For the past two decades, B2B marketers have been inundated with messaging telling them they need to “take a page from the B2C playbook.” In other words, they were told to modernize their strategies and tactics for connecting with customers and prospects in a digital-dominant, omnichannel reality. Like so many messages in the marketplace, there’s truth in these statements – but there are faulty assumptions at play, too.
With the initial rise of digital and mobile media and commerce, the B2C marketing world moved faster and deeper into data-driven, personalized, omnichannel marketing tactics than was practical within the B2B space. But now, as the walls between personal and professional worlds have come down, B2B marketing is undergoing a wholesale reinvention to keep pace with modern B2B decision-makers and data capabilities. However, that doesn’t mean B2B is simply following in the footsteps of B2C.
As B2B moves into its next era of data-driven marketing, here are the core tenets that will guide the selection and use of audience data.
Quality
It’s easy to throw around the word “quality” when it comes to B2B data, but the future will belong to the data sources that can back up that claim. In B2B, that quality depends on:
- Trust: Particularly as the global privacy environment evolves and we move into a privacy-first digital landscape, trust is becoming more important than ever. Trust comes from the establishment of a strong brand reputation within the marketplace – a process that takes time and commitment from data companies.
- Stability: B2B marketers need to evaluate their third-party data partners for In a fast-evolving digital marketplace, we often see the rapid emergence and decline of certain data practices and business models, but marketers can’t afford to take a risk on partners that aren’t built to stand the test of time. A company’s history in navigating privacy regulations, its global footprint and its industry associations are important elements to consider.
- Interoperability: How B2B marketers find and target their audiences across screens, platforms and devices is becoming more varied. Third-party data providers must ensure their data is interoperable across any form of identifier, any form of measurement or analytics standard and across any cloud infrastructure, data sharing framework or endpoint.
Certified and validated data
Beyond maintaining the highest standards for data quality, B2B data sources must invest in certifications by independent parties. For example, the IAB Tech Lab’s Data Transparency Standard Compliance Program and Neutronian’s Global Data Privacy Scores and Certification Badges represent established and rigorous processes for validating data sources.
Certifications such as these are hallmarks of trust when it comes to data practices. Third-party B2B data providers should always be willing and able to set expectations with their customers around the quality and accuracy of their data, as well as where that data originates and how it is acquired.
Furthermore, they should take that a step further to demonstrate that not only is the data being held to high standards, but also that those high standards translate to high performance in terms of increased engagement, click-through rates and conversions – leading to greater ROI.
Omnichannel strategies, with scale and precision
B2B marketing channels have expanded over the past five years. This has prompted a dramatic shift in the industry’s expectations for data providers.
Today, B2B data providers need ways to equip advertisers with verified business and personal data for omnichannel marketing efforts across programmatic, social, CTV and more.
With B2B marketers using multiple channels and technology platforms to reach and engage buyers, the only real way to gain a competitive advantage is to use complete and accurate data to deploy more targeted, intelligent and relevant messages. Online programmatic campaigns perform the best when B2B marketers use reliable and verified data that builds from deterministic segments.
Applying lessons learned from the B2C realm
The modern data landscape is a vastly different place than it was two decades ago when consumer brands, publishers and ad tech vendors began laying the foundation for audience targeting and engagement.
Today, B2B brands have the benefit of hindsight. They know what it takes to achieve sustainable, scalable success within a dynamic, privacy-first marketplace. As such, they’re able to avoid many of the pitfalls encountered by B2C marketers in their race to embrace the evolving tools of audience targeting.
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