Companies With Mature Data Practices Perform Better

So many touch points, so little time. As the B2B customer journey becomes all the more complex, it also presents marketers with the opportunity to understand and service the needs of current and potential buyers like never before.

So many touch points, so little time. As the B2B customer journey becomes all the more complex, it also presents marketers with the opportunity to understand and service the needs of current and potential buyers like never before.

However, despite the vast amount of data that B2B marketers now have at their disposal, just 50% of sales and marketing decisions are made using that information, according to new report by Forrester Consulting, on behalf of Dun & Bradstreet, which surveyed 500 respondents with responsibility or influence over their company’s data strategy or management.

“Half of B2B companies are struggling to go from analysis to activation across marketing and sales activities,” said Derek Slayton, GM and global leader of Dun & Bradstreet’s sales and marketing line of business. “It continues to be the No. 1 impediment to marketing because it is not possible to orchestrate campaign outreach that is multichannel, multifaceted, sequenced, and consistent without data analysis and activation.”

Here’s the good news: While many B2B firms are challenged with data management, those that are using more mature data practices are seeing a significant impact across marketing, sales, and customer goals, the study found. Additionally, they are more accurate with campaign attribution and personalization, and are more likely to report improved sales cycle speed, return on marketing spend, and customer loyalty, according to the study.

How do they do it? Mature organizations reported they are using “advanced analytics techniques,” as well as organizing and disseminating key insights across the organization.

“Having a unified data layer within your company is critical to being able to aggregate these insights and press ‘go’ across multiple execution systems, whether it’s programmatic ad buying, social marketing, e-mail marketing, or sales campaigning,” Slayton told CMO.com. “The key is solving for how those things are going to be connected as the data gets pushed into those systems. That is where I think most marketers should start.”

http://www.dnb.com/marketing/media/b2b-data-activation-priority.html