Every marketer knows that good data is the cornerstone to any successful B2B marketing campaign. Whether you’re targeting a mass audience or a specific niche group, the success of a campaign depends on getting relevant information on those leads or prospects to generate and expand your sales funnel. Getting the right data, from the right people, at the right moment can often be the difference between a stagnant response or a brilliant outreach program that will reap the rewards your sales and marketing efforts deserve.
The problem is, you might not have this data readily available to you. And this is where purchasing B2B data lists from a reputable provider can make all the difference to refocusing and augmenting the effectiveness of your campaigns. Let’s take a quick look through the benefits! Exposure to a wider audience, criteria-specific information, from the number of employees, to decision maker’s email addresses and updated company revenue figures. You can even gain access to social media profiles to conduct multi-channel campaigns! Provided you find the right data provider, you can run your campaigns with all this information at your fingertips.
So, what are the drawbacks I hear you say? Well, certain data providers in the past have been known to draw criticism for not delivering on their service offerings. However, you shouldn’t let a small minority drag down the entire industry. There are plenty of reputable data providers out there, it’s all about finding the right one for your specific needs.
If you’re currently sitting on the fence about whether to invest in B2B data lists, then the answer is yes, you should. A word of warning though, you should only be willing to take this endeavour on if you’re willing to take the time to research your data partner and not flippantly buy mass data that isn’t likely to meet the key target criteria that your company requires.
The Importance of B2B Data Today
We’ve talked about why you should definitely consider B2B data lists as a booster to your marketing campaigns but you might be wondering why it’s so important in the first place. A big factor when analysing the growing importance of having the right data at hand, is the Internet. If you look back at how consumer behaviour has changed over the last few decades, technology and online activity are the driving forces behind it. The whole concept of marketing has also changed with the times. Did you know that, on average, B2B buyers are typically 70% of the way through their respective buying journey before they even think to speak to any single sales professional? In this new climate, the last thing you want to do is contact potential leads or prospects with a product offering they’ve never heard of or researched before.
Given this new normal, the current emphasis is placed on finding the right buyers, at the right stage of their consumer journey. Buying a good data list will go a long way in ensuring that you’re driving the right kind of traffic back on to your website, where hopefully you’ll be able to pick up the product pages that your leads are landing on. We can help you with that.
What’s the difference between good data and bad data?
As we mentioned before, there are data providers out there that do let the side down. Whether you’re looking to buy specific data points such as postal and email addresses, social media profiles, phone numbers or any other type of data, the endeavour is only worth your time if it’s coming from a trustworthy source. Problems can occur if you buy from a provider that has obtained data through unethical or dishonest means or collected outdated or inaccurate records that no longer provide any value. Including this data in your campaigns could ultimately do a lot more harm than good, in particularly severe circumstances it could:
- Damage the reputation or even end up blocking your sending domains.
- Ruin your brand image.
- Fall foul of legislation (We’ve all heard about GDPR but are you keeping up to date with PECR and ePrivacy developments?).
- Waste valuable resources, plus your time and effort.
The list above is not exhaustive, you could equally end up annoying potential clients and ultimately see a decrease in the effectiveness of your campaigns, through unsubscribes or decreased response rates. Clearly, this outcome doesn’t bring you any closer to achieving your wider business goals, so always make sure to check and double check what it is your data partner is providing. Remember to ask the right questions about the validity of the data they’re offering, how they obtained it and which sources they drew it from. Also, watch out for the very tiny small print! Why not read one of our previous blogs on what makes a trustworthy data provider?
Now for the good news. Good quality data can provide a real springboard to success for your marketing efforts. By ‘good’, we mean updated account records, detailed information on leads or prospects, no duplicate accounts, and a clear link to how that data was obtained and from where. This kind of data has the potential to help you reach those campaign objectives, we’re talking click through rates through the roof, increased response rates, higher sales funnel activity, fewer qualified out leads from a sales perspective and ultimately, new, happy customers that have gone through the right purchasing journey with your company. The best possible starting point to building great and long-term relationships with your clients and a real USP with regards to the competition.
Whether we’ve convinced you of the value of buying B2B data lists or not, the evidence points in the direction that, when researched and implemented correctly, it can be a game changer to your marketing efforts. Given the uncertain times we’re facing, it’s now more important than ever to really drive home the value of your brand voice to potential leads and in order to do that, you’ll need the best data. Buying good quality data is the most efficient way to drive high value accounts to the top of your sales funnel and help you achieve those marketing milestones you set yourself for 2020 and beyond.
