Many businesses don’t fully understand the benefit of ensuring their marketing data is good quality, up-to-date and as rich as possible. Yet a good quality database is a valuable asset that’s essential for delivering effective lead generation campaigns.
You may have recently bought a database of contacts, based on industry, job title and company size. This is a good start. However, there are elements of data that you cannot buy that will help you tailor your marketing messages according to the prospect’s own situation. This will dramatically improve the ROI from your marketing activity by generating more engagement and more leads.
Account Profiling
Some examples of account profiling information that will enable you to send the right message to the right person at the right time are:
- What is the prospect’s existing solution?
- What criteria is important to them when choosing a future supplier?
- When will they review their current solution?
- Who are the Decision Makers and Decision Influencers within the organisation?
- And do you have the correct contact and email addresses for ALL of these prospects?
With these answers you are able to:
- Disqualify those who do not have a requirement for your products or services
- Identify marketing qualified leads; those who do have a requirement for your product or service, just not right now
- Segment your data; enabling you to target sales and marketing resource at your best potential customers
- Identify sales qualified leads; those who have a requirement for your product or service, and are looking to speak with a potential supplier now
The problem is, you cannot buy this level of information, you have to build it yourself.
There is Limited Data Available to Purchase
According to the Office for National Statistics, there are 31 million people registered as working in the UK. Yet, no matter which data provider you speak with, there are only around 500,000 named contacts with email addresses that can be purchased.
This means you cannot buy contact email data for 98% of the UK working population, let alone source vital account-level profiling information. The kind of information that will enable you to personalise messages or target companies most likely to be interested in, or a good fit for your services.
Building a Data Asset
Professional telemarketing can help to build brand awareness amongst your target market. Even if the result from a call is that you determine that the prospect is not ready to buy from you just yet, you will have qualified that they are a potential future customer.
There really is no substitute to having a real conversation with someone to determine their business requirements, and to start to build awareness of, and trust in your business. These early stage conversations provide the ideal opportunity to explain what your business does, find out the relevant people to contact, obtain opt-in permission and get contact details to keep in touch.
Your digital, direct and email marketing may be able to maintain a level of interest and awareness until the prospect is ready for another call, or to meet with sales. However, for this to be effective, it is reliant on the quality and depth of your database in the first place.
