Outpace Your Competition And Control Expenses With A Data-Driven Marketing Program
Not long ago, marketing was all about standing on the tallest mountain and screaming the loudest. Today’s savvy marketers are demanding (and getting) a whole new level of performance and accountability using data-driven marketing programs.
We’ve seen clients significantly increase lead-generation, conversion, visibility and accountability by changing their Customer Engagement strategy to a focus on data-driven marketing. Creating predictable growth with data-driven marketing is not just something we are seeing with our clients, companies in virtually every industry are outpacing their competition utilizing this strategy.
So, what is data-driven marketing? It is using technology and data to speak to your customers and prospects on a very individual level. It is understanding what prospects need and when they are ready for human interaction. Most of all, it is a necessary initiative for any organization moving forward and, the ones that embrace it first, will have the very real advantage.
The following are three steps to establish a data-driven marketing program:
Step 1 – Unify your (internal) data – this means pulling data from all the different data sources or silos. The trick is to keep the data dynamic (near real-time). The more current the information, the better your team can help support growth and serve your customer base.
Step 2 – Enable a DMP or Data Management Platform – To simplify things, think of your DMP as a big bucket that can manage all your data (internal and external). This tool will keep your data in order, help with data-governance issues and go a long way to ensuring your data is “clean”. Again, these data sources are not typically static data – they are changing all the time.
Step 3 – Empower the Front Lines – You are now in a position to make your data one of the biggest and most productive assets within your organization. Now sales and marketing can “naturally” work together to predictably grow revenue and profits.
Marketing – Utilizing a Marketing Automation Platform, you will now be able to track every “touch point” with clients and prospects. Imagine knowing that John Doe has been to your site four times in the last two months, attended a webinar and downloaded a white paper. Your Marketing Automation platform will allow you to micro-segment your individual target markets and apply a “lead-score” for each prospect to help you manage your resources and convert leads to customers.
Sales – Alas, sales and marketing can now work hand-in-hand. With a data-driven marketing program, they will come to heavily rely on one another. The successful growth of your company is now incumbent on sales and marketing working together.
This may sound complex – frankly, on some fronts it is. However, it is very doable and predictably profitable. Rather than hiring full-time team members to fill the necessary positions, our clients look to OneAccord Digital to deliver a monthly pay-as-you-go solution. We have the staff to immediately deploy and your TCO (total cost of ownership) is often significantly less than an internal effort.
Now is the time to embrace a data-driven marketing initiative. If you agree, send us an email and we will set up a time to give you and your organization a free assessment of how you can predictably and cost effectively grow your company.
By Tom Poole, OneAccord Principal