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: , , , , , , ,

Diversification: How to Mitigate Risk and Cost for List Acquisition

 List Acquisition, List Intelligence  No Responses »
Oct 272011
 

As companies invest heavily in the development of a smooth flowing, continuous sales pipeline, the need to find your audience and engage them with inviting content is critical.  But alas, a new challenge has come to the front: 

  • Who has the contacts you need?
  • Do they have all that you need or just some?
  • If they have some, how do you get just what you want and need?
  • If you just take what you need, are you going to pay a premium?
  • Is this new premium cost going to make targeting your audience an expensive all in gamble that you are willing to take?

There is no single database that will provide you anywhere near full access to your target audience.  According to a recent IDC CMO Advisory study, the most frequently used data vendors are Dun & Bradstreet, Hoovers, and Jigsaw.  If you have experience with these providers, you know each offer unique strengths and weaknesses.  Even combining all three will, in most cases, reach only a portion of a target audience.  It’s easy for these providers to position themselves as a complete solution, but you know it’s impossible.  To make the analogy to the stock market, would you risk all your retirement assets to one stock?  Does Enron or WorldCom sound familiar?

Your list provider should never lock you into any one “guaranteed” data solution.  Seek a provider that can provide you access to a diverse portfolio of list sources.  Ask your provider who their competitors are?  If they site competitive data providers, you might be limiting yourself because they will certainly not include their competitors within your list strategy.  Make sure you have the flexibility to adjust to changes in the market.  Lastly, ensure that your costs are controlled and your solution provider is focused on the performance metrics that are important to you.

List Optimizer vs Competition

At Oceanos, we deliver List Intelligence™ combined with a data asset allocation model.  Our list analysts design diversified list portfolios via our proprietary software, List Optimizer™ and KnowledgeBanks.  Our solution leverages only the “prime” cuts of data from mulitiple sources.  This combined offering delivers cost certainty and risk mitigation to maximize your return on investment.

For additional information, read our List Intelligence Report at:  http://www.oceanosinc.com/listintelligence/

 

 Posted by at 8:20 am  Tagged with: , ,
© List Intelligence™ Blog Oceanos, Inc.