3 Steps to a Data-Driven Marketing Strategy That Drives Results

Although 76 percent of marketers maintain they make decisions based on data, 54 percent from the same research confessed that they find maintaining data quality a challenge. Based on these findings, only 22 percent of marketers are making decisions based on data they know is high-quality. That’s not good. In fact, to base decisions off of data of suspicious quality is really no better than siding with the 24 percent of marketers who are defiantly relying on gut instincts to drive their decision-making. It’s sort of like deciding to carry an umbrella based on your horoscope instead of the latest weather data. This brings us to our first point:

1. Make Your Data Clean Up Its Act

If you find yourself among the 54 percent who are wary of the quality of their data, we’ve got some good news: it’s both easy and economical to maintain high data quality. First, draw up a list of all your data sources. Note how each source collects and shares data. For example, if your primary database is a marketing automation platform (MAP) or a customer relationship management (CRM) system, write down where it’s getting information, as in is the data first, second or third party?

Who’s On First? What’s On Second?

First party is data you own that was likely gathered through web form submissions, trade shows, etc. Second party data is information you have obtained “freely” from another company that shared its contact list(s) with you during a joint venture. Third party data is data you purchased from a reputable vendor, like ZoomInfo or D&B. Each of the three parties offers varying levels of quality. Third party data is typically of a higher quality since the vendor must be vigilant about maintaining list quality in order to ensure repeat customers. The level of quality coming from first and second party data will vary depending on how often you and your business partners are cleaning and maintaining your lists.

Put Data Quality On Auto-Pilot

Once you know what data you have and where it is coming from, you will want to connect your database and any other tools in your martech stack to a Customer Data Platform (CDP), like Sureshot Command. A good CDP automates the process of ensuring that all data stored in your database, and all data used by the tools in your martech stack is clean, complete, current, enriched and ready-to-use in real-time. Your CDP should also give you a centralized view (dashboard) of your connected data so you can see data across your enterprise, as well as inside each of your marketing segments. Once you know that your data quality is high, you can join the elite 22 percent of marketers who confidently make decisions based on high-quality data.

2. Enhance Your Customer Targeting

When you know the data you are using is clean, it empowers you to segment your customers with greater precision. A recent study found that “segmented email campaigns have an open rate that is 14.32% higher than non-segmented campaigns.” That is nearly a 15 percent boost in customer engagement based solely on segmentation, and who couldn’t use that?

Create High-Value Segments Based On Real-Life Customers

In addition to helping you be more targeted in your marketing campaign messages, segmenting your customers enables you to create more personalized interactions that build brand loyalty and drive results. Be sure to create segments based on customers that have consistently produced value for your company. To do this, feel free to combine a variety of data attributes to hone in on your sweet spot segment. For example, if the majority of your sales come from marketing directors (demographics) at mid-size (firmographics), Midwestern (geographics) companies that typically spend $30K per purchase (customer behavior), then create a segment around this customer ideal. To learn more about how to segment your customers, read Parts One and Two of our blog:  6 Steps to a Stellar B2B Segmentation Strategy.

3. Leverage Personalization to Create Stronger Campaigns

According to Neil Patel, “Nearly 95 percent of companies say that personalizing email campaigns is crucial for their current and future success. However, almost 60 percent of marketers say they struggle with personalizing emails.” Perhaps the number one reason most marketers struggle with personalizing their campaigns is because of the “apparent” complexity involved in creating personalized multi-channel campaigns. However, when it comes to marketing campaigns, things that “appear” complex may not be that complicated once you integrate a content management system (CMS). In truth, producing data-driven marketing campaigns becomes remarkably simple and infinitely scalable once you automate the process of pulling, sending and managing content.

Manage Content and Enable Sales

A good CMS will integrate seamlessly with your stack, and perpetually mine and retrieve content from a variety of connected sources. Next, it will repurpose that content to create highly personalized campaigns across a variety of channels, from SMS and MMS text campaigns, to RSS feeds, email campaigns, direct mail and more. A CMS is also a great tool for fostering mutually rewarding relationships between marketing and sales. To gain this advantage, look for a CMS that integrates with your sales team’s CRM, and allows them to select and send templates featuring marketing-approved content that’s proven to drive results.