The objective of running a business is to earn profit. As a manager or owner of the business, you want to earn as much money as possible to elevate the top line, and you do not want to leave any stone unturned.
Among various elements that can be used to leverage marketing and sales campaigns, business-to-business data, often referred to as B2B data, is very vital.
This information will help your business find new sales leads and get in touch with them.
B2B data can be understood as any relevant information about other businesses. Primarily, this data is used to fuel marketing and innovative sales processes or strategies.
When companies leverage this quality data to generate new business opportunities, improve their lead generation processes, and enhance market research, they can see a boost in the business.
And since the new business is generated by a targeted effort, it brings more profitability.
What is B2B data?
B2B data is information about other businesses, which may include company identifiers, funding, revenue, and more.
Experts have an opinion that the more information a company gathers, the easier for it to be successful in building superior relationships, providing better service quality, and offering more excellent value for the clients and customers.
Sources of B2B data
B2B data sources can be sorted into two groups: internal data and third-party external data.
Internal data is usually collected from internal sources, whereas third-party data is collected from providers.
Among various sources, some prominent ones are:
Business information websites
These websites contain firmographic data. The source may contain extensive data on business, which includes general company information, funding, headcount, hiring details, and so on. This information can be used for many purposes including investment in market research.
Employee data sources
If you explore professional networks for business professionals, then you may get large volumes of valuable B2B data about the workforce. Employee data can be very useful in many ways, such as, powering HR tech platforms, transforming recruitment, or analyzing the market.
Review sites
Review sites can be used for sourcing review data about competitors and companies that your business might be interested in. When you analyze review data, you can spot red flags. It makes the evaluation of how employees of specific companies are feeling. You get an insight into what employees are looking for in general, and you can identify other positive or negative signals relevant to the business.
Technographic data sources
It is the data about companies’ tech stacks. The use of this data is often for market research, lead generation, or investment.
Data providers
It is also possible to source the aggregated B2B data via B2B data platforms or directly from data vendors. Experts recommend contacting data vendors directly because it is cost-effective.
What is B2B data used for?
B2B data gathered from various inbound, outbound, or paid sources can be used to turn contacts into leads and leads into sales.
Demand Generation
One of the important B2B database-driven marketing strategies is demand generation.
It increases awareness and interest in what your business is offering.
If you want to make your business known to more people and want to stand out uniquely in a crowded marketplace, then it can be accomplished easily by using your B2B data.
Lead Generation
Once your demand generation strategy makes people interested in your business, now it is time to convert them into leads.
It is the next step, i.e., lead generation strategy. This strategy persuades people to take actionable steps. Lead generation focuses more on increasing awareness and building trust.
Sales and marketing teams collaborate in this case and work in a coordinated manner. The marketing team captures leads for the sales team, which follows up subsequently.
Lead Routing
Lead routing means sending or diverting the flow of leads to appropriate salespeople. It ensures that the potential opportunities get adequate attention, and get followed up well.
Your B2B data will determine how these leads will be routed properly.
Lead Scoring
Another use of a B2B database is Lead Scoring. What is that? It is the methodology that will be used by the sales and marketing team to determine the sales readiness of each of the leads.
By Lead Scoring, you can determine which B2B data points can constitute a sales-ready lead and then each point can be given values.
Data Analytics
B2B data analytics is a major game-changer when an organization evaluates its sales and marketing strategies. In each step, the strategy is carefully examined to determine what is working and what is not working.
Analyzing trends or patterns in the data helps you to optimize your sales and marketing strategies. You can improve overall conversions and campaign performance.
Thus, a B2B database can be an effective tool for your company to achieve higher levels of business performance and success.
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