Ready to use data is much bigger than you think it is

With the globalization and decentralization of data collection and dispersal, big data has gone truly BIG. CMOs around the world that have been banging their heads against walls when they realize that their marketing efforts are going in vain and look around for solutions. Data has always been around but as with everything in business, making sense out of this data has always been a hassle. 

Big data is available, accessible but not usable. Data collection happens round the clock, through stores, sign up forms, interviews, questionnaires, landing pages and many more avenues. All of this data gets into some form of collection and storage. When you realize the potential that this data has, it’s a whole new world of opportunities that you see. Today, running email campaigns and their eventual success relies heavily on the quality of data that is available.

Ready to use data- data that you can use with just a click is the newest and smartest tool in the market today. You maximize your chances of a higher strike rate by using multiple marketing techniques. Info checkPoint has been providing ready to use data that integrates seamlessly into marketing automation systems. We understand that value that each and every contact has and ensure that this value is transferred to the end user.

To know more about how we do our data collection and restructuring, just fill out our contact form. 

Its marketing trends time!! 2014 and major marketing trends

Hope the new year sees you in good health and spirits. As the year closed upon us, marketing teams around the world did some intense reminiscing. It was a good year for marketing and more so for digital marketing. Trends that we forecast for 2013 did materialize. The year went on with sales being made, relationships built and brands winning at social media.
Now, it is time to look up ahead and see what 2014 has in store. Will it be exciting? Yes of course it will be! lets take a look at what Marketing Profs has put together for us. It is has a bunch of promising numbers and also ways to make a big splash.

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We hope these marketing statistics will paint a very realistic picture of the market for you and you can start planning your digital year in all earnest!

Why is lead generation such a hassle?

A research report by MarketingSherpa shed some light on the most pertinent issue in B2B marketing. Lead generation is and has been a weak point for marketing teams. Here is the research chart for your reference.

The marketers interviewed were given three parameters to choose from and they were as follows. 

• Strategic — Formal process, thorough guidelines, routine performance


• Transition — Informal process, few guidelines, sporadic performance


• Trial — No process or guidelines currently

Lead generation techniques had the highest amount of trial programs which goes to show that marketers did not have a solid understanding of the processes involved or they did not have the means to drill down a particular method and go with it. 

Leads tend to be seen as the pinnacle of marketing and sales excellence. but we all know it is not in fact as important as well, paying customers!Focus tends to lack when it comes to lead generation and sometimes overkill leads to high density of leads and none of any quality. 

Concentrating on high quality leads is the default method that leads to paying customers. Getting these high quality leads is exactly what Info Checkpoint does for you. Register with us or you can take up our free trial offer and get to know the database well. 

Do you understand the value of long-term customer relationship?

If you think the primary performance driver of your business is ROI, then what about the returns you get from customers not only today, but throughout your customer’s lifetime?

Identifying high value customers plays a big hand in retaining customers that count! 

By calculating customer value, you will be able to analyze previous investments and gain a better understanding on future marketing investments.  

As customer retention is far better and cost effective than acquisition, customer value should precede customer acquisition. To create customer value, you need to constantly reinvent, refine and evolve customer experience and service.

By understanding your customers’ lifetime value:

• You can get to know what customers want,

• You can get better at giving customers what they want,

• Customers will get better at staying with you.

It is possible to create your own generation of high value customers by constantly surpassing your customers’ expectations through value.  As visionary Steve Jobs beautifully stated, “If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, ‘A faster horse!’” People don’t know what they want until you show it to them. That’s why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.”

Customer value is more than knowing the lifetime period; it is about providing an everlasting experience. Don’t Just “Do The Math”, Understand Customer Lifetime Value

How do you segment your database?

By asking “who” and “what” to segment? 
By demographic and firmographic metrics such as gender, geography, company size or industry vertical?

What demographic segmentation does is, it answers the question of 'WHO your customers are'. It however falls short in answering core questions of 'WHY customers are buying' and 'WHAT problem is the product or service looking to solve'?

While it may be easy to identify observable and actionable segments based on who your customer are, it lacks in recognizing new and profitable groups that cut across demographics such as those that revolve around needs and behavioral patterns of customers.

Alternatively, focusing on 'WHY customers buy' will help in identifying new segments based on motivational attributes and distinguish demand driving pockets that could be targeted.

Some of the metrics that could be utilized in motivational segmentation include:

• Adoption Stage – Is based on the stage in which your customers are in the adoption cycle - their psychographic patterns and different needs.  
• Value Driven – Is based on different objectives and distinct problems your solution solves. 
• Price Driven – Is segmentation that includes a highly classified group of customers who are willing to pay premium prices to access a solution.
• Event Triggered – Are segments based on events that influence your customer’s business such as recent mergers, new product launches or compliance mandates.

Conceptualizing creative names for segments can be a lot of fun. They can however be of very little use if not exclusive! Segments need to be developed based on unique variables used to target them.

While some marketers segment based on rules and assumptions through their experience, others use sophisticated mathematical and clustering models to define data sets into segments. However, what seems to be unaddressed is the question of ‘how and when do customers migrate from one segment to another?’

In the lifetime of a customer, it is necessary to keep segments dynamic to allow for regrouping based on migration over time. The topic of Customer Lifetime Value and LTV based segmentation will be discussed in future. Stay tuned to this space. Here’s to a successful dynamic segmentation! From us at Info CheckPoint

Signup for a Trial today! Benefit from databases that are classified and segmented to roll out targeted and relevant campaigns.

