“It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data” – Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlett, Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle
Why is data so important in b2b marketing? To put it simply, numbers don’t lie. The use of up-to-date and accurate information enables marketers to define their target audience and deliver personalised and relevant messages in marketing campaigns. This in turn helps businesses to build stronger relationships with potential customers and create higher quality leads and conversions. Evaluating the performance of a campaign is essential to establishing if it has been successful or not. Yet, many companies aren’t properly tracking and analysing their results, having a detrimental impact on evaluation and future marketing efforts.
Data can enable you to achieve successful marketing campaigns by helping with the following three steps:
1. Understanding industry trends
Humans are creatures of habit, which makes us quite predictable. Analysing marketing data enables you to learn the buying patterns of your customers, including purchasing drivers and when they are most likely to purchase. This information, along with industry data, will also give you deeper insight into wider trends within the market place. Without measuring customer behaviours, you could miss major opportunities for growth.
2. Choosing the right path
Data, such as key performance indicators (KPIs) or metrics, enable you to compare actual results against targets and assess the overall effectiveness of the campaign. Tracking data will give you an indication of what went well and why, as well as the aspects that didn’t perform as well as expected. Based on these findings, you will gain insight on how to optimise future strategies, without repeating the same mistakes. In addition, documenting accurate data can also enable you to make more informed decisions. Whether it’s choosing an advert type or creating a new product positioning, your marketing data will allow you to act quicker and more accurately.
3. Justifying marketing spend
Qualifying campaign budget is a challenge faced by many B2B marketers. Without correct data, you can’t measure the impact your activities have had on the business. When proving the value of spends, it is important to talk the same language as your CFO. This can be done by calculating Return on Investment (ROI) or the traditional Market Budget Ratio (MBR). If you can demonstrate that the results provide suitable return, you are 1.6 times more likely to get a higher budget than those that don’t.[1]
Understanding your data is the key to successful marketing campaigns. It can help to reduce the risk of wasting time and money on strategies that don’t work, as well as allow you to understand what your customers want. If you don’t monitor your activity results on a regular basis, this can limit the evolution of campaigns and have a negative impact on outputs. After all, data is king.
If you would like to learn more about how we can help with your data challenges, call us today on +(0)161 925 4700 or email us at [email protected].
[1] Hubspot, 2017, State of Inbound 2017