Business leads are like kale.
When my husband & I first got married, and after closing on our first house, we ran over to Costco to sign up for membership. We were incredibly excited about all the prospects. So much bacon! Toilet paper packages that barely fit in my car! I don’t think that I need these sweatpants, but they are the most comfortable pants I have ever worn, so in the shopping cart they go! The possibilities had no end. But, what would happen is that we would buy too much. A Costco membership just wasn’t necessary for this small “family” consisting of only my husband and I. Why was I running into a giant warehouse store when all I needed was kale? This comparison is how I like to think of business leads sometimes– like kale. If you believe that kale tastes like cardboard, you can think of business leads as something less healthy but more delicious. But I think it’s important to consider any business’ needs and goals when it comes to marketing.
Meaningful data belongs on every shopping list.
The best place to start a successful marketing campaign is to look at your existing customer data, or in other words, to analyze your customer file. Every business has valuable insights hidden within the data that they already have from previous customers. At ANS, we can help you to create a Customer Profile Report to understand better who is most interested in your products or services. A Customer Profile Report will take the information that you already have and offer proof of things that you might have previously assumed about your customers. It is a crucial shopping list item.
What you put in your shopping cart matters.
When I think of marketing as a whole, I think that it is important to tell what kind of a campaign or strategy is going to be most effective for your business. What you throw in your shopping cart is essential! Just like you never want to shop at Costco hungry, you never want to run a B2B marketing campaign blindly. (And if you read my first paragraph, you know how foolish this can be). That is, you never want to launch a B2B marketing campaign without the correct data showing you the right path. You can think of this data as a shopping list. Having the foresight to collect and analyze meaningful data, or in other words, compiling your shopping list is imperative to launching a successful campaign. The Business File from ANS is a great place to start.
The data behind data.
According to 2016 Benchmark Study regarding B2B buyers, “companies that exceeded lead and revenue goals were 7.4X as likely to have updated their personas in the last six months than those who have missed these targets.” These companies were also more than twice as likely to research the different motivations behind their buyers’ purchasing decisions. This study proves that data is an essential shopping cart item, not only for B2C campaigns but for your B2B marketing strategy as well.
What does this mean for your business?
Data-driven marketing is crucial to your B2B marketing strategy. It is the most apparent path to success and a high ROI. Understanding your needs when it comes to business leads is the first step in this type of strategy. At ANS, we are happy to help you determine which leads to target. We are also excited to announce the official launch of our ANS Data Store, which will effectively allow the business-savvy marketer to purchase targeted B2B leads at the click of a button. These quality business leads will help you to understand your audience better and to discover more customers. Visit our data store or reach out to us at sales@a-names.com to make sure all of the right items make it into your shopping cart.