Precision demand marketing ushers in a new era of B2B marketing and sales, which is entirely buyer-driven. Read on to learn how this model works, its benefits, and the importance of precision demand marketing in the digital era.
Defining Precision Demand Marketing
Precision demand marketing (PDM for short), is defined as a B2B marketing strategy as part of a conventional sales-driven account-based marketing strategy, wherein marketers focus on reaching out to or engaging with the buyer, wherever they are on their purchasing journey – and as per their specific requirements.
PDM, or precision demand marketing, is a technique that emphasizes relevance. And, mixing data and context to determine exactly where your customers are on their unique buyer journeys (across your brand) establishes relevancy.
The intent is to increase lifetime customer value (LCV) while enhancing and improving the buyer experience by combining the power of marketing and sales.
Today’s B2B buyers differ from those of previous generations. They conduct their own research. They expect to connect with you as per their individualized needs, through the channels they select, and only when they are ready to engage. Inaccurate, siloed data and extensive marketing programs have, ironically, further exacerbated the problem. PDM is a technology-driven, buyer-first approach to marketing that aims to take account-based marketing or ABM to the next level.
The Need for Precision Demand Marketing (PDM)
The B2B purchasing process has evolved to become more digital and self-service oriented. As a result, B2B purchasers resemble B2C buyers with much higher standards – of being heard, acknowledged, and understood. PDM begins with the client. It is about recognizing their needs and offering them pertinent content and experiences.
However, new research demonstrates that several businesses have yet to adapt their strategies to provide that personalized touch modern buyers now expect at the time of any purchase – B2C or B2B.
Only 12% of marketers stated that their teams’ existing personalization strategies accomplish the goals they set. 61% of respondents cited segregated data as the greatest obstacle to adopting a personalized strategy. Precision demand marketing or PDM addresses this by assembling a fully unified dataset combined with sharper targeting, right from the marketing stage.
Moreover, as B2B purchasing behavior has evolved, so has the purchasing process. As per Gartner, just 17% of the purchasing process involves dealing with sales. This means that marketing handles over 80% of the purchasing process.
Considering the disparities in resources across traditional B2B sales and marketing functions, it is time for an integrated, cross-functional strategy to power the purchasing journey. That is exactly what precision demand marketing or PDM helps companies achieve.
It does this by helping you:
- Identify and target market accounts
- Merge data, content, and buyer journey stories/narratives across channels
- Engage buyers who meet the ideal customer profile (ICP).
- Evaluate outcomes to justify spending
Precision Demand Marketing vs Traditional B2B Marketing: What’s the Difference?
B2B marketing has always centered on leads – how to acquire them, how to grow their number, how to turn them into a completed sale, or how to lower their costs. With the advent of PDM, however, the golden age of leads may be coming to an end.
Forrester says that 1% is the typical rate of success for lead-based demand management systems. Leads do not always reflect the contemporary B2B buying process, wherein the majority of purchasing choices are taken by teams of three or more individuals.
PDM challenges the presumptions that accompany traditional demand marketing and shifts the primary focus of demand generation activities elsewhere. The move is towards customers who have indicated they are in the market for the company’s solutions. Adopters of the strategy modify their goal setting as well as assessment criteria accordingly – usually from the previous marketing qualified lead (MQL) to the PDM-aligned sales qualified lead (SQL) method.
How to Set Up Precision Demand Marketing? Best Practices
To succeed with PDM, organizations need to:
1. Centralize data and establish a single point of truth
At a time when buyers seek connections, over-segmentation generates arbitrary, dispassionate encounters which leave B2B buyers underwhelmed. In addition, they have significant adverse effects on the manner in which teams operate, the efficacy of the technology, and the data collection platforms.
As per PDM, a buyer-driven market demands connected technologies as well as channels that unify marketing and sales departments while offering an integrated perspective of high-value customers and accounts. This requires system integration, visualizations, along with metrics –– and this establishes a single source of truth – in order to propel or boost sales, marketing, and buyer collaboration.
2. Improve data quality with a CDP
Data quality is the fundamental pillar upon which one builds precision demand marketing campaigns. It has an enormous effect on the way B2B teams devise strategies and thrive in your markets, as it is what matters most in an excellent buyer experience.
As B2B buyers rely more and more on digital channels, businesses must be prepared to engage with multiple purchasing parties on their conditions of engagement and preferred digital platforms. You must facilitate data management by populating the pipeline with tested, high-quality, actionable information from all channels. Customer data platforms (CDPs) are usually leveraged for this purpose.
3. Apply data to target potential buyers with marketing messages
At any particular time, only a small fraction of customers are interested in your product. To obtain the advantage of being the first to market, you must meet your customers – exactly where they are on the buying cycle. That is what precision demand marketing is all about.
Prioritizing the target account inventory ensures that marketers are always aware of which customers and purchasing groups require your solution. Additionally, you should include third-party intention data that enables you to identify buyers before they arrive at a decision. You’ll be in an advantageous position to steer the discourse about your brand if you reach these buyers before they make up their minds.
4. Personalize the messaging and the channel experience
Currently, buyers depend on digital channels to conduct research and move onto decision-making – while also anticipating personalized services. Therefore, according to PDM best practices, you should not consider B2B to be business-to-business – but rather business-to-buyer. This requires crafting messages that are mindful of the buyer’s role, problems, and business goals.
Precision demand marketing also enables marketers and B2B sales professionals to build personal connections with buyers, across channels. Content syndication, social media, account-based marketing (ABM), and face-to-face/ online events are all valuable channels that must be employed effectively when charting the buyer’s journey.
The trick is to create seamless, multichannel experiences that offer targeted, pertinent messaging to buyers regardless of their location. This requires establishing touch points throughout all and any channels, wherever known and unknown interested customers may reside.
5. Invest in team building and enablement
To accomplish a marketing strategy that focuses on the buyer, businesses must assemble groups that can work efficiently and effectively together. They will orchestrate personalized, appropriate experiences for customers across all channels.
Consequently, a PDM function eventually helps the purchaser. Revenue teams must abdicate control and abandon marketing- and sales-centric techniques in order to become customer-centric. Organizations must standardize and quantify the delivery of solutions throughout each of the product lines, locations, and market categories.
Conclusion
In many ways, B2B marketers may actually benefit from precise demand marketing or PDM:
- It urges you to rethink your current marketing org frameworks because they are not sufficiently buyer-centric. You can adopt more agile crews, which enhances your go-to-market initiatives.
- PDM encourages more creativity and experimentation among marketing teams. Marketers are ready to test innovative messaging, content, or channels to reach buyers more effectively.
- Marketers are compelled to take a close look at their current technology infrastructure to guarantee that it meets the changing landscape of B2B purchasing – substituting and streamlining tech whenever necessary.
As B2B buyers come to expect the perfect mix of convenience and the personal touch, precision demand marketing or PDM could become your go-to approach, taking the personalization of customer experiences to all new heights.
The following Techfunnel Author from 2023 provides their research perspective. HERE
