The world of marketing technology is full of tech platforms, each with their own value proposition – and acronym! The volume and complexity of these platforms has sped up over the last few years, and while Marketing automation platforms (MAPs) and Customer Relationship Management (CRMs) continue to expand the their features and functionalities, other platforms whose core functionality focus on integrating complex, multi source data and building value driven audience personas have started to rise. And at the head of the class is the Customer Data Platform (CDP)

We can say a lot about the value of a Customer Data Platform (CDP). For example, your CDP can be a driving force for more intelligent, streamlined marketing communications.

Think of all the places your customers interact with your company before  purchasing your products or services. This list can range from your social media accounts like Facebook to your website, YouTube channel, paid Google Ads, email, and live chat.

In all those situations, your customers are leaving bits and pieces of information about themselves that can aid in improved personalization. You can cater your marketing messages and overall communications to be entirely relevant to a specific customer’s experiences and needs.

However, the typical B2B process–which relies on more traditional tech stacks–is the data-gathering version of Frankenstein’s monster. B2B marketers and salespeople mix and match data from different sources, trying to piece them together with limited cohesion, hoping the end result will somehow be able to derive value from the sum of the varied data.

Here’s where a Customer Data Platform is your savior.

What Is A Customer Data Platform?

The Customer Data Platform is the next step in the evolution of client information aggregation systems. With this piece of tech, you can integrate data from various tools to centralize your customer data from all potential interactions and touchpoints with your brand.

It’s then possible to segment your data and great audiences or personas,  employing an infinite number of methods to better personalize your marketing campaigns, speaking more directly to individual customers. 

In short, a Customer Data Platform harnesses the immense power of your data because it can take advantage of data across disparate sources and join them within a single customer view – giving marketers the most thorough client insights. 

Examining The Traditional Tech Stack

The agility and seamless access to vast pools of customer data acquired from all touchpoints sound like a straightforward boon to your organization. Yet, there is still a tremendous  knowledge gap around CDPs.

To grasp the problems solved by leveraging a CDP, let’s first look at your typical tech stack as a B2B, which typically entails:

  • CRM (e.g., Salesforce)
  • Marketing Automation Platform (e.g., Hubspot)
  • ABM tool (e.g., 6Sense)
  • Business intelligence reporting tools (e.g., Dunn & Bradstreet)
  • A lead scoring mechanism for handing off from marketing to sales

Provided the above tech stack mirrors or resembles yours, it does seem well-rounded and diverse. Still, the problems begin when you want to do the following two things exceptionally well:

  1. Establish lucrative, pinpoint-targeted audiences across your tech stack ecosystem
  2. Execute campaigns with a genuine omni-channel approach

Breaking The Barriers Of The Traditional Tech Stack

The traditional B2B tech stack is typically led with marketing automation, often focusing on:

  • Email
  • SMS
  • Limited integrations with call centers
  • Passing off data and leads to a sales system

Sales teams will usually have a dashboard look into leads and opportunities from an event perspective and based on a prospect’s actions within the CRM. 

Unfortunately, this approach is incomplete. All the other data which is tied to your leads (known or anonymous the volume of which has blown up over the past two decades) isn’t available, leading to potentially missed opportunities. 

As a result, many marketers are left stuck with audiences with reduced knowledge and understanding. Only a handful of channels get used when there’s more valuable information waiting to be harnessed. Transactional data, call history data, invoice information, call dispositions, additional CRM data, etc., don’t have a place and there isn’t getting used. 

Marketing automation platforms are reasonably advanced, but they cannot handle the large amounts of data your organization needs to thrive. Yes, these tools are necessary, but if your data goes beyond what a MAP can store and leverage, you are missing opportunities

CDPs like ActionIQ or Segment possess those missing capabilities. These platforms cohesively combine just about any kind of customer data you capture, allowing you to execute a hyper-personalized omni-channel marketing approach.

Work With An Expert To Fully Leverage Your CDP

CDPs are complex tools to master. And like any other MarTech platform, value is driven by how well you use a CDP.

So, contact Goose Digital, an expert in data unification and CDPs. We’ll help you harness the full power of your data and drive growth through the use of your CDP.