2013: Contact Discovery is in the Midst of a Sea Change

 Data Acquisition, Lead Generation, List Acquisition, List Intelligence, List Management, Marketing  No Responses »
Jan 182013
 

My biggest take away from 2012 is that data acquisition will change more in the next year than in the previous five.  Previously, the name of the game was to procure as many contacts as possible that aligned to a prospect definition and embark them on a nurture program.  Competitive advantage was created by identifying  more names than your competition.  I recall the SiriusDecisions quote, “The battle between competitors is being won and lost at the top of the funnel.”  This approach still has merit, but it’s the execution that has and will continue to change.  Let me explain.

Many marketers pin their data acquisition needs on a few well-known providers.  This is understandable since they provide access to millions of contact records and the logistics of managing more vendors taxes your internal resources. These same providers are Oceanos vendors and we strongly advocate their value in a demand creation strategy.

However, our analysis reveals that their combined reach is typically 30% of a client’s target audience.  In addition, their strong brand awareness ensures that their contacts reside in both you and your competitor’s database.  It’s clear that the company most effectively nurturing the other 70% will win the so-called battle.

As a savvy marketer, what do you do?  The optimal approach is similar to an investment portfolio: source contacts from a large network to produce a custom data asset that is stronger than the sum of its parts.  It’s the execution that presents all the challenges including data asset identification, internal logistics, cost negotiation and timing.

Because you can go only so far with third party feeds, there is a point where custom research is necessary to identify incremental contacts.  Custom discovery requires web and social media mining along with other research driven techniques.  But it’s these contacts, which cannot be acquired via third party, that provide the competitive advantage.  For this reason, finding a partner that has the know-how and technology to accomplish this in scale is invaluable.

Out with the old and in with the new and undiscovered.  Make 2013 the year of achieving your competitive advantage; where better to start than at the top of your funnel.

View our video for more information on Oceanos:  http://ow.ly/gHxVi

Brian Hession is President & Founder of Oceanos and can be reached at bhession@oceanosinc.com

 Posted by at 6:55 pm  Tagged with: , ,

Architecting a Federal Government Data Strategy

 Data Acquisition, List Intelligence, List Management, Marketing  No Responses »
Dec 052012
 

Designing a federal government demand creation strategy presents data concerns.  The biggest challenge facing marketers is identifying and isolating target contacts.  Many large databases are weak in their ability to delineate federal from state and local contacts, and although the government trade publications have good coverage of the market, they offer broad job function segmentation.  Most marketers tend to accept this limitation, resulting in non-targeted campaigns or in some cases, reaching institutions outside of federal government.

You don’t have to accept weak data.  Oceanos can help you overcome your data challenges and give you a competitive edge.

The first step in designing a data strategy is the development of a robust prospect definition; you must first highlight the characteristics associated with the target agencies and then define the types of contacts to reach.  Oceanos’ objective is to build a named account list with the institution’s demographics, domain and any valuable business intelligence.   Contact identification is imperative because the market for technology products in federal government is diverse.  Although contacts can be categorized based on your unique marketing approach, the default groups are:

  • Decision Makers
  • Influencers
  • End Users

To facilitate job title identification we recommend job title mapping, an analysis that is critical in the identification of the optimal job titles and key words for segment mapping.   The next step is the creation of the balanced data portfolio, which is necessary to ensure repeatable demand creation.  An Oceanos federal government data strategy includes twenty to forty different sources.  When architecting a data strategy, we seek to leverage the strengths of each data source to produce a custom solution that provides a competitive marketing advantage.

There are  five data types within a scalable data strategy:

  • Perpetual crowd-sourced data feeds provide you access to the full contact record.  Oceanos’ List Optimizer is synched to these sources, including crowd sourced providers and select publishers.
  • Perpetual research-based data provides various levels of intelligence to assist sales executives that are actively selling into government institutions.
  • Rental lists include both vertical and horizontal source and are derived from trade publications, associations, show attendees and communities.
  • Leased data allows you to receive the data directly to support predefined nurturing strategies via your internal marketing automation platform.
  • Federal government business intelligence is primarily sourced from RFP’s and outbound calling programs.  This intelligence can be procured and released directly to assist in segmentation, prioritization and messaging.

Oceanos can serve as the Data Acquisition Hub for all public sector units.  We can assist in establishing standards for all third party data acquisition.  Centralization of the data acquisition will provide your company immediate cost efficiencies and will minimize the procurement of poor quality or duplicate data across business units.

View our List Intelligence Brief:  Architecting a Federal Government Data Strategy at http://youtu.be/5pt7zpwtNAw.  For more information on how Oceanos can help you overcome data challenges associated with federal government, please contact Brian Hession, President & Founder of Oceanos at bhession@oceanosinc.com

 

 

 Posted by at 11:31 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

Oceanos Celebrates 10th Anniversary

 Data Acquisition, Lead Generation, List Acquisition, List Intelligence, List Management, Marketing  No Responses »
Nov 072012
 

On November 8th, Oceanos will celebrate it’s 10th Anniversary – a milestone for our company!   We’ve come a long way from our original start in Marshfield 2002.  From those humble beginnings, Oceanos has thrived and grown into an industry leader in database marketing.  We’ve evolved as a research and advisory firm that designs data strategies to support all types of demand creation strategies.  Our solutions are powered by proprietary List Optimizer™ technology and smart, focused people.   We view ourselves as data consultants, akin to an investment firm, but rather than stocks we analyze data.  This includes both traditional list sources along with all types of business intelligence.

