B2B marketing is changing. It was once about delivering carefully crafted messages to databases of likely customers, now it is more about producing content that will attract and engage buyers, and encourage specific individuals down the sales funnel.

1. Using data to drive
customer centricity

2. Customer centricity is about putting your
customer first and at the core of your business.

3. Defined
It can be defined as meeting expectations across five key
dimensions:
1. Relevancy
2. Identification
3. Accessibility
4. Value
5. Confidence

4. Information we need to know
• Who are the key customers
• Where are they
• What do they want
• Which messages will resonate most powerfully with them and
where
This will require gathering information from all departments and not
just relying on Google analytics, the more information which can be
collated the better: Finance / Customer service / Human resources /
IT / Sales
‘Leads are expensive and poorly targeted
campaigns are not just a missed opportunity but
can be costly as they will lead to unsubscribes.’

5. Combining data sources
To become more customer centric, customer profiles can be built
by integrating all of the below information:
•Marketers need to understand what information is available to
them for current and prospective customers
•What offline information has been collated
•What online information is available – website, email, mobile or
third party data

6. The future
In a recent survey it was quoted that the 3 most important skills for
marketers of the future is: Business acumen, Analytics/data and
Digital.
However, in a rush to embrace big data, businesses should not
discount the value of face to face relationship building. The data and
the insight it can provide, simply gives you a stronger platform on which
to build the relationship
Building your business around customers is the only guarantee for
sustainable competitive advantage and the relevance and frequency of
messaging has never been so intrinsically linked to business success.

7. How does this apply to B2B clients
‘B2B marketing has tended to be more generic
than consumer marketing, but the rise of big
data, together with the emergence of affordable
analytics tools, is allowing a new customer
centricity in the world of B2B marketing’
Birst Marketing