Predictive analytics is a broad field. Almost any industry could take advantage of predictive analytics. In fact, Lenovo once reduced warranty costs by 10-15 percent by using predictive analytics to better understand claims.

Marketing can be an extremely inefficient field. You might be constantly worried that you’re sinking thousands of dollars into a leaky cauldron.

Instead of worrying whether you’re losing money on your marketing campaign, take control. Below we’ll discuss several ways you can take advantage of predictive analytics and maximize your marketing dollars.

1. Pair Your Predictive Analytics With Marketing Automation

If you’re wanting to go above and beyond with your marketing, you’ll want a sophisticated marketing automation platform. It’s the best way to deliver excellent and personalized content.

But if you want a deeper understanding of your projects, prospects, and customers, you’ll need data. In essence, these kinds of insights are game changers when it comes to securing your marketing finances and pleasing customers at the same time.

When you combine the two tools, you can refine your customer outreach as well. Hone in on content customers will likely engage with. The best automation platforms will automatically display relevant content your predictive analytics reveals.

2. Lack of Data Will Kill You

Years went by and advertising agencies resisted data-driven marketing. Marketers and ad-men went with gut intuition for too long. The machines would never be as good as their heartfelt ad copy.

But since data-driven marketing showed us it was worth its salt, we began to trust the machine. But if you’re not getting the data you need, your machine isn’t going to give you the results you need.

And if you haven’t been collecting data on your projects, it’s time to start. Now. Immediately. Don’t delay.

3. Modeling Experts Will Be Your Friends

The world is full of experts on almost any topic. Predictive analytics are no different. And if you can find someone with domain knowledge, you’ll be better off in your predictive analytics project.

If you’re looking for a mentor to help you with your analytics project, look no further than the internet. One of the best mentoring programs on the internet is actually free.

Score.com will pair you with a mentor in any business and startup field. There are more than 11,000 volunteers in the program and over 320 chapters you could join in the United States alone.

If you want to really network, industry centers, networking events like conferences and coworking parties could land you a connection with an expert.

4. Start at the End

Before you start analyzing your campaign, it’s best you yourself know your campaign in and out. This is called Domain Knowledge. It involves knowing your own product and understanding everything you can about your customers outside of the raw data.

Without a picture to compare the data against, you only have numbers. You need to lay the groundwork for your analytics project. Ask yourself relevant questions like “how will we make money?” “How can we deploy our marketing model?” and “What do we think the data will look like compared to reality?”

5. Treasure Hunting is Out

A stab in the dark is nothing but that, a stab in the dark. If you’re just pulling an analytics process out of a hat hoping it will fit your model, you’re going to come up with very little useful data.

You need to know what processes you want to optimize before you pick an analytics program to use. Once you’ve identified relevant data sets and processes, you can reduce the model down to one specific problem.

Predictive analytics should not be akin to chasing the gold at the end of a rainbow. If you’ve ever tried to find the end of the rainbow, you’ll know that it’s a pretty impossible task.

Instead of chasing rainbows, try using a GPS.

6. Create a Data Collection Design

To collect data, you need sensors. These are data markers meant to give you a slice of data from a large, time-consuming set. It’s like sticking a meat thermometer into your turkey. You’re getting a temperature reading that represents the whole, but you’re stabbing one small section of the turkey.

This means you need to know where your longitudinal data application will be. You’ll also want to know how frequently your analytics program should collect data.

Is your analytics program long or short term? This will determine how often and how long you will collect data.

If it’s short-term, you might want to collect data over several different campaigns to improve future campaigns. Remember, small data sets yeild poor results.

7. Don’t Just Accept One

Like I tell my friends thinking of trying out SEO. You don’t have to accept one service. If one service doesn’t fit your needs, dump them and go with the next. There are plenty of SEO companies out there.

Analytics programs are the same. You could go with Google’s service, but what if their tools don’t fit your needs? You might want to check out Amazon, Microsoft or any number of smaller companies out there.

Remember, sometimes the smaller fish are more efficient than some of the larger overblown fish. Just because Amazon has more tools, doesn’t mean you’ll get more value.

If an analytics program offers fewer tools but gets you better data, you might want to consider them. Don’t buy into the hype. Make sure you’re doing what’s best for your company and your campaign. You won’t regret it.