CHALLENGE FORUM PARTICIPANTS
Many B2B companies today are sitting on a wealth of customer data but struggling to leverage it to power more personalized and impactful marketing campaigns. A key challenge is integrating siloed data from disparate systems across the organization to gain a unified view of customers that informs targeted segmentation and messaging.
To explore innovative ways of tackling this issue, TechPros.io recently convened a Challenge Forum roundtable of marketing experts and analytics leaders who engaged in an insightful dialogue. The group focused on the scenario of a B2B wholesale distribution company wanting to better utilize its ecommerce and operational data for precise digital marketing targeting.
ποΈ Listen to the full interview in the Enterprise Thought Leadership podcast, powered by TechPros.io
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Often the data exists in separate systems β your website analytics here, email marketing there, ERP somewhere else. The question is how to pull the sources together to segment and target effectively."
explained roundtable participant Colleen Hall, VP of Marketing for specialty textiles company C&F Enterprises.
Following the forum discussion, participants were interviewed to share potential approaches and solutions they would propose for breaking down data silos to drive personalized campaigns. Their perspectives highlighted pragmatic and powerful ways organizations can tap into unified data for sharper B2B digital marketing.
Many B2B companies today are sitting on a wealth of customer data but struggling to leverage it to power more personalized and impactful marketing campaigns. A key challenge is integrating siloed data from disparate systems across the organization to gain a unified view of customers that informs targeted segmentation and messaging.
To explore innovative ways of tackling this issue, TechPros.io recently convened a Challenge Forum roundtable of marketing experts and analytics leaders who engaged in an insightful dialogue. The group focused on the scenario of a B2B wholesale distribution company wanting to better utilize its ecommerce and operational data for precise digital marketing targeting.
Roundtable contributor Kent Tibbils, VP of Marketing for tech components distributor ASI, suggests the priority should be implementing an integrated data platform that brings together information from CRM and other core systems to aggregate data into a central repository.
Colleen Hall, agreed an integrated foundation is essential.
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We need to consolidate purchase data from our ecommerce site with email and operational systems to get a complete view,β she said.
COLLEEN HALL
VP of Marketing, C&F Enterprises
With this 360-degree data foundation established, CRM can then play an optimized role housing key website, marketing and sales data needed for segmentation and tying online behavior to purchase activity.
For organizations implementing new infrastructure, Tibbils notes the importance of researching options thoroughly upfront to understand integration complexity. He also flagged cost factors around customization, data migration and user adoption as areas often overlooked when evaluating choices.
Roundtable contributor Kent Tibbils, VP of Marketing for tech components distributor ASI, suggests the priority should be implementing an integrated data platform that brings together information from CRM and other core systems to aggregate data into a central repository.
Colleen Hall advised those undergoing new implementations to thoroughly assess data integration needs from the outset when choosing infrastructure partners.
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If it's a new project, think about all the data you want integrated from the very start,β Hall recommended. βUse that when you're even evaluating platforms before you settle on who you're going to work with.
COLLEEN HALL
VP of Marketing, C&F Enterprises
With this 360-degree data foundation established, CRM can then play an optimized role housing key website, marketing, and sales data needed for segmentation and tying online behavior to purchase activity.
Daniel Warren, Vice President Sales & Programs - Americas and Japan, Latecoere emphasized taking a comprehensive viewpoint rather than seeking quick fixes. "It's critical to step back and evaluate the full landscape before moving forward," he said.
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Companies often want speedy solutions, but the right approach examines needs across departments to inform platform choices.
DANIEL WARREN
Vice President Sales & Programs - Americas and Japan, Latecoere
Warren's viewpoint aligns with best practices that stress cross-functional participation early in selection processes. He indicates IT decisions impact usage across departments. Yet often teams operate in silos without adequate transparency. An informed evaluation framework gathers comprehensive needs analysis, fostering shared ownership and effective utilization based on collective priorities. This facilitates optimal adoption of new capabilities - critical given failures often stem more from adoption issues than pure technology deficiencies.
For organizations implementing new infrastructure, Tibbils notes the importance of researching options thoroughly upfront to understand integration complexity. He also flagged cost factors around customization, data migration and user adoption as areas often overlooked when evaluating choices.
