Ann Breckenkamp

Agree-- I think the value of developing personas extends beyond just knowing your customers, too. If the data is in place, can drive a lot of value with tailored messaging to individual consumers based on how their actions match the personas you're targeting. 

Until the marketing technologist role becomes more widely adopted, I see a huge opportunity for technology to empower non-technical marketers to access and apply data they wouldn't be able to otherwise. Seems many of the tools on the market have tried to keep up with the data-driven push, but in the process have become really difficult to use for someone who does not have a working knowledge of data science. 

I'm sympathetic to that-- it seems like tools have become even more complex as they've added new features trying to keep up with the push for data-driven marketing. I wrote an article on this same topic not too long ago: http://smartdatacollective.com/annbreckenkamp/196916/closing-divide-between-marketers-and-data-driven-marketing-platforms

Totally agree. I think it also comes down to being able to track the direct impact of what you've implemented- for example, how much additional money did Person X spend after receiving a specific email message from you (compared to a control!)? Being able to attribute revenue increases or other results exclusively to your automation solution will make it so you don't have to guess whether the implementation effort was worth it. 

Great data insights from MailChimp-- They reported the peak for optimal send time as 10AM in the recipient's time zone, but this only accounts for less than 7% of the sample!! I think this shows the importance of moving towards a 1:1 marketing solution that is so personalized it can optimize send time for each individual recipient. Some attributes, like occupation, have a huge impact on when someone prefers to open email but won't necessarily be captured in your campaign's segmentation criteria.