Good data is essential for B2B marketing organizations to excel. Sirius Decisions research indicates that good data can increase revenue driven through marketing by 70%. It isn’t hard to believe, just ask any B2B marketer that has tried marketing to a bad prospect list.
Despite the positive impact data can have, B2B marketing organizations have been slow to embrace new sources and types of data.
In a recent #B2Bchat about new data available for B2B marketers, participants shared a number of concerns or barriers to using new data.
- Many participants simply assumed the data would be inaccurate. Burnt before, they are very slow to invest in new data.
- Concerns about the impact of incomplete data. What if a behavioral profile only reflects portions of behavior?
- Data is expensive, even good data often will not deliver ROI.
These are all valid concerns, but allowing fear to keep you from considering new opportunities or moving forward is a path to oblivion in any marketing.
Incorporating New Data Opportunities
Here is how you can overcome the concerns marketers have raised to adding new data into their B2B marketing efforts.
Data Quality
Start asking the questions about how data is captured and how it is maintained. Nearly every provider is willing to share this information and has ways to illustrate the quality or accuracy of the data.
Partial Profiles
There is no perfectly complete source of data available. The real question is if there is enough information to improve your marketing.
Cost
Some data providers will offer free tests to determine both cost efficiency and quality, others will offer discounts or waive minimums to prove the effectiveness of the information they are offering. Look for opportunities to test and prove the effectiveness.
The full discussion covered a number of specific types of data and included an interesting side conversation about testing. Highlights from the full #B2Bchat discussion are below or available here on Storify.
New Data Opportunities for B2B Marketers
Highlights from #B2Bchat discussion on Thursday, November 8, 2012.
Storified by Eric Wittlake · Mon, Nov 12 2012 23:06:43
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