Tackle the data challenge

What is data-driven marketing?

Data has become a vital resource for any organisation. And like every resource, it needs to be collected, checked, organised and enriched. And most importantly; it has to be used efficiently.

In marketing, that means collecting and analysing data by creating interactions and stimulating customer engagement. That data is then used to create a more meaningful, more personal customer experience and to turn targets into leads and leads into customers. In short, data-driven marketing means determining what data you need, how to get it and how to put it to work.

Data? What data?

So what data are we talking about? Depending on what you sell, who you sell it to and what your company strategy is, you may be interested in different sets of data. Here’s three types of information that are commonly used in data-driven marketing:

Demographics

When profiling your leads, you need to look at demographics – quantifiable identifiers that characterize your lead population. This is relevant in B2C and B2B markets.

• Gender
• Title
• E-mailadress
• Education
• Age
• Income

Firmographics

If you’re in a B2B market, there are certain company characteristics that can help you find your ideal customer organisation. These are called firmographics.

• Name of organisation
• Size
• Location
• Revenue / Turnover
• Industry
• Geographic markets served
• Current vendors / solutions

BANT

For a more advanced lead qualification, you can determine you can analyse their BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeframe).

• Budget: Can this lead afford your product or service?
• Authority: Is your lead a decision maker or an influencer?
• Need: Is there a pain or need that your solution can solve?
• Timeframe: What’s your lead’s purchasing timeframe? Does it align with your sales cycle?

Sure, but what about GDPR?

Gathering, storing, and using personal data is strictly regulated.

So make sure you have your boxes checked and bases covered, or work with a partner who has the best practices and expertise to relieve you of these concerns.

How to get the data you need.

Determining the data you’d like to collect is easy. Actually getting it is a different ball game. It requires tools, know-how and technical chops, not to mention a strong will to keep optimising and improving.

In order to acquire all the data you are looking for, you need to offer an attractive trade-off, or to be precise: a meaningful series of attractive trade-offs. This is most commonly known as progressive profiling.

The idea is that you offer your leads relevant content or experiences, for which they give you some of the information you are looking for. Every piece of information you gather can be used to personalise the next step in their buyer journey.

Putting your data to work

Once you have determined the data you need and once you have figured out the relevant trade-offs in order to get that data, it’s time to string it all together. The most important part here is to never lose sight of your potential customer. Gathering data just to feed your CRM is not going to result in more sales or happy customers. Data-driven marketing uses the gathered data to create a more relevant buyer journey or customer experience. At the end of this buyer journey, there’s a smooth and logical hand-off to sales. And your sales experts will have a clear picture of who is before them, and of what they are looking for.

This process of mapping out an intuitive buyer journey with relevant content and experiences – and of capturing lead data along the way – can be fully automated by way of marketing automation. This will allow your organisation to create highly personalised campaigns for a large target group, with minimal effort.

The proof of the pudding...

…is in the eating. This is how we put the theory to the test:

One of our real-estate clients asked us to automate the lead acquisition and nurturing of one of their most prestigious residential developments.

We created a fully automated funnel with lead scoring, progressive profiling and tailored content to guide leads smoothly through their buyer journeys.

At the end of the ride, they received a fully personalised invitation for the project launch, with a first chance to take an option on the apartments and houses in this new neighbourhood.

They met with a sales representative that knew who they were, what type of house or apartment they were looking for, and if they were interested in an investment or a new home for themselves.

Interested in data-driven marketing?

Do you want to know more about your potential customers? Interested in improving customer experience, offering personalised content and preparing your organisation for a data-driven future?

Get in touch. We’d love to run you through the possibilities.