Adobe Marketo, Oracle Eloqua, and other marketing users are accustomed to handling and manipulating large amounts of vital data. But in the day-to-day process of working in a marketing automation system, CDP, or CRM, it can be easy to forget that this data and integrations need regular check-ups. Rather than distributing this responsibility to several marketing team members, appointing a single expert to perform this task may be better. This, simply put, is the role of a data steward.

What Does a Data Steward Do?

A data steward plays an important role in data management and governance, as they help the organization leverage its data assets and processes to full capacity and avoid risks and costs associated with poor data quality and broken processes. They ensure the quality and fitness of your marketing data, such as contacts, accounts, and campaigns. They may also be responsible for ensuring the security and privacy of the data that an organization collects, uses, and shares. Their job duties include:

• Defining and documenting data elements, standards, policies, and rules
• Identifying and resolving data quality issues and conflicts
• Monitoring and enforcing data governance practices and compliance
• Educating and collaborating with data users and stakeholders
• Advocating for and promoting data-driven decision-making and innovation

Data stewards also handle time-consuming but critical parts of data management, including but not limited to:

• Data cleansing: removing or correcting inaccurate, incomplete, or duplicate data
• Data normalization: standardizing the format or naming of data fields
• Data enrichment: adding or updating relevant data attributes
• Data integration: connecting and synchronizing data from different sources
• Data analysis: measuring and reporting on data performance and insights

Improving Your Campaigns with a Data Steward

Given how important data is to every step of your marketing campaigns, it’s hard to overstate how important of a role the data steward plays. Ensuring your data is in expert hands will dramatically improve how that data is processed and used . The data steward’s contributions will help alleviate many of your marketing concerns, most notably:

• Deliverability: ensuring your emails reach the intended recipients
• Segmentation: reaching the correct, personalized audiences
• Reporting: generating accurate and meaningful metrics and dashboards
• Compliance: adhering to data privacy and security regulations
• Satisfaction: meeting or exceeding customer expectations and needs

Is Your Marketing Data in Good Hands?

As a marketing professional, you understand the importance of accurate, easily accessible data. But you also know that you don’t have the time to manage your marketing campaigns and handle the massive amount of information that needs to be secured, quality-checked, or funneled to the appropriate places. An Eloqua data steward can handle all of that. All you have to do is find an expert—and we can help with that. Contact us today to learn more.