Sales and marketing organizations look to us to architect a data portfolio that aligns to their prospect definition, is scalable and will drive returns.  The expertise we provide is not just selecting data source A over B, but rather the ability to combine pieces of data, from a multitude of sources resulting in a solution that is stronger than the sum of its parts.  It’s maximizing data utility to support both contact prioritization and the ability to segment and align messaging to tightly defined audiences.  This is List Intelligence™  and our blue chip client roster is the proof that we deliver results.

Over the years, we are proud to report that Oceanos has received numerous business and industry accolades including articles in the “Boston Business Journal” as well as being named to “Inc. Magazine’s” Fastest Growing Private Company list for three consecutive years.  Our impressive client roster includes blue chip clients such as Iron Mountain, Autodesk, Bloomberg, Citrix, CA Technologies and Lenovo.   Thank you to all our clients for helping make Oceanos a success.

As Oceanos approaches its 10th anniversary, we are more confident now than ever that our intellectual capital and technology has created a very special company.  To learn more about Oceanos can provide you with a unique data strategy, view our new video: http://youtu.be/zcOiTM30_W4

If you are interested in learning how Oceanos can optimize your demand creation activities, feel free to contact Brian Hession, President and Founder at bhession@oceanosinc.com

 

 Posted by at 10:45 am  Tagged with: , , , ,

Oceanos Guarantees “Good Data”

 Data Acquisition, List Acquisition, List Intelligence, List Metrics  No Responses »
Oct 102012
 

We have all read plenty of articles about “good data”,  how important it is and “good data” is like gasoline in your car…. so on and so forth.   But how many businesses can definitively stand behind the data they sell you?  At Oceanos, we believe we have cured bad data.  The past few years of research and investment into our List Optimizer™ software seem to be really paying off.

So, how do we make “good data”?

Oceanos, does not own any data. We have partnered with dozens of data providers and based on your requirements, we pick the best vendor and buy the data for you.  But this data is just the raw material, like crude oil.  We run this raw data through a detailed process of refinement identifying bad email addresses and correcting phone numbers.  In addition, we run a whole phone verification process on your file and also standardize the postal addresses.   At the end of this process we produce a certificate called the Oceanos “Data Audit Certificate”.   The certificate tells you what we started off with and what we have done to get it right.  It proves what we have done to get to “good data”.  You will be surprised how the data gets modified as we refine it and will learn many times that we have corrected 50 – 60% of the file.  These steps result in a clean list that enables you to target your message to the right audience.

View the Oceanos Data Audit Certificate:  http://www.oceanosinc.com/objects/pdfs/DataAuditCertificate.pdf

Give us a chance to do business with you and try out the Data Audit Certificate yourself.  Good data is not a theory anymore, good data is a daily practice at Oceanos.

If you are interested in learning how Oceanos can  guarantee “good data”, feel free to contact Raghu Prabhu, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at rprabhu@oceanosinc.com

 

 Posted by at 1:55 pm  Tagged with: , ,

To maximize the return on your data investment, you need a Data Asset Manager.

 Data Acquisition, List Acquisition, List Management  No Responses »
May 022012
 

Having the right data is an invaluable asset.  To maximize the return on your investment, you need a Data Asset Manager.

Would you just invest your entire retirement in one stock?  Well maybe if it’s Apple; but in practice it exposes you to extreme risk.  When you are investing your valuable resources in the acquisition of data assets meant to support your sales and marketing program, how are you differentiating each data source?  Can any source be the total solution or do you need to follow the traditional investing wisdom “DIVERSIFY”?

Statistical analysis of all campaigns contained in the Oceanos Knowledge Bank, an aggregate of all campaign results show there is no single database that will provide you with adequate diversification to mitigate your risk while providing you with exposure to the assets you need to speak to your audience.

SO HOW DO I BALANCE MY PORTFOLIO AND MAXIMIZE MY RETURN?

Marketers are overwhelmed with having to sort through a dizzying array of data providers all promising to be the best solution; they need guidance.  An independent data management firm who represents YOU and not the data providers can help.  At Oceanos, we’ve identified four characteristics you should look for in your data partner:

MAKE SURE YOUR DATA PARTNER WORKS FOR YOU.  Work closely with an independent data advisor not aligned to any particular data source.

QUANTIFY IT.  Use empirical statistical and technical analysis to identify trends and potential market trends.

DISCUSS THE METHODOLOGY.  Work with your data advisor to develop a strategy to identify and obtain the assets you want.  Determine the methodology used by the advisor in grading potential assets for inclusion in your portfolio.

DETERMINE FAIR MARKET VALUE.  It is no value to pay two times as much to get an asset that performs at a level equivalent to better valued assets.  Ensure that your data provider is able to establish fair market value for the assets you obtain to provide with your best chance to maximize your return. 

Download the Oceanos List Optimizer E Book at http://www.oceanosinc.com/ebook/ to learn about our proprietary software that will enable you to diversify your data investment.

 

 Posted by at 10:16 am  Tagged with: , ,
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