Marketers are facing a tough challenge with reduced budgets limiting what they can do. More than ever they need to make every pound work for them. The key to this approach is Intel-led marketing.
Whilst big ideas and creatives are great, and what most marketers live for, Intel-led marketing makes sure that every activity is built on firm foundations based on facts. There are many sources to help you better understand your customer and market, so don’t forget your people who not only will provide you with invaluable insight need to buy into the process.
A crucial part of the Intel-Led approach is insight and intelligence about current customers. It’s amazing how many organisation’s data on their customers is inaccurate or downright wrong, with 94% of businesses have said that they suspect their customer data is inaccurate*.
The importance of gathering marketing intelligence cannot be overemphasized. It provides insight into customer behavior, preferences, and pain points, which is essential for developing targeted marketing campaigns. With the right intelligence, marketers can create highly personalised and relevant messages that resonate with their target audience, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversion.
In B2B, intelligence gathering becomes even more critical. When did you last check the financial solvency of their target customers? Spending time trying to win new business with a company that is about to file for bankruptcy is not only a waste of time but also resources. Similarly, knowledge of a fresh round of investment could indicate that a company is ripe for approaching.
To gather marketing intelligence, the following steps are crucial:
Define your target audience through personas: Identify the demographics, psychographics, and behaviors of your ideal customers. It helps in narrowing down your target audience, making intelligence gathering easier.
Dig into analytics: Online analytics tools can provide valuable information on customer behavior, such as what they search for, how they navigate websites, and what content they engage with.
Spring clean your data: Make sure that your customer data is right, then check again. Bad data will break your results and cost you in so many ways.
Ask them: Surveys can help gather feedback from customers, which is essential for understanding their preferences and pain points.
Be where they are: Social media provides an excellent platform for monitoring customer sentiment and behavior. It helps in understanding what customers are saying about your brand, products, or services but also what their priorities and interests are right now.
Know your competitors: Keeping an eye on competitors is essential for identifying market trends, customer preferences, and gaps in the market.
Once you have gathered enough intelligence, the next step is to use it to plan targeting and marketing activities. The insight gathered should inform who, what, and where you should target. For example, with intelligence on customer behavior and preferences, to help develop highly targeted marketing campaigns that resonate with your target audience, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversion.
Intel-led marketing is essential when responding to reduced marketing budgets, though arguably should be done whatever the financial situation.
The data you gather needs to be compiled into easy-to-understand dashboards and the decisions made from the analysis are dispersed throughout the organisation to make sure that everyone is working in the right direction. Only then will you be ready to build your plans.
And the next time someone comes up with a big idea that looks incredibly exciting, STOP, review the data, and base your decisions on those firm foundations that you invested in to help you win.
*https://www.safegraph.com/blog/bad-data-is-bad-for-business
Christopher Wellbelove DL 