Discover where your data-driven marketing strategy is today — and where it can go tomorrow.

Design integrated experiences that make buyers happy.

Data-driven marketing is the art and science of using all the data from your engagements with prospects and customers to build better marketing strategies that will personalize the customer experience and drive sales. You see it in action whenever you open your web browser to find products and services you've shown interest in magically appearing in the form of pop-up ads.

But data-driven marketing is more than just retargeting or remarketing. It’s designing an integrated experience that drives conversions and makes your customers happy. It's operating across channels and making sure your marketing and sales teams are connected.

But data-driven marketing is more than just retargeting or remarketing. It’s designing an integrated experience that drives conversions and makes your customers happy. It's operating across channels and making sure your marketing and sales teams are connected.

Data-driven marketing is changing how marketing teams operate.

The marketing process no longer stops when leads are passed to sales. Instead, marketing teams are using sales data to validate their lead-scoring methods. And more marketers are looking at quantitative data than ever before. They're capturing data that indicates where prospects are on the buyer’s journey, and using that data to create more personalized communications. CMOs are even starting to hire data scientists.

This eBook can help you assess the maturity of your data-driven marketing strategy, including where you are today and where you can go tomorrow.

How much does analytics play into your marketing today?

Data-driven marketing is gaining traction. Over 40 percent of brands plan to expand their data-driven marketing budgets,according to eMarketer. And companies use marketing analytics in their decision- making process 43.5 percent of the time, which represents a 13.1 percent increase since 2013.

However, most companies have not reached “peak” data-driven marketing. Most marketers have a database, but either it’s polluted with inaccurate data, it doesn’t capture enough data, or the data it does capture doesn’t answer key questions like these:

• When is the right time to pass a lead on to sales?
• What data do I need to route the lead to sales?
• How early can I get that data?
• How accurate is it?
• Does the data disperse leads correctly?

Essentially, companies are not using all of the analytics at their disposal.

>40% of brands plan to expand their data- driven marketing budgets.

How mature is your data-driven marketing program?

Data-driven marketing can help your business in different ways. Here are four benefits that will help you estimate your program's maturity level:

1. It can improve the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.

Data-driven strategies are proven to help you build and refine ultra-personalized campaigns. In a recent survey of 200 marketing executives, 40 percent reported that customer personalization efforts had a direct impact on maximizing sales, basket size, and profits in direct-to-customer channels. Another 37 percent pointed to increased sales and customer lifetime value through product or content recommendations.

Data-driven marketing is also incredibly effective for B2B companies. Most business buyers (73 percent) say they want a personalized, consumer-like experience. And B2B marketers see an average revenue bump of 760 percent when they switch from email blasts to customized, segmented email campaigns.

In addition to increased sales, data- driven analysis can also help you understand which strategies and tactics are most effective. Without this information, you may end up making decisions based on gut feeling or anecdotal feedback.

760% increase in revenue when B2B marketers switch from email blasts to segmented email campaigns.

2. It can help you better understand the buyer's journey.

Connecting your marketing database to your CRM system can help you determine what customers do before they buy — and before they make repeat purchases.

40% Believe that customer personalization maximizes sales, basket size, and profits.

37% Say product or content recommendations help increase sales and customer lifetime value.

3. It can help you communicate the value of marketing to CFOs, CEOs, etc.

Marketing outcomes are typically difficult to quantify. In fact, 68 percent of CMOs say their biggest challenge is trying to demonstrate the impact of marketing actions on financial outcomes. Data-driven marketing that incorporates marketing attribution can help CMOs communicate the value of marketing to decision makers who are focused on numbers.

4. It can help you increase earnings by marketing all the way down the funnel.

Data-driven marketing has been proven to increase revenue, especially for businesses that sell online. The larger the company (in terms of sales revenue) and the greater its Internet sales, the stronger the contribution of marketing analytics to company performance.

Personalized content and experiences made possible by data analysis are often more effective than traditional campaigns. And closer integration with sales means you can keep marketing, even after an opportunity is opened or a lead is handed off.

68% of CMOs say their biggest challenge is demonstrating the impact of marketing on financial outcomes.

How do you use your data?

Based on our experience with Marketo Engage users, we’re finding that businesses are all over the spectrum on their data- driven marketing expertise. One thing common to almost all of them, however, is that they have room to improve.

Where does your business fall on this spectrum? And what should you do next? Our data-driven marketing maturity model can help you gauge your company’s level of maturity and determine next steps.

Level 0: Database

You are at level 0 if you:

• Have a marketing database
• Use your database for simple direct mail and email campaigns
• Have a simple marketing automation or email marketing solution

Overview

Of course, a prerequisite to data-driven marketing is to have a database. And the good news is that a whopping 92.3 percent of organizations maintain databases to host information on customers or prospects — to at least some extent.

Moreover, 90.7 percent of US advertising and marketing professionals said they segment data addressable customer or B2B audiences. With basic segmentation, marketers can run simple email and direct mail campaigns with very light personalization.