Tune Into The Digital Age of 'WOM'

In this age of ‘Word of Mouth’, how do you leverage social media to connect with B2B customers?

Do you shout it out, get everyone involved, and get them on board?

Do you listen, plan, engage and optimize social media channels?

The reason why it is important to use social media is because it helps you to know:

• Who is saying what about your brand and where
• Who is leading conversation share
• Where your customer are living online
• How to provide value addition
• When and how to engage with your community
• Why customers behave the way they do
• Why they prefer what they prefer

So, why do you need to build a social media strategy?

• To define objectives and integrate it with the overall marketing strategy
• To maintain a unified brand identity and image across the socialsphere
• To utilize various channels effectively and facilitate prospecting
• To integrate communication and build relationships with prospective buyers

When using social media, not every channel is suitable. Find out where your target market is active. For instance, if they are active on LinkedIn, join in on the discussion. If they are active on Twitter, tweet to keep them up to date. If they are on Facebook, post messages to keep them engaged. Check out the grid below, to understand which social media platform is best suited for your requirement.

If you like what you read, socialize it! Post, tweet, ping, poke or pin; let us in your socialsphere as well! 

Augment your understanding of your customer with Social Data
Know your “Share of Voice”
Get your database updated with Social Data

Give The Right Offer At The Right Time To The Right Person With Database Marketing

Database marketing is about creating data warehouses to develop models based on transaction data and customer behavior, in order to identify communication relevant to different segments. It involves identifying customer segments and designing marketing messages around them. 

It provides the co-relation between data sets and does not provide the cause of behavior.  Database marketing is different from CRM. Customer relationship management is about analyzing customer data to identify the right offer, the right time and the right person for a particular campaign and target audience.

The database marketing process involves:

1. Collecting, Verifying and Storing Customer Information 

• Collecting accurate and relevant information
• Verifying and validating information
• Storing and updating information on a database
• Making the database available to marketers 

2. Converting Data to Business Intelligence

• Analyzing data to gain actionable insights
• Implementing profiling, modeling, scoring and segmentation of profiles

3. Developing Strategies for Behavior Modification (Customers, Prospects and Employees)

With database marketing 

You can develop marketing strategies 

You can gain actionable customer segments

Allow us to maximize your marketing ROI and business growth.

Gain Access to Exclusive Databases

B2B Blogging, Are We Doing it Right?

B2B blogging they say is not only about selling, it is about knowledge exchange and information sharing. It is about creating that fine balance between promoting a product and providing resourceful information.

When we started out blogging, the core essence was how to connect with the audience and share the benefits of our online product. Like any other B2B company, for us blogging is about:

• Providing fresh information about the industry
• Addressing painpoints the market faces
• Showcasing our benefits
• Directing customers to our website

From data quality, data verification, B2B marketing, database marketing, email marketing, telemarketing, social media marketing, lead generation to demand generation, we've covered it all. And, there’s still more.

Before we rush ahead, we thought we’d ask our readers to provide feedback on what they think? 

How do you find our blog?

Is it informative?

Is it interesting?

Is it ‘salesy’?

Bring it on, we are all ears.

Let’s make B2B blogging an experience for the reader and the writer.

“Marketers are Liars” and “Sales Reps Make Too Many Excuses”. When will it end?

The relationship between marketing and sales is a never-ending push and pull of roles, expectations, egos and objectives.

Marketers think sales people are delivery systems of strategy and are concerned mostly about sales targets. Sales people think marketers are support systems for sales and are concerned mostly about marketing campaigns. Marketers think they are strategic players and sales people think they are drivers of business.

What marketers actually need to do is focus on Pre-sales, Lead Generation and Mining Analytics. What sales people actually need to do is Sales, Networking and Building Relationships.

No matter what difference in objectives and expectations of marketing and sales teams, the integrated bottom line should be business impact.

The Info CheckPoint App through Salesforce helps sales teams optimize the prospecting process by targeting high-value opportunities via Salesforce Chatter. It also helps marketers connect with the sales team through a structured process, and gain insights of the ‘customers’ voice’. The App enables prioritizing and organizing prospects, reducing research time, and focusing reps on selling activities – while improving CRM data quality.

So if You Want to

Align Sales and Marketing

And Connect With Your Market

GET THE INFO CHECKPOINT APP

Big Data Can Be a Big Deal, If It’s a Big Mess

We create 2.5 quintillion or 2,500,000,000,000,000,000 bytes of data every day!

Data is available everywhere today, making it even more important to know:

• Why you need it, 
• How will it help, 
• Who will it help, 
• What it will cost to capture and analyze, 
• What return you can get out of it.

Big Data is invaluable information about your customers. This data is gathered from various sources such as social channels, ICT networks, videos, digital images, GPS signals, and basically any device or software customers use to interact with each other and brands. Big data is important as it provides an inside view of your target market, their preferences, behavior and opinions. 

There is no limit to the availability of information and harnessing huge volume of data can be a challenge. Creating a customer profile and goal based on every data source is surely not the way to go. The best way to tackle the beast is to set defined goals and objectives first. 

The mantra with Big Data is “If you don’t know what you are looking for, you will never find it.”

Make your business 

More Agile

More Flexible 

More in tune with your customers

With Big Data