Data Is Not Differentiation

Hello everyone! My wife and colleague, Shannon Reed, is doing a guest post!

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There’s been a lot of conversation around data lately. Whether it's the data the newest AI systems are ingesting or the data the brands possess. Everyone’s got data and everyone wants to tell you about it.

Big data isn’t a unique selling proposition. EVERYONE has data. Most have lots of data. In fact, big data as a search term spiked in 2014. Frankly, if you are an SMB, you have much less data than the Meta and Google databases of the world.

The differentiator isn’t the data, it’s what you do with it. Can I talk to it? Can I search it and find the information I need? Can I find unique insights?

If you're a brand, you have data. No shit. Tell me about what you are going to do with the data. What insight you can glean from the data is instant value, but then you need to make decisions and synthesize a conclusion. You know actual work.

Or you can just point to a massive pile of data and tell people there is value in there. Have you seen an iron ore mine? Good luck.

Shannon Reed
Strategy, Thought Merchants