I’ve just so tired of the expression Big Data. We’ve been hearing it for the last few years and it has become over-used and kind of obnoxious.
It’s definition has morphed into so many places…but it appears to me that the on-line folks really grabbed onto it with their collection of large quantities of information that are analyzed (and analyzed again) to reveal trends, behaviors and patterns as it relates to performance – whether it be to determine lifestyle behaviors or buying propensity.
Even though I tried to boil it down to the basics, it still feels too big to grasp. And, as someone who spends her day working with small to medium-sized businesses, I’ve been wondering how to make it work for me.
So, I began to think about Small Data and whether that could become an option for my customers. So, I went on-line to find a definition for Small Data. Most of the definitions I found on-line were pretty old….(BTW – nothing was newer than 2013 and our world changes much too rapidly for that) so I am giving you my own definition of the term.
Use Small Data to Go Local
Here you go: Small data takes the insights from big data and moves it to a local framework, providing meaningful, understandable intelligence that can be used every day to market products & services efficiently and cost-effectively.
It kind of feels like this is what we veterans in the direct marketing industry have been doing for years – with analytics and testing in an effort to create a direct marketing campaign that delivers top ROI for our customers.
Small Data – the new way to go!