Marketing has not escaped the shift to a digital, data-dependent economy. Most critically, marketers can no longer rely on gut feelings (or "I think this will work") to play a dominant role in strategy. Here are just a few eye-opening statistics: Marketers' number one challenge is understanding customer interactions across all touchpoints. A Forbes survey showed that 88% of marketers use data obtained by third parties to better understand each customer; 66% use marketing data to enhance targeting offers, messages, and content; and 33% of top marketers say the right data collection and analysis technologies are most useful in getting to know customers. With more data than ever before, today's marketing teams prove their value to the rest of the company by leveraging this information -- by integrating deep-dive analysis of accurate, real-time data into marketing strategies -- to derive insights that help them finely tailor marketing efforts to customers' pains and expectations.