for release.

Public relations professionals need to be sensitive to industry trends, but by presenting evidence based on data rather than just intuition, they will be able to propose more persuasive ideas.

It will be easier to gain understanding within the company

We often hear people complain that their public relations activities are not understood within their company.

Analyzing the above data,Quantitative explanation of the effectiveness of public relations activitiesIf you can do this, other departments will be able to easily grasp the trends and results of your PR activities, making it easier to gain understanding within the company. Strategic PR activities also require cooperation and collaboration with other departments.

In addition, Systematizing public relations activitiesBy doing this, we can prevent the PR system from becoming something that only the person in charge can understand, and prevent it from becoming dependent on one person. It can also revitalize the entire PR organization of the company.

Summary

Data utilization will continue to become more widespread in the future due to factors such as the growth of IT technology and the promotion of digital transformation.

If you understand the steps in data analysis, as well as the advantages and disadvantages, and implement it appropriately into your operations, you will expand the possibilities for your business.

We hope this article will give you some ideas for incorporating data into your own work.