Before delving into the ways that consumer journey data puts the marketer in control, make sure you have these two items checked off:

You are equipped to build your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
It's just shooting in the dark if you don't start with a deep understanding of who exactly your targets should be ahead of trying to understand those consumers' journeys. If you don't already know your ICP and are not in yet a position to build it, there are resources, such as predictive software, that will help you accomplish this step.

Awareness that there are resources for authoritative data.
There is too much data and too much noise in the marketplace, so many marketers don't know there is this kind of authoritative data is available, and have only ever had access to data from their own sites, CRM or marketing automation platform. You need to connect with a vendor that can provide this authoritative data before you can move forward.

Once you have those two things in place, you can truly engage with right time messaging throughout the journey. You can differentiate between one consumer who just entered the market and has started to research versus a consumer who has been researching online for three or four weeks. Each way you message to them can be customized to fit where they are in the journey.