Data-Driven Marketing: Navigating the Now and Forming the Future

Data-driven marketing has proven to be an extremely useful tool for B2B brands to stay up to date with the ever-changing demands of their target audiences. How? Data provides you with a way to understand your B2B customers over time. With the economic uncertainty in the world today, the use of data in marketing has never been more important for your company.

Data-driven marketing and intent data are no new terms in the B2B world but are often misunderstood concepts. Intent data is a collection of data that represents a B2B customer’s online behavioural patterns and interactions with a certain brand, product or service. This information provides insights into their potential purchasing intentions. Want more detail? Check out this article explaining more on this topic… 

The Importance of Data-Driven Methods in B2B Marketing 

Using intent data in marketing is so important because it reduces the likelihood of wasted marketing spend. Instead, it ensures that you can create effective content that will reach the right audience at the right time. Why? Because your marketing output will be based on objective information about how your target audience interacts with your brand and your close competitors. This information forms the basis of understanding your audience’s current interests and requirements, allowing you to adapt your marketing accordingly. B2B marketers can therefore effectively use data to inform their decision making, targeting strategies and content production of their marketing campaigns.  

Measuring past metrics and live data of your B2B buyers behaviour not only enables your business to interpret the past and understand the present but also allows you to predict the future. Being able to spot future trends and forecast how the market needs could be evolving over time using data is paramount in determining your marketing success.

Check out this blog post for more reasons why and how data driven methods are critical for your marketing success.

 

Using Data to Navigate the ‘New Normal’

The current economic crisis has affected the entire business ecosystem. The emerging ‘new normal’ is difficult for any business to predict and adapt to. However, data can make this process much more achievable. 

Intent data can be used to identify and monitor how the current economic shift is altering B2B decision makers’ typical online behaviour. The ongoing uncertainty, the enforcement of remote working and the sudden economic decline has forced businesses to reprioritise their initiatives and rethink their strategies. Therefore, businesses’ need for certain products and services has also naturally changed. These alterations can be represented by changes in the online content consumption of B2B audiences measured via intent data. 

Let’s look at an example of this in action today;

The introduction of ‘working from home’ across the world has led to an increased demand for certain online tools and software to enable this to happen successfully. A report by Bombora highlighted that interest in ‘Security’ Intent topics has risen by nearly 35% in B2B audiences. This indicates an increased need to keep company information protected whilst employees work remotely. Similarly, a survey by TrustRadius demonstrated that 30% of software buyers worldwide would be spending more on video conferencing software to enable easier work from home conditions. This type of information is only accessible through exploring data.

Measuring these figures and identifying market trends lets your company tailor their response to the changing customer demands. For instance, by increasing the campaign budget for security or video technology services, creating respective landing pages or developing relevant content for social media channels.

So, data can provide some predictability in what seems to be a very unpredictable time. It will give you a better chance at producing content that is relevant, required and relatable. Data equips you with the ability to adapt your offering and adjust your marketing strategies to meet the new requirements of your customer.

The Future of Intent Data 

It is safe to conclude that data-driven marketing is essential for surviving the challenging times we are facing today. But how important is data for the future of B2B marketing?

During the current crisis many companies are having to make budget cutbacks and limit their spending across every business area. Hence, businesses are now focusing on improving their overall efficiencies and creating savings. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is to implement or increase your use of intent data. 

Data empowers you to make faster and more informed decisions. Data reduces the need for your employees to perform in depth, complicated and time consuming market analysis. Data lets you create content that your customers need at exactly the right time. Data reduces wastage in your campaigns. Data allows you to create a personalised experience for your customer increasing the likelihood that these customers will become qualified leads. All of these things improve the efficiency of your marketing operations and increase your campaigns’ ROI. 

In every crisis comes an opportunity. Use this time wisely and boost your data-driven techniques to cut your costs and improve the efficiency of your business functions. This is not only important for the present time but also imperative for the future success of your B2B brand. 

Summing it up 

The ‘new reality’ we are living in has altered how the majority of businesses operate and has transformed what B2B decision makers are prioritising. Intent data provides an effective and objective way to understand these changes. Through using data efficiently during a time of crisis you will be better prepared to face any future obstacles that may come your way. Hence, data-driven marketing will not only allow you to survive, but thrive beyond these unprecedented times. 

So what are you waiting for? Boost your use of data today to navigate the now and figure out the future of your business.