B2B AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT - CUSTOMER DATA

Customer data - mind the gap

Has the massive growth of social/inbound marketing become an excuse for brands not to maintain good customer and prospect data of their own?

Maintaining and gaining insight through customer data has for many years been key for marketers. Even with the host of marketing automation, CRM and analytics now available, this basic process remains a big issue. Cries of a lack of resources, budget or infrastructure head the list of reasons why it’s such an issue.

But now a new place to hide has emerged - inbound and social marketing. As marketers rush to share their content and claim that outbound marketing is dead, data once again gets pushed to the back – only to re-emerge as a bigger issue in the future.

Data of course comes in more diverse forms now. Followers and subscribers are as much a part of the dataset as traditional contact information.

But as mobile and personalised marketing grows in importance, this basic marketing asset will be more important than ever. Those who have invested in building deeper and more engaged relationships are already enjoying the benefits from both their inbound and outbound marketing.