What you’re doing with your data

At level 0, marketers aren’t performing much analysis beyond these simple metrics:

• Market segmentation by geography and industry
• Email open rates
• Email click-through rates
• Email conversion rates

Level 1: Single-channel optimization

You’re at level 1 if you:

• Have a scalable marketing automation solution
• Use your database for email, event, direct mail, and webinar campaigns
• Have integrated your marketing automation platform with your CRM
• Have optimized your emails for maximum deliverability
• Personalize content for emails and landing pages
• Incorporate social media into your automated marketing campaigns
• Have a rough idea of your customer’s journey
• Provide insights to sales and other teams

Overview

At level 1, you have some experience with a variety of single-channel marketing campaigns, including email, events, paid advertising, and webinars. You probably use marketing data to personalize campaigns. And you have performed some analysis to improve email deliverability, perhaps by removing invalid addresses and unsubscribers from your database.

You have also begun to optimize your channels — such as emails, events, and social media — for performance. And you may be using CRM data to pinpoint or to score individual leads.

What you’re doing with your data

At level 1, marketers are optimizing individual channels and taking a closer look at user behavior, which may include looking at:

• Market segmentation by geography, industry, persona, and stage in the customer journey
• Email open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates
• Email deliverability stats like bounces, inbox placement, and spam placement rates
• Social media engagement
• Website engagement
• Event/Webinar registration and attendance rates
• Prospect and customer engagement according to stage in the customer journey
• Lead scores that identify how likely various leads are to buy

Level 2: Multi-channel optimization

You’re at level 2 if you:

• Regularly clean and optimize your database via automated tools or batch processing
• Work with data enrichment vendors to improve the quality of your records
• Have an advanced and scalable marketing automation solution
• Create and launch multi-channel campaigns
• Have added mobile and SMS marketing to your channel mix
• Build automated nurture campaigns that trigger based on prospect behavior
• Analyze both campaign and program performance with KPIs that you can “roll up” to identify big-picture trends
• Personalize emails according to prospects’ interests and behavior
• Have introduced marketing marketing’s contribution to revenues
• Are using AI to support even more personalized web content
• Have supplemented lead-based marketing with account-based marketing

Overview

More than half (54 percent) of companies say their biggest challenge to success with data-driven marketing is their data’s lack of quality and completeness. At level 2, you’re very concerned about optimizing data quality. You are also using integrated, multi-channel marketing to more quickly move prospects through the sales cycle.

54% of companies say their biggest challenge to success with data- driven marketing is their data’s lack of quality and completeness.

Rather than analyzing individual channels, you are looking at multi- channel campaigns and multi-campaign programs. That's because you have the bandwidth to do so. Marketing data and analytics users are 57% more effective at increasing their productivity with integrated marketing technologies.

You are building ever-more- personalized campaigns and nurturing leads over time. Plus, you’re using marketing attribution to explain the value of marketing to the C-suite and other leadership. In addition to lead scoring, you may have also adopted account scoring.

What you’re doing with your data

At level 2, marketers are optimizing multi-channel performance and advancing and refining personalization strategies, which may include:

• Market segmentation by geography, industry, persona, engagement, interests, and stage in the customer journey
• Multi-channel campaign and program analysis
• More advanced website engagement metrics
• Mobile marketing metrics
• Revenue attribution analysis across channels, programs, campaigns, leads, accounts, etc.
• More advanced lead scoring
• Account scoring
• Customer lifetime value
• Quarter-over-quarter analysis
• Multi-year forecasting

57% Marketing data and analytics users are 57% more effective at increasing their productivity with integrated marketing technologies.

Level 3: Predictive lifecycle optimization

You’re at level 3 if you:

• Have an enterprise-class marketing automation solution
• Are rapidly scaling your marketing programs
• Look at short- and long-term time horizons
• Nurture leads at all stages of the customer journey
• Run overarching campaigns that are delivered and reported on via a myriad of channels and subchannels
• Rely on AI to deliver personalized content across multiple channels
• Use advanced revenue attribution tactics and strategies
• Optimize marketing strategies for multiple goals — net new, cross-, and up-sells
• Have a close, collaborative relationship with your sales and product marketing teams.
• Have a C-suite that understands what marketing does and how it contributes to revenue growth

Overview

According to research by Google and BCG, just 2 percent of brands are best-in-class at data-driven marketing. Yet best-in-class brands drive up to 20 percent more revenue and 30 percent more cost savings as a result.

At level 3, you take a holistic approach to data-driven marketing and look at marketing results from companywide, regional, local, and product-centric POVs. You have probably defined both prospect and customer lifecycles and are providing leads to your customer account management and sales development teams.

Virtually all marketing strategies are grounded in data. This includes “negative data” on campaigns and programs that didn’t work. Of course, all information — good or bad — is helpful. Product marketing and sales teams rely on marketing insights to make strategic decisions.

At level 3, you take a holistic approach to data-driven marketing and look at marketing results from companywide, regional, local, and product-centric POVs.

The 2% of businesses that do data-driven marketing best see up to 20% greater revenue and 30% more cost savings.

Your C-suite understands and supports marketing activities. And marketing is fully integrated into the customer experience.

What you’re doing with your data

At level 3, marketers are creating companywide strategies such as these in partnership with product marketing, sales, and customer service teams:

• Advanced customer lifecycle analysis
• Multi-channel and sub-channel reporting based on good UTM code structure and use
• Advanced, multi-channel personalization
• Multi-channel customer behavioral analysis
• Multi-touch revenue attribution for companywide marketing strategies
• Company-, program-, and campaign- level forecasting based on predictive analysis
• “What if ” analysis

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