The power of data has transformed just about every industry, from sport to banking and healthcare to hospitality, as companies use technology to gain new insights and work smarter. Marketing is no different, as businesses look for new ways to build relationships and reach customers.

"It's all about connectivity," says Carla Forbes, owner and director of Invercargill-based marketing agency Naked Creative. "Consumers are completing more of their daily activities online, and this presents new opportunities for businesses and brands to engage with them."

According to Forbes, data can help businesses understand customer engagement and behaviour. For marketing firms, the information is priceless.

"Our clients rely on us to advise them on where their brand should be to engage their potential customers and expect comprehensive reporting on how their campaigns have performed," she adds. "Getting real-time data allows us to quickly see what is and isn't working for our clients."

Using data insights, marketing firms can adjust media placements or creative campaigns to get the most out of their budgets, she adds, "ensuring our client's budget is being directed to platforms that are providing the greatest value."

Forbes says technology has driven significant change in the marketing sector in recent years, as more people consume video content through mobile devices.

"Increasing internet speeds, particularly in the mobile space, mean our communications have become much more data-rich," she says. "In many cases, video is replacing still images and text as a primary means of communication — and so we are doing a lot more work in video production than we were five years ago."

A fast mobile connection is increasingly important for Naked and other digital-led businesses, Forbes adds.

"There has been a huge shift towards mobile devices being the most common means of accessing brand content — be it on a website, social media or news media. A few years ago, we considered mobile devices to be a secondary delivery platform, and developed most content primarily for desktop delivery. Today, we create content for mobile first and desktop second."

Looking to the future, Forbes believes technology and data will be vital tools as the established industry learns new tricks. A key challenge will be reaching customers across multiple platforms.

"Online media platforms and new platforms will continue to proliferate, and consumer attention will be spread more thinly," Forbes says. "Brands will need to be in more places to reach the same number of eyes, but more importantly, they will need to be smart about how they communicate, or risk getting lost in the noise."

While age-old marketing principles won't change, ensuring that messaging lands in the right place will become an increasingly important skill.

"The ingredients for great brand storytelling won't change, but it will become more important than ever. Getting consumer attention will require succinct, engaging messaging, authenticity in communication and providing an outstanding customer experience at every step of the purchasing process."

To support Southland's digital economy, Vodafone NZ has developed the best network in the region, according to independent benchmarker umlaut, part of Accenture.

Umlaut ranked Vodafone NZ as the best overall network in Southland, also coming out top in the data and voice categories.

In the data category for Southland, Vodafone achieved the highest overall score with the best average download throughput. In the voice category, Vodafone also achieved the highest overall score, with the best speech quality.

The accolade comes after Vodafone was ranked as New Zealand's 'Best in Test' mobile network earlier this year, based on network data and voice call quality.

Original article featured on Stuff