The importance of data is unbeatable and B2B businesses want to now focus on becoming data-driven enterprises. However, companies who want to make this transition need to have a ‘data mindset’ before shifting their focus on making data work for them. Various practices such as data inventory, data cleansing can help shape the right data strategy for organizations that want to use data for sales and marketing activities.
Before you think of data as the power-house for your enterprise, its best to evaluate the existing data and analyze it to be able to make it actionable.
So how can one truly become a B2B data-driven enterprise? Here are some things that you can adopt to make sure you have the right data strategy.
Data Culture:
Data handling is not just the job of data experts. In fact; any organization that wants to be data-driven should imbibe data culture; wherein each participant understands the true value of data. Data ownership should be a regular norm and the seriousness of data should be conveyed to the employees through the top influencers in the organization. Developing a data mind-set is equally important to be a successful B2B data-driven organization.
Data Inventory:
While we might want to look outside the company for data; it is equally important to conduct a data inventory within the company. You will be surprised to find a lot of data already present in files, documents and other storage facilities; also in the forms of databases, records etc. within the company. This data needs to be extracted to be made available for usage. No data can become actionable until and unless it is treated to become valuable. The extracted data needs to go through data analysis; because there is always the possibility of degraded data to be found amid huge volumes of stored data; one that has become redundant in time.
Data Cleansing:
Incorrect data can hamper businesses more than not having data at all. Before you decide to use data for any marketing or sales activity, it is crucial that you only use data that is authentic, correct, and the one that is not out-dated. Using incorrect data can be hazardous and can lead to failure of campaigns leading to huge losses. Data inventory and data processing are therefore essential in making sure the data you have is usable and is actionable too. Since talking to the right audience matters a lot in B2B sales and marketing, the information about your prospect or the buyers’ journey is equally essential in building the right marketing strategies. Hence, the right data plays an important part in creating the right marketing strategies.