B2B marketers have had to reconsider their strategies amid an increasingly complex compliance landscape. With stringent privacy policies and user consent requirements, marketers are looking for alternatives to the ubiquitous third-party cookies to harvest relevant data.
First-party data rules the roost
Today, first-party data or any information collected from visitors’ activities on your own website and through marketing initiatives is the prime channel for knowing your audience.
For B2B companies, the target audience is often split into multiple roles within the same account. This state of affairs requires a much more focused strategy with in-depth knowledge about individual profiles within an account. The challenge most marketers face is that they often have to deal with buyer groups spanning from three to 10 personas.
Each individual demands a unique experience for the marketing campaign to work. This is where the data-driven strategy can pay dividends, as it speaks to each identity according to its specific needs and interests. The targeted approach is feasible as first-party data is much more accurate than anything that you can get from data vendors. It favors the launch of identity-driven campaigns to target niche accounts.
Good campaigns are equivalent to great content
However, the catch is that you need fresh, engaging and unique content to make this strategy work. In this context, content serves multiple purposes. From a traffic perspective, it helps you drive visitors to your website.
From a prospect’s perspective you get to know which ones are relevant. From a lead generation point of view you can provide the content in exchange for information such as email IDs. This means that your identity-driven campaigns are only as good as your content.
SEO and SMM drives the campaign
But wait that’s not all. Great content needs to be complemented with effective search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing (SMM) to expand your reach and personalize the messaging.
This makes your content accessible and delivers it to your audience on different platforms. The benefits range from brand awareness to brand building as you get the word out and keep the communication channel alive.
Automation brings it all together
This brings us to the last part of the marketing jigsaw. With relevant content, SEO and SMM you also need automation to integrate your marketing technology stack on a single platform. You can then maintain a comprehensive and current database for each account right down to the minutest detail. It also enables you to create an ideal buyer persona from the first-party data according to the role and activity of each member within the account.
More importantly, it lets you engage according to the insights and intent that you have gleaned from web activity. So when anyone in the target group initiates an action, such as browsing your portfolio, you can immediately follow it up with a response that takes the engagement towards an interaction. This could include mailing reports and educational content that establishes your reputation as a thought leader in your field.
Data is the new oil
Once you have the content, optimization and automation in place, it’s time to unleash the power of identity-based advertising. If you are using your own website, the options are pretty straightforward as your traffic, clicks and downloads are the only things that you need to monitor. However, if you are planning to leverage partner websites to gain access to bigger databases, you may need more in-depth data management capabilities.
The identity-based advertising strategy is founded on data while allowing the marketer control and the user the freedom to explore and choose without compromising on privacy. The best part is that the marketer has the opportunity to make the process cyclic, with additional insights providing a clearer picture to redefine the buyer’s journey the next time around. The prospects for retention, up-selling and cross-selling improve with each touchpoint that the buyer initiates in identity-driven advertising.
Innovation is key to tapping the potential
Identity-based advertising is likely to gain more traction in B2B marketing as companies seek the right partners to gain access to relevant data. Marketers seeking quality data partners that can link B2B audiences in a multi-channel framework, are likely to drive investment in this segment.
This linkage will provide immense innovation potential in terms of reach and analysis. The B2B marketers of the future can look forward to supplementing audience profiles with special interests to open up more effective personalized messaging options.