Data Is the Biggest Lever in Digital Marketing Right Now

Digital marketing veteran Vlad Zhovtenko reveals why data has become the single biggest lever in modern e-commerce marketing. After 25 years in the industry, he explains how businesses can transform from guessing to growing by owning and leveraging their customer data strategically. We explore how the shift from platform-dependent marketing to data ownership creates competitive advantages, why TikTok's rise as a search engine changes everything, and how AI is reshaping how customers discover and buy products. Vlad shares his practical framework for identifying the 1-2 metrics that actually drive business growth, avoiding the AI analysis trap, and adapting to constant platform algorithm changes. Key Point Timestamps: 07:49 - Data as the biggest single lever in digital marketing 08:46 - How businesses can now own and control their data 10:14 - TikTok's evolution into a major search engine 17:55 - Framework for choosing metrics that matter 20:45 - Real example: The missing chat button case study 25:06 - Why AI can't replace business context 34:12 - Starting an e-commerce business the right wayData as the Ultimate Marketing Lever (07:49) Vlad cuts straight to the heart of modern digital marketing: "I don't think it has changed much, at least in my perception. I say that is data. It's just that for the last sort of like five years maybe, the data became a real lever for you." The fundamental shift isn't about new platforms or tactics—it's about ownership. For years, e-commerce operators were digital sharecroppers, planting campaigns on Meta's land and Google's tools while never controlling the insights that powered their growth. Now businesses can feed their own data back to platforms with proper rules and regulations, becoming "the source to train their optimisation." This creates a compound advantage where your data improves your results, which generates better data, creating an upward spiral that competitors can't easily replicate.The Search Revolution Hiding in Plain Sight (10:14) While businesses obsess over Google rankings, consumer behaviour has fundamentally shifted. "TikTok is growing to become a major search engine just because how many people use it," Vlad explains. This creates a three-layer challenge:Traditional SEO strategies may miss where your customers actually searchAI recommendation engines operate on completely different rules than search botsSocial commerce platforms blur the lines between discovery and purchase The solution isn't to abandon Google, but to understand where your specific audience searches and optimise accordingly. "Getting the data as to how they operate, getting into that game if search engine traffic is important for a business is critical," Vlad notes.The Framework That Cuts Through Data Overwhelm (17:55) Vlad's approach to metrics selection is brilliantly simple. Focus on three questions: "What you can actually measure" – Many businesses track metrics they can't properly measure, leading to decisions based on unreliable data. "What you can actually influence" – Tracking vanity metrics you can't directly impact wastes mental energy and resources. "Pick up out of them, I don't know, one or two" that actually push the business forward. He demonstrates this with a practical example: A jewellery maker saw leads dip in August. Instead of diving into conversion optimisation, Vlad identified the real bottleneck was lead generation. The business expected 30-something customers to commit to in-person visits without easier ways to ask initial questions. One missing chat button was throttling the entire business.Beyond Platform Dependence (25:06) The temptation to dump data into AI and expect magic insights is strong, but Vlad warns against this "lottery-ticket approach" to...