With the recent release of the 2016 Census data, organisations across Australia have a significant opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the Australian consumer. The only issue you may experience from all this information is that it is big, and it can be hard to know what it actually means for your business and how you can translate it into useful information.
The latest Census data provides a valuable snapshot into our way of life including everything from education, occupation, income, age, living arrangements, population growth and populations shifts, plus so much more. Using this information, we can gain deep insights into demographic movements at the local level, right down to specific suburbs. So, by comparing your internal data with the Census data, you could unlock some pretty powerful insights to give you the local competitive edge!
It is often said that data should be at the heart of strategic decision making in every business. Data helps us answer key business questions, it leads to insights, which can then be turned into informed decisions and actions that improve the business.
With such powerful tools at our fingertips and access to volumes of quality information, there is a clear opportunity to better utilise membership data to create a map for your ongoing success. You have names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, what they buy, how often they visit, how long they stay … the list goes on.
All of this information is invaluable as it helps you to better understand your members, where they are coming from, offering you a laser like focus and the ability to increase loyalty, recognise opportunities and/or gaps in your marketing communications and strategies, as well as develop plans to strengthen your market position into the future.
Yet, it seems to be a highly underutilised resource within the industry.
A regular and comprehensive review of your membership database could unlock the secrets of your client behaviour, in turn giving you absolutely everything you need to potentially;
- Decrease your overheads
- Focus your marketing efforts
- Increase your membership base
- Streamline your venue activities
- Refocus your dining options
- Enhance your loyalty program
- Renegotiate contracts
Just imagine the information, trends, thoughts, exciting ideas and opportunities you could unlock.
Gathering the data, however, does not directly translate into meaningful information. You need to have a base idea on the goals you want to achieve, and then discover the correct data to use in order to solve issues or deliver real solutions. Heat mapping is a highly effective tool to discover meaningful information.
There can be many ways to display heat maps, but they all share once thing in common – they use colour to communicate relationships between data values that would be far more difficult to understand and utilise if presented numerically in a spreadsheet.
They can be used to represent population density, diversity, per-capita income, social views and many other important measurements. From a membership database points of view, you could discover internal venue movements, meal favourites, event successes, loyalty take up, demographic shifts in membership and so much more.
By heat mapping your overwhelming data, you can visualise quickly and effectively;
- Trends,
- Issues,
- successes,
- Potential risks, and
- Opportunities.
From there, you can hone in on your key areas of focus at a more granular level, in order to develop appropriate strategies.
By comparing multiple data sources, including the recent Census data, organisations can help business decision makers address issues such as;
- Local and hyper-local marketing strategies
- Understanding the visitor market better
- Gaining a deeper understanding of members
- Identifying new customers and opportunities right at your doorstep
- Discovering the shift in the consumer mind set
- Analysing competitors within your area
- Discovering how consumers are making decisions
Many organisations make uninformed strategic decisions because they don’t have a clear visibility into their customers, members, products and segments. It is critical therefore, to get your arms around the data you have, translate it into meaningful information, and distribute this information across the organisation to drive more informed decision making.
Savvy organisations will leverage their market intelligence data to gain superior insights into their geographic markets, for example planning marketing campaigns, adjusting their services to meet local demand or shifting with the demographics to deliver more on point offerings.
If you need help analysing or comparing your current membership database data, or are considering how best to discover and analyse the useful information for your venue; then please get in touch. We have a dedicated team of experienced consultants who would love to help you develop a clearer understanding of your membership base and help you navigate your venue into the future.
Contact us today on (07) 3878 9355 to find out how we can help you uncover your hidden data and convert it into actionable success strategies for your venue.
