• by Tobi Elkin  @tobielkin, January 9, 2017

A new report by ad-tech provider Blue Venn finds that 72% of marketers consider data analysis more important than social media skills. The report, "Customer Data: The Monster Under the Bed?,” incorporates research from 200 U.S. and U.K. marketers, with the goal of identifying the attributes most needed to compete in the data-centric marketing landscape.

Key findings include:

--Data management is now considered more vital than social media (65%), Web development (31%), graphic design (23%), and search engine optimization (13%).

--However, 27% of marketers are still handing over the process of data analysis to IT departments.

--The focus on understanding and synthesizing customer data is especially strong at large enterprises, where four out of five marketers consider data analysis to be a “vital” skill. 

--Data segmentation and modeling are also considered highly sought-after marketing skills, ranking higher than both Web development and graphic design within the enterprise space.

“In the age of big data, marketers have a better opportunity than ever before to truly understand their customers’ decision-making processes. Unfortunately, as it stands, most marketers simply don’t have the time, the knowledge or the tools necessary to undertake this task in a practical and effective way,” stated Anthony Botibol, marketing director at BlueVenn.