Within B2B marketing today the adage “know your customer” has never been more relevant. The future of such lies in the ability to not just understand broad audience segments, but to drill down into advanced segmentation to create highly targeted and personalized marketing strategies. As a data and marketing CEO of Go Live Data, I know more than most that by leveraging data and technology, companies can deliver the right message to the right person at the right time. An approach that I believe, promises to revolutionize B2B marketing, and something my company already does, by putting the recipient at the forefront of all of our client campaigns in new ways.
The shift to precision
In the past, B2B marketing has tended to rely on broad demographic data and industry categorizations. However, with the rise of big data and sophisticated analytics tools, companies can now go way beyond these traditional methods. Advanced segmentation allows marketers to dissect their audience, into highly specific groups based on factors such as job, purchasing behaviour and engagement history. It can even go into psychographic data, which is the measure of a person’s psychological variables such as values, fears and attitudes.
Emphasizing the importance of this shift we’re moving away from the one-size-fits-all approach as B2B recipients expect the same level of personalization in their professional interactions, as they do in their personal ones. Advanced segmentation, therefore, allows marketers to tailor their messaging with laser precision ensuring that every single communication is not only relevant but is of value to every recipient.
What is advanced segmentation?
Using a combination of demographic, behavioural, and contextual data to create granular audience profiles, advanced segmentation (within B2B marketing) includes a range of data points such as:
- Company size and industry: Differentiating between SMEs, mid-sized companies, and large enterprises, as well as their respective industries.
- Job role and decision-making power: Identifying whether the individual is for example a CEO, decision-maker, influencer, or end-user.
- Purchase history and engagement: The is will analyze past purchases, content downloads, and interactions with marketing materials to gauge interests of the recipient and what their needs are.
- Behavioural and psychographic data: Enables marketers to understand the motivations, preferences, and challenges that drive the target audience.
Using the data, companies can create segments that are not only more precise but also more meaningful. For example, a software company might segment its audience by industry, e.g., healthcare vs. finance, by company size, and by the job role of the person within those companies such as, IT manager vs. CFO. This allows for the creation of highly tailored marketing messages that speak directly to the unique needs of each segment.
Benefits of advanced segmentation
The key advantage of advanced segmentation is the ability to increase the relevance and effectiveness of marketing efforts. By delivering more personalized content, companies can build stronger relationships with their prospects and customers, leading to higher conversion rates and improved ROI.
Enhancing customer experience
Marketing communications become far more relevant to the recipient using precise segmentation. Instead of receiving generic messages that may not align with their needs, prospects receive information that is directly applicable to their situation. This can significantly improve the customer experience, making them more likely to engage with the content and to convert into a sign-up or to a sale.
From our experience of working in data and marketing for over two decades, when you provide a prospective client with information that is precisely tailored to their industry, role, and current challenges, you’re not just marketing to them, you’re supporting them by supplying them with information and details they are most likely to want to see. This level of relevance builds trust and positions your company as a partner rather than just a vendor. And, with Go Live Data solutions, they will always be given the choice to opt out of the communications, at any given time.
Higher conversion rates
When marketing messages are so highly targeted, they resonate more deeply with the audience. This relevance leads to higher engagement rates, which in turn drives higher conversion rates. For instance, if a CFO in the healthcare industry receives a case study specifically about financial management in healthcare, they are far more likely to engage with it than if they received a generic case study, featuring a business within a different industry to their own.
Improved ROI
By focusing marketing on highly specific segments, companies can allocate their resources much more efficiently. Rather than spending money on broad campaigns that may or may not reach the right people, companies can invest in highly targeted campaigns that are more likely to yield positive results. This precision not only improves ROI but also allows for better measurement and optimization of marketing strategies.
Better sales alignment
It also supports better alignment between marketing and sales teams. When marketing provides sales with leads that have been nurtured through personalized content, the sales team can approach leads with a deeper understanding of their needs and challenges. This alignment inevitably enhances the sales process and increases the likelihood of closing deals for the sales team.
An example of leveraging advanced segmentation is when a B2B technology company targeting financial services firms, identifies a group of large banks as key accounts. Within each bank, they would segment by role, such as IT director, CFO, and compliance officer. Each segment would then receive customized content that addresses their specific pain points – which could include a white paper on cybersecurity for the IT director, a case study on cost savings for the CFO, and a compliance guide for the compliance officer. By offering this level of precision targeting ensures that each contact within the target account receives information, that’s not only relevant but highly valuable, increasing the likelihood of engagement and more sales.
The future
As data and technology continue to advance, the potential for precision targeting in B2B marketing will keep on growing. The ability to segment audiences with such precision will become a key differentiator for companies looking to stand out within a crowded marketplace.
The future of B2B marketing lies in the ability to treat each prospect and customer as an individual with unique needs. By leveraging advanced segmentation, marketers can deliver a level of personalization that not only meets but exceeds expectations, paving the way for stronger relationships and significantly enhanced business outcomes. And in my opinion that’s definitely where the industry at large should be heading.
