Marketers live in a data-driven world. The better the data, the better decisions they can make about programs that increase sales, retention, and retention. But in reality, marketing is always struggling to get through its own data so it can no longer rely on third-party data to create a better customer experience.
In The CMO State of the Union Wunderkind report, B2C CMOs said the raw data had the least impact on sales:
Since legacy SaaS can only identify up to 5% of a brand's website visitors at any given time, marketers say that first-party data has the least positive impact on bottom line. Brands need to find ways to unlock first-party data as a new performance channel to compensate for the loss of third-party cookies.
This is a B2C study, but if we look at B2B marketing, we will also see the difficulty of combining first-party data and relying on third-party data, which makes absolutely no sense when the core of your marketing strategy is based on advertising.
Information communication and technical silos
Another reference for data calls. Anteraid's Outlook 2022 Data and Technology reveals that two-thirds of marketers do not have a comprehensive data strategy to inform marketing. and be:
- 35% say data is not standardized across the system
- 33% say their gadgets don't appeal to everyone
- 26% say their data is out of date
The range of marketing techniques can be very wide - especially with the amount of technology available. But the idea that we can't share data between systems is outdated. Almost all marketing and sales technology is connected to Salesforce and often HubSpot, the primary sales marketing tool.
According to Anteraid's report, 61% of marketers have a CRM (customer relationship management system) and 35% have a marketing automation (MA) platform (HubSpot meets both of these requirements for small and medium-sized businesses). Intrade reports are based on medium-sized companies. You can expect companies to show a higher percentage of these platforms.
It's true that not all technologies in marketing packages integrate easily with others, but many do come with out-of-the-box connectors or toolkits that contain open APIs for establishing connections. Even if you've ventured into smaller and newer connectorless technologies, there are tools to help you make connections (like Zapier). Of course, this requires an open API, but what technology doesn't offer an API nowadays?
Marketers also need to step back and take a closer look at their tech stack. Too much technology in the stack often doesn't offer any added value. Eager to try out the latest strategies or tactics, marketers are also adding technology to their stack faster than the marketing operations team (if any) can integrate. The table below shows stack complexity for many companies.
The first step is to understand your group's core technology and make sure it's integrated and data is properly shared between them. Some companies use CDP (Customer Data Platform) as the central storage for all data flowing between applications. But even if you don't have CDP, you can be sure to integrate your core technology.
Then your operations team must integrate additional technologies into the stack by pooling the data.
Individual data is worth its weight in gold, but we still haven't realized its full potential
Be it B2B or B2C, relying on third party data when there is first party data in the system and you need to use it can be confusing. For the PLG company, the data is pure gold. Marketers can see who has signed up for a free trial or free trial and see how they are using the app. But even if you don't have a free version of your app, you can still access your app usage data through tools that tell you about the companies and people who use the app.
All of this information can then be used by Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success to network and learn more about the company, what they do, the challenges they face, and who brought them to the app. It's about gaining an understanding of KPIs and their needs, which impact everything from marketing and sales to products, customer success and customer service).
These are all first person data.
Marketing can then use this data and use an account-based marketing platform or CDP to analyze the data to find similar companies to sell to through the ad campaigns for which you are running campaigns (ad account based), email campaigns, or other genes.
Analyzing their data also helps marketers understand the entire customer lifecycle and find ways to increase loyalty and retention. Natalie Cunningham, Chief Marketing Officer of Terminus, talks about using proprietary data to support the entire customer lifecycle:
You want to use your own data and see which customers turn professional. What do they have in common? is that the size? Is it industry? Is this the kind of product that has been introduced and expanded? Sometimes it's no longer about who they are, but more about how they sell what we sell to them and what makes them more successful. Sometimes geography or region can make a big difference depending on the product. So let's start with the analysis process itself.
Intent data (third-party data) will continue to play a role, but how marketers use first-party data is now important. The focus should be on linking master data between major programs. The 2022 Gartner Marketing Technology study shows that this will happen with an integrated package approach (basically all of them are Adobe, Oracle, or other enterprise solutions). And for business you can. However, for a mid-sized enterprise, the price associated with this solution is too high for the benefits gained.
I further point out that most of the technologies and solutions available today have connectors for integration with critical systems; There must be a plan to properly integrate the data.
My opinion
It's time to stop worrying about cookies and third party data and educate yourself about the proprietary systems and data that have a huge impact on how companies enter the market. Focus on the core technologies of Technology Marketing (CRM, Content Management, Marketing Automation, CDP, ABM) and make sure they work together to give you a clear view of your customers.
Once your marketing operations team has done this, look for additional techniques in the stack. Make sure they add value and ensure they are properly integrated and the proprietary data they have is combined with others to continue to build a complete customer offering.