B2B Data Driven Marketing [Infographic]

Data is a double edged sword. It can help businesses reach better decisions, but it can also lead to reckless actions and oversights that negatively impact their brand.

Data analysis is a major part of marketing strategy, and understanding how data helps businesses has been vital for its evolution from simple reporting to one of the most complicated components of marketing management today.

In this infographic post from Span Global Services, we will take a look at how B2B Data Driven Marketing can help your business grow.

What is data?

Data is a collection of information that can be used to analyze and forecast trends or patterns that can be measured by statistics or numerically.

Data is collected by businesses and organizations through objective methods such as surveys, interviews, and observation. It can also be obtained from publicly available information such as government records, websites, and social media platforms.

The use of data in marketing has gone far beyond just accumulating sales figures in excel sheets. Businesses are looking at how data can be used to predict the future in order to take advantage of trends that could potentially drive sales or increase profits.

Why use data?

Marketers use data to improve marketing effectiveness by making calculated decisions based on past performance of products or services. It is used to analyze what customers want, how they want, and why they are buying certain products or services.

Data can also reveal information on the strengths of brand recognition within a target audience, as well as weaknesses that are hindering growth. Data can also be used to create products that will appeal to specific target demographics who are potentially more profitable than others.

The use of data in marketing strategy has evolved from simple reporting on sales performance, to segmenting markets for tailored customer service strategies.

Types of data

There are numerous ways that companies collect and organize data for their marketing strategies. The most common forms are: demographic data, behavioral data, and transactional data.

Demographic data refers mainly to information about target customers such as gender, income level or demographics related to their location or zip code. It can also be useful for predicting future sales trends by identifying these characteristics in target markets.

Behavioral data comes from customer surveys, either online, through social media, or through word of mouth. It is important to identify how customers feel about the products or services that are offered by the brand.

Surveys are a great way to get feedback on product performance and satisfaction but it is also important to identify whether the market is receiving the right product at the right time.

Behavioral data can be used to reveal what kind of information customers want to see on products or what they consider important when making a purchase decision.

Transactional data refers to information about the services and products that customers want to buy as well as the ones they have bought by using a particular brand.

This can be used to provide detailed information on product performance, frequency of purchase, and how satisfied customers are with those items.

It is important to identify ways that companies can improve their relationships with current and potential customers. Transactional data can be used for categorizing future marketing strategies and even informing the creation of new products.

How to use data effectively

Data collection is only as good as its interpretation. It is important for businesses and marketers to be able to interpret and segment large amounts of data in order to uncover patterns and trends that can be used to make informed decisions about the future.

Data analysis provides companies with opportunities to identify areas of growth, brand strengths, or changes in demographics that can be used for improved future marketing strategies.

The best way to use data for improved marketing strategy is by keeping it simple. The number one rule of marketing is: focus on your audience and win them over with the product or service they want most, not what you want them to buy.

The first step for effective data analysis is to identify the most important indicators of performance, potential, or strength of a brand. Data is most useful when linked to the needs of customers so that businesses are able to provide them with products or services that they are most likely to want or need.

For example, Walmart uses sales numbers as an indicator of how well their brand is being received by customers. However, it can be very harmful when used in isolation since these numbers do not reveal how successful the brand is in reaching its target audience.

Using sales figures alone can lead to unrealistic expectations because it does not identify areas where growth has stagnated or declined.

Data can be used to predict market trends for new products, predict seasonality in sales, or give businesses a hint on when to offer discounts based on past trends.

In order to make calculated decisions about the future of a brand, the best way is to use data in the form of a funnel that distills voluminous amounts of information into interpretable bits that can be used for effective marketing strategies.

About the Author!

Rochelle Williams is a Senior Marketing Manager at Span Global Services. She has a strong marketing and advertising industry background and a deep understanding of SEO, SEM, SMO, branding, and allied marketing strategies.