B2B marketers have unique challenges: longer sales cycles, target audiences that are not always readily identifiable, and a myriad of decision makers and influencers who impact a purchasing decision. Given the current B2B landscape, we invited SiriusDecisions’ John Donlon and IBM’s Thomas Boos to discuss what it means to be data-driven, why data unification matters, and how we’re turning challenges into opportunities with LiveRamp B2B.
Here are three key takeaways from our conversation:
Marketers should take the reins of their tech stack
In the past few years, marketers have increasingly taken control of their tech stack and charted their own martech destiny. With this comes the responsibility of making all platforms in that tech stack work together and share data seamlessly—which is easier said than done. Marketers need a platform to bring profile data, activity data, and derived data together. Consolidating that first- and third-party data is critical to have a unified data layer, especially for B2B marketers, who often are limited in insights of an entire company based on the behavior of a handful of people. If the data is too disparate, it will not be meaningful to derive insights and power marketing.
Data unification unlocks insights-driven marketing
Without unified data, insights are guesses at best. The messaging and creative that seems to work in one channel may not perform well when spread across digital and TV. Understanding marketing at a holistic level becomes possible when all relevant datasets are taken out of their silos and brought together for analysis. Data unification allows you to provide meaningful, tailored experiences to all members of a purchasing committee—which could be up to a dozen stakeholders for a B2B company—no matter where they are on their buyer journey.
Being data-driven is a process, not a final destination
The buck doesn’t stop after data unification. IBM’s Thomas Boos encourages a testing culture, where you test different audiences and experiences to generate more useful insights. Being data-driven is a learning process that can create incremental business value. Continual optimization allows you to create even more targeted campaigns to reach your audience, which at the very least keeps you top of mind with your customers and prospects to shorten those long sales cycles.
For more information on how LiveRamp B2B can help you unlock the power of your first-party data, leverage third-party audiences, and measure the success of your initiatives, visit our LiveRamp B2B page.