Get to Know Your Customer with Marketing Analytics
Marketing analytics empower teams to leverage data points about their prospects and the journey they take throughout the selling process in order to help improve the effectiveness of their go-to-market activities while maximizing their ROI. The positive impact can be felt across teams and business units when managed properly. For example, marketing analytics practices use data to help advertisers target prospects, measure the ROI of current campaigns, and forecast demand. It also pulls valuable prospect data together for a more complete view of the buyer’s journey which in turn eliminates guesswork and helps teams create a more personalized, successful approach.
Marketing analytics are a critical part of any successful sales and marketing strategy. By focusing on the correct data points and leveraging the appropriate marketing analytics tools, teams have insight into their ideal prospects which can help them reach the right contact at the right time with the right message. This leads to the creation of more relevant content that will truly engage your prospects, more productive teams by eliminating manual tasks, shorter sales cycles through a more direct buyer’s journey, and ultimately – more revenue. By understanding your prospects, the challenges they face, and the content they consume, you will be able to address their needs faster and better than the competition. Marketers use a variety of technologies and metrics to understand their key prospects.
While supported by a broad set of tools, there are three main use cases for marketing analytics:
- Identifying prospects and improving the quality of prospect lists
- Monitoring campaign performance
- Forecasting demand and uncovering new opportunities
How Marketing Analytics Improve ROI
Marketing analytics applications put data into context, allowing advertisers to spot trends and indicators that can be used to help improve business performance.
Such insights may help account managers win new business, reallocate funds toward the most effective marketing channels, and anticipate new opportunities. The value proposition is clear – integrating marketing analytics software into the sales process can save time and increase revenue.
Lead Prospecting
Marketing analytics programs can give customer acquisition efforts a boost in several ways.
First, many campaign managers compile information on people who engage with ads or visit the company website. These insights are often collected via advertising networks. However, such applications usually gather only the most basic demographic details. This makes it challenging to have a fact-based view of your prospects and what their needs truly are.
Advertisers turn to third-party data providers for a more complete view of their visitors. These firms can match online tracking cookies with profiles in their own databases. The addition of demographic and firmographic information transforms mere clicks into real prospects, allowing advertisers to review details like job titles, industries, location, and company names.
Third-party data can build a robust view of prospects, helping campaign managers more easily identify qualified leads. Configuring campaigns to reach only these users, or people who fit into similar categories, is known as audience targeting.
Campaign Performance Monitoring
Online advertising is unique in that campaign managers can often review ad performance in real time. Metrics such as clicks, impressions, and conversions help them understand which ads are most effective.
Real-time campaign monitoring is a powerful tool for the modern marketer. Underperforming placements are paused or revised, while those with a high ROI may receive additional ad dollars. These insights often result in a more efficient ad spend. Information from other media channels can be integrated with online applications in order to better understand the journey from prospect to customer.
Demand Forecasting
Timely information powers marketing analytics. However, logging historical data is critical for helping marketers identify trends and anticipate demand. Factors such as seasonality can impact the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, where analytics help bring these variables to light.
In addition, complex forecasting models can be used to understand how changes to a campaign might affect performance or which products will be in high demand next quarter. Powered by predictive analytics, these models are the closest thing marketers have to a crystal ball. With these insights at your fingertips, you have an advantage on the competition and the ability to get in the door faster with more relevant information.
Finding the Best Marketing Analytics Solution
The marketing technology, or MarTech, sector has experienced rapid growth in recent years. Marketers have a crowded field of programs to choose from. Identifying the best marketing analytics software for your business is largely dependent on your needs and the systems you already have in place.
When looking for a solution, consider the following questions:
- What marketing challenges does your company face? Do your salespeople need help uncovering new leads or are you struggling to retain customers? Different challenges call for different solutions.
- Are your current sales and marketing applications compatible with new software? Many MarTech tools sit on top of existing applications, such as e-commerce platforms. You’ll want to ensure different programs play well together.
- How reliable is data on prospects? If you decide to enlist the help of a third-party data provider, be sure to ask about their information-gathering techniques. For example, you'll want to understand how they validate the details in order to make sure you can rely on their insights? At the end of the day, analytics are only impactful if you are leveraging quality data.
- Will the solution work at scale? Enterprise-level businesses may be tracking performance across hundreds of campaigns run by dozens of account managers throughout the organization. Not all solutions can handle such demands. Be sure the solution you choose addresses your needs and is a good fit for your team otherwise onboarding and adoption will be a huge headache.
Marketing analytics technologies are sure to play an ever-increasing role in the daily lives of marketers. A firm understanding of their capabilities and ways to avoid pitfalls when it comes to establishing and leveraging marketing analytics is the first step to taking advantage of these powerful tools.
We can help! Explore Dun & Bradstreet’s suite of marketing analytics solutions for enterprise-level businesses today.