Before activating campaigns, roundtable contributor Kristi Gale of Athena Solutions recommends first building out business intelligence capabilities on top of the integrated data foundation. This business intelligence layer provides additional analysis and insights that can further refine strategic segments.
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Derive broader insights by bringing together not just CRM data, but also information from ERP, supply chain and other systems. This fuels better understanding of target audiences for sharper personalization.
KRISTI GALE
Athena Solutions
With unified data housed in CRM, the next imperative is conducting customer analytics to define behavioral segments that pinpoint opportunities. Chandra Srivastava, Head of Marketing for real estate fintech Calque, Inc, suggests techniques like product correlation analysis and customer lifetime value models.
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Simple tools such as RFM (recency, frequency, monetary) analysis help classify high value customer clusters based on past purchase behavior quickly and easily. Predictive models can estimate expected value of future customer transactions to inform optimal spending.
CHANDRA SRIVASTAVA
Chief Marketing Officer, Calque
Geographic information can provide another handy segmentation dimension. For wholesale companies, proximity to retail stores or regions of sales rep coverage enables more pertinent localization.
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It comes down to blending analytics with business strategy to categorize audiences in a way that supports your goals. The data should shape customer journey maps tailored to priority segments.
CHANDRA SRIVASTAVA
Chief Marketing Officer, Calque
With strategic segments established in CRM, campaigns can be activated through email, website and ad platforms to deliver targeted content. Tibbils explained that CRM and marketing automation systems enable building customized narratives for profile groups based on products, behaviors or needs.
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Mapping out the 2-3 critical customer journeys rather than every possible path keeps programs focused while allowing flexibility to finesse campaigns.
KENT TIBBILS
VP of Marketing for tech components distributor ASI
When discussing the importance of data quality, Daniel Warren emphasized, "It's critical to train teams to fill in fields properly, not just for compliance sake, but to collect accurate information that reflects what the data is intending to capture." Proper governance and stewardship of data requires involvement across the organization.
Hall stressed the importance of prioritizing key segments for targeted email campaigns. Her focus is connecting their website coastal living customer purchase data to their email platform. This would empower creating specialized campaigns focused on those high-value coastal buyer segments, tailored to their purchase behavior patterns.
While Hall may not employ complex attribution modeling capabilities now, this integration would help identify and engage with appropriate coastal home merchandise based on past website activity. Carefully leveraging existing data on prime segments provides a valuable starting point for personalization.
While starting small, organizations should maintain a mindset of continuous optimization. Srivastava noted that regularly evaluating performance metrics and refining segments with new data sources yields better engagement over time.
Tibbils similarly emphasized that centralized data transparency uncovers additional questions to drive improvement.
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With analytics tied directly into sales interactions, we can start identifying what info translates to revenue. Then expand data inputs and analysis to hone in on high-potential targets.
KENT TIBBILS
VP of Marketing for tech components distributor ASI
Final Perspectives
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Getting a 360-degree customer view is critical, but made more complex by legacy systems. Building an integrated data foundation that can flexibly connect systems over time, with CRM optimized within it, provides a scalable way to segment and personalize.
summarized roundtable leader Kristi Gale of Athena Solutions.
Gale believes a phased approach focused on highest-impact channels creates quick returns on investment. βThe solutions highlighted in this forum offer pragmatic ways to continuously improve B2B targeting through enhanced data unification and analytics,β she said. βEven starting small, organizations can realize tremendous value.β
Thank you to our Sponsor
Athena Solutions
Athena Solutions is an IT and business intelligence firm focusing on helping businesses maximize ROI from data and analytics investments. They provide tailored solutions, innovative data transformation strategies, and practical IT consulting. Their approach includes close collaboration with clients, expert guidance, and fostering strong partnerships. Athena's services enable organizations to enhance their data capabilities, make data-driven decisions, and gain a competitive edge in the digital landscape.
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A great forum to remind us that we're not alone. Senior marketing leaders are facing the same challenges, just in a slightly different shape. The Challenge Forum is a proactive way to share and learn how others are dealing with these universal issues.
Emily Tippins
CMO, Avantra
It's not often that as a busy marketer, that you get a chance to spend some high-quality time in the company of peers and go meaningfully deep into a real marketing challenge. The Challenge Forum is both interesting and challenging, and I would recommend it.
Dave Hughes
Head of Marketing, Ideal