Are You Keeping Up? The Biggest Data-Driven Marketing Trends for B2B Sales in 2018

1. Are You Keeping Up? The Biggest Data-Driven Marketing Trends for B2B Sales in 2018 The rise of big data is undoubtedly changing the way that companies market to their audiences; and things are certainly no different in the B2B sector. Having more data readily available means that businesses can use these tools and tactics on a bigger scale than ever before, allowing for better personalisation, increased efficiency and more engagement. With this in mind, let's take a look at the trends currently emerging in B2B marketing, and how data is driving them. Data-Driven Decision Making More and more B2B companies are realising the power advanced analytics hold when it comes to making better marketing decisions and cutting back the potential for risks. This could take the form of predictive or prescriptive analysis, wherein you are able to get a good idea of how a campaign will perform, or using detailed insights to build a fuller understanding of each prospect in order to have a greater chance at engaging them. The ability to replace gut feeling with data means your business decisions are likely to be better and more accurate, although a big factor in shaping the power of your analytics and in turn the quality of your decisions, is how good the data you're basing them on. Business intelligence provider Global Database offers accurate and regularly updated company data for millions of organisations across 195 countries and every industry, so whether you're targeting the USA food industry or the Malaysian automotive industry, you can fuel your CRM with high quality insights. Automation Automation has become an almost essential tool for B2B marketing, and with good reason; it allows companies to prioritise more important tasks while allowing the more menial ones to be done by tools. Automation technology can be implemented for a range of different activities in your sales pipeline, be it prospecting, lead qualification, or email. The latter is particularly useful, as automation in email allows you to use personalisation in your messages on a much bigger scale. Any marketing professional will by now appreciate how imperative segmentation and personalisation are for successful campaigns, and employing automation means you can carefully craft tailored messages without having to send them one by one. Account-Based Marketing

2. Account-based marketing is the process of targeting specific companies as opposed to whole market segments. The benefit here is you can create an incredibly personalised campaign completely tailored to the prospect and their needs and see much better rates of engagement and sales rates as a result. Although this type of marketing may have previously fallen off many marketers' radars, it's now making a comeback in a big way thanks to the advancement in tools and technologies that make the process much easier to set up and manage, including those for email and dynamic remarketing. Persona-Based Marketing This is similar to account-based marketing, except that it's an individual stakeholder who is targeted as opposed to the whole company. This means that companies must do a lot of research into the individual in order to determine things like what their average working day looks like and what problems they face, the channels they're most likely to use, and the type of tone of voice that is likely to engage them most effectively. So much of B2B sales is based on building a solid rapport with a potential client, so this type of marketing is a natural evolution of creating a good working relationship, and can be very successful when used correctly. Chatbots This technology is set to be one of the biggest marketing trends in the coming years, and this isn't limited just to B2C. Catching a potential customer at the right time is essential, and having a chatbot to engage them when they're in the research stage can be an effective tactic to help open a dialogue. It's also worth remembering that many people simply don't want to speak to sales reps during these early stages, so employing a chatbot can be a less intrusive alternative. Programmatic Ad Buying This is becoming increasingly popular with B2B marketing professionals, as it allows digital ads to become much better and more engaging. It relies on data from previous behaviour, social media activity and searches to establish the types of ads that a prospect will be most likely to engage with. While this type of tactic has been around for a while, the advancements in the technology surrounding it mean it is much more efficient and accurate now, and it can be managed and altered throughout each campaign much more easily. It can even be used very effectively for mobile ads. Website Personalisation

3. Nowadays there is a wide spectrum of tools available to allow you to efficiently monitor how your audience is interacting with your company's website. Creating a personalised experience can involve targeting whole segments with specific content tailored to their needs and interests, or targeting individuals based on things like the web pages they've viewed or previous purchases they've made. The Importance of Quality Data In order to use any of these marketing tactics effectively, you need to ensure that the data you're working with is both accurate and detailed. Ultimately, the more information you have, the better your results will be. Global Database can provide comprehensive insights about your prospect companies to allow you to qualify leads and then personalise your approach. Our B2B directory holds details such as revenue, number of employees, years in operation, technologies used, web traffic, employee job title and seniority level, direct phone numbers and email addresses and more. As well as searching for a company directly you can also narrow the database using a range of filter options, to allow you to find the exact types of companies you wish to target. In Summary… With more data available than ever before, it's important for companies to develop a marketing strategy that is centred around it and uses it to their advantage. With each of these tactics becoming more and more commonplace in B2B sales, those who don't implement them are in danger of falling behind in their industry and losing business to the competition as a result. To search our B2B database of millions of companies worldwide visit us at www.GlobalDatabase.com