Understanding value -> Data management

Welcome! This blog is based on research that was conducted at Penn State University to identify the competencies that would define stellar B2B marketers. The blog entry you are currently reading summarizes the competencies related to "data management". If you’d like to find out more about the blog, please take a look at the first post. I will be writing a separate summary for each competency grouping (there are 12 of them in total). I encourage you to provide feedback at the end of each post.
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Data management competencies are not only related to the technical side of number crunching, they also include the skill set required to articulate the information requirements needed to support and justify marketing decisions.

Best-in-class marketers are not necessarily wizzes at data analysis, but they understand marketing research** and market research** well enough to evaluate expert advice. Their strength is around leveraging the resulting analysis to:

• refine it into a narrative that is meaningful and can be understood by other business leaders
• craft actionable marketing activities (that are also understood by the business). 

The ability to  articulate and communicate the results of complex analyses is as important, or perhaps even more important than the technical skills required to parse through the data.

That group of competencies also includes a series of “softer” skills that supplement analytical abilities. Stellar performers collaborate with other functional areas and ensure that marketing data are taken into consideration in various aspects of the business’ decision making process.

In addition, these marketers are also able to define and establish the necessary processes that will allow for the monitoring of vital marketing metrics. Those should supplemented by data and information collected as a result of their boundary spanning* activities, especially with sales.

* Boundary spanning is defined here as the ability to build healthy interdisciplinary business relationships with people in functional areas other than one’s own. We’ll talk about boundary spanning later, as it is one of the key traits of stellar performers.
** Marketing Research vs Market Research- Some people disagree on aspects of the definitions, that’s a debate I won’t get into in this blog.