Your Gameplan for Leveraging Data and Reaching Revenue Goals in 2024 — Part One

As the new year looms large on the horizon, every marketer feels the pressure to make this year the one in which breakthrough occurs, goals are realized, and lasting mutually beneficial relationships are forged. These are all worthy goals, or resolutions as the case may be, and in today’s blog we’ll walk you through a few actionable steps for you to take in order to close the gap between your reach and the leaf-piles of revenue that are just waiting for you to rake them in.

Defining Goals

“So tell me what you want, what you really, really want.” ~ Spice Girls, Wannabe

Before we embark on our path toward becoming celebrated corporate rainmakers, it’s important to be clear about what it is you are striving toward. Research shows that people who set goals are 43 percent more likely to achieve them. This means you need to write down in detail precisely what you intend to make happen this year. For example, it’s not enough to say, we’re going to improve the quality of our leads and increase sales. You need to be specific and say, “In the first quarter we’re going to double the number of last quarter’s leads and increase our close rate by 25 percent.” In that one short sentence, we just set two very measurable goals, and now that we know what to measure, it’s much easier to draw a linear path between the dream and its realization.

Pro Tip: If you are having trouble articulating what it is you want, start by looking at last year’s data and pinpoint a few areas where you want to see change. Then, set a measurable goal for each area you chose.

Targeting the Right People

“People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.” ~ Barbara Streisand, People

When we talk about generating revenue, it’s hard not to imagine a giant cash machine spitting out dollars at our will, but in truth, this phrase is deceptive because no one is actually “making money” apart from the federal reserve and a few master counterfeiters. All revenue that is “generated” came from a person, who heard the pitch, liked what they heard, and decided to buy what you are selling. So now that we’ve made it abundantly clear that all sales are personal, and every buy is emotional, let’s dare to be a bit hypocritical by using data to clone the sort of people who spend the most money with us.

Developing an Ideal Customer Profile

“We’re having some decent friends over.” ~ Holly Hunter, Raising Arizona

When you think about the people you need to attract in order to sell more products and/or services you should begin to note some patterns and commonalities that your best customers and biggest deals have. Naturally, these patterns will occur in your data as you analyze customers using a variety of variables such as demographics, geography, industry, size, titles, etc. Knowing the characteristics of your dream customer is also known as an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and this info is critical to your ability to target the right people with the right message that addresses their particular interests, and solves their unique problems.

Form a Top 10 List

“Who Can It Be Now?” ~ Men at Work, Who Can It Be Now
To develop your ICP, take an inventory of your best customers and compare those findings with other business units, like sales and customer service. Determine which customers everyone agrees are high value and form a list of your top 10 customers. Once you have your 10, it’s time to do a side-by-side comparison of each one, and note what attributes they have in common. Start broad and then go granular. Don’t worry about how long your list is. It’s better to have too many attributes than not enough. Once you’ve got your attribute list, it’s time to prioritize the most valuable characteristics. By the end of this practice, you should see a profile emerge of who your ideal customer is.

Pro Tip: Your ICP needs to be based on real customer data, not opinions or agendas. It is objective, quantifiable, and specific. Use nouns and verbs instead of adjectives to describe ICPs.

Establish List Segments

“These are a few of my favorite things.” Julie Andrews, My Favorite Things

Targeting the right customers with the right messages through personalized campaigns is much easier to do when you use your ICPs to segment your campaign lists into groups that share similar interests, backgrounds, needs, budgets, etc. Aside from being an economical and effective way to make the most of your marketing budget, segmenting your lists allows you to test a variety of pain points on small cross sections of your audience and discover what resonates. Armed with insights on what works best for each customer profile, you’ll soon be able to scale content that is proven to strike a chord with your best customers and begin winning outliers as well. According to research from email giants, Constant Contact, segmented lists are proven to produce these results:

• Increased engagement — Relevant content always enhances campaign performance.
• Better ROI— Reach the right people with the right message at the right time.
• Reduce churn — Relevant content encourages people to stay subscribed.
• Boost loyalty — Personalized content (according to segments) makes customers feel seen, heard and loyal.

Stay Tuned: In Part 2 of Your Gameplan for Leveraging Data and Reaching Revenue Goals in 2024, we’ll explore the role that high-quality data plays in personalizing content, choosing the right channels and measuring your progress toward reaching revenue goals.

Let’s Make 2024 Your Best Year Yet

At Sureshot, we have a team of experts and a portfolio of data, messaging and CX solutions that are proven to help you realize a greater ROI on your marketing strategy and initiatives. To find out how we can help you go from setting goals to achieving them, start by taking our FREE Martech Assessment.