It’s late January, and although we’ve stopped wishing everyone a “Happy New Year” by now, 2018 is still in its infancy. There’s lots of time left to make a difference with our marketing – both strategic and digital marketing!

So what’s on your digital marketing plate for 2018? To inspire you, here are a few things we are working on with our clients…

Cleanse and refresh your database

This should happen throughout the year, but if you have a longer sales cycle, an annual review is enough.

Go through your database to uncover any contacts who haven’t interacted with your content in the last 365 days. Evaluate whether you need them. If not, sequester those contacts to a dormant list. It’s kind of like the closet purge — if you haven’t worn a garment in a year, donate it.

Now, if those dormant contacts are still of interest to you, go to step 2…

Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

This strategic practice involves zeroing-in on specific companies you’d really, really like to win.

The idea is to look at your database, and identify areas where you have multiple contacts from the same organization. A little research will tell you if the organization itself is pre-qualified. If so, you can create very tailored, personalized content. In case you aren’t sure what ABM is, here’s a quick primer for that.

Use your marketing automation platform (MAP) to drive drip campaigns targeting these key accounts. And be sure to loop-in your sales team. Step 3…

Marketing and sales alignment

I personally started espousing the importance of marketing and sales alignment back in 2006, before the economic crash. 12 years later and I’m still banging that drum.

Guys. Companies with good alignment (smarketing as coined by HubSpot) practices in place generate 208% more revenue from marketing efforts. When sales and marketing teams work together, companies see 36% higher customer retention and 38% higher sales win rates.

Why wouldn’t you want that? Even if your corporate culture is malinclined to alignment, at least go to Step 4…

Pick a vertical, any vertical

Far too often, B2B companies try to cover all the bases in one set of messaging. They want one set of ads, one landing page and one major content piece. They think it will suffice, but it just won’t get the job done.

As talented as Josh Donaldson — the Bringer of Rain — may be playing third base, he cannot also cover centre field and pitching. That’s why the Blue Jays also have Kevin Pillar and Marcus Stroman. All three players are phenomenal, but their roles are completely different.

Look at your audience and break it down by roles or vertical markets. What matters to a law firm might be very different from what matters to a manufacturer.

Pick a vertical where you think you have a key differentiator, and start there. Tailor your content to the unique needs and pain points. Run separate AdWords, landing pages and drips.

Not sure how to start? Go to Step 5…

Leverage the *%$# out of your SMEs

Every organization has a subject-matter expert, or SME. Most orgs have several. Some dwell within marketing, but most exist on the sales or product management side. Another good reason for alignment!!!

You can leverage the wealth of knowledge your SMEs have to help you segment your database, massage your messaging using voice of the customer input, select key accounts for targeted ABM.

And once you have all that anecdotal intelligence gathered, you can go to Step 6….

Data, data and more data

Is “Big Data” a buzzword or a business imperative?

Both.

Simplest terms: you cannot manage what you do not measure. If you are not keeping track of your marketing metrics, you’re in the dark. Some organizations are content to clock web visits and Facebook Likes. But the best are going far beyond those paltry parameters and drilling deeper.

Engagement? By what score? Revenue attribution by campaign. Incremental growth by retention. Organic referrals versus incentives?

If Big Data (or small data) scares you, we have folks who can hold your hand. Contact us with your analytics needs and we’ll take it from there.