Having access to good data is key in B2B marketing. Much more complex than B2C, B2B decision-making includes multiple stakeholders and a more formal, and many times lengthy, approvals process.
A recent buyers’ survey found that 83% of B2B executives agreed that decisions to purchase are often pushed up or put on hold due to ever-changing market conditions, and that the preference is to work with companies that provide a more flexible approach to their products or services.
Unpredictable shifts in the global economy, such as the current pandemic, have drastically altered the need for companies to provide more direct, streamlined, and transparent customer experiences. Agility seems to have become a key factor in the ongoing success of B2B companies attracting and retaining customers.
What Bad Data Costs You
Recent IBM research shows that bad data costs the U.S. economy a staggering $3.1 TRILLION per year. Don’t let bad data cost you, both financially and in reputation. Here are just a few reasons why your business can’t afford to have bad data:
- A database that includes old, outdated, and irrelevant information can make your email campaigns less effective, causing email bounce to soar, getting caught in the SPAM trap, or never reaching their intended audience; or when they do, the message is not relevant to them. Examples of inefficiencies include targeting people in the wrong industry or department; targeting based on old or outdated contact info on people who now work for other companies, etc.
- Creates credibility issues for both you and your client.
- Makes for wasteful and inefficient marketing spend.
Thankfully, there are steps to undertake that can keep your databases clean, updated, and relevant for today’s highly mobile and digital world.
Three Steps to Improving Your Database
Reach your target audience, build trust, and customer relationships when you take these three actionable steps:
- Data enhancement. Add missing data points to your B2B databases such as firmographic information like job title, budget, or number of employees.
- Email append. Email is still king when it comes to marketing. Reinvigorate your email campaigns by using practical append services designed to provide missing business email addresses, prospects’ updated business emails when they move from one company to another, and even provide their personal (B2C) email address for more effective outreach.
- Email hygiene. Email addresses can decay rapidly, from 20 to 30% in just one year. Email hygiene cleans up your data of wrong or irrelevant data points, which can make your email outreach more efficient and responsive.
These steps should be part of your company’s ongoing best practices to keep your databases clean, current, actionable, and engaging. If, for whatever reason, this isn’t something that can be done in-house, strongly consider finding a trusted vendor to carry out these important tasks on your behalf.
Reach Your Professional Audience Wherever They Are
Now more than ever, how and where professionals work is changing. So wise businesses who pivot quickly, adjusting to reach them where they are today, on any device, go a long way to provide professional audiences with the flexibility and ease they have come to expect from the buying experience.
Having bad data working against you, coupled with inaccurate targeting and irrelevant messaging, is not only a waste of money but is a poor reflection on companies and their clients.
Accurate data, on the other hand, allows you to get a more holistic view of your ideal B2B customer, allowing you the ability to provide an optimal data-driven customer experience when you target precise audiences, which along with compelling, relevant messaging and creatives that are both eye-catching and technical, help to capture hard-to-reach B2B audiences.
Aside from data, B2B lead generation services and a variety of affordable and customizable omnichannel managed service options, Stirista’s team is dedicated, first and foremost, to helping our clients reduce their business costs and create efficiencies that allow you to focus on what you do best. Let us help you reach your most valuable prospects, while at the same time, helping you grow your business and increase your ROI.
Contact us to learn more or let us know how we can serve you.
