B2B Media Firms Emerge As Targeted Data Sources

With most marketers (74%) planning to boost data marketing budgets, per a new Global DMA/Winterberry Group study, the hunt is on for targeted data sources. Luckily for business-to-business campaigns, a new data source is emerging in the form of B2B media companies, according to a recent CMO.com post by Scott Vaughan, CMO of Integrate. With print and website profits squeezed, media companies that already generate traffic for B2B marketing clients are reinventing themselves as data source experts and offering access to highly specific customer and prospect performance data, Vaughan asserts. To his point, we note that Bombora, which collects intent data from client companies such as CBS Interactive, UBM and Forbes to build a data bank of 180 million U.S. B2B users, has just made its data available to Adobe's newly launched Audience Marketplace and its Marketing Cloud. Bombora is not alone in the burgeoning B2B media data mart. It's time for B2B marketers to adjust data strategies. B2B media firms can provide two types of valuable data, Vaughan notes. First, they can mine online activities and content interest to harvest behavioral prospect data that signals intent to buy. That data can be used for targeting of ads or e-mail offers, lead scoring and prospect nurturing. Second, B2B marketing and sales can tap into company-content consumption data for account-based marketing. Media companies can use digital tactices, demand generation and data solutions to identify purchasing intent for a specific list of target companies, using company IP address and domain intelligence, for example, so that when target companies engage with content, they can be immediately retargeted. Vaughan acknowledges that the media company shift from traffic and lead gen provider to data source is still in an early stage, but he advises marketers to start planning on how to board the emerging data intelligence train. To see his suggested tactics, read http://www.cmo.com/articles/2015/11/6/b2b-media-company-transformation-means-more-data-for-marketers.html

Brain Science Finds Mail Bests Digital With Buyers

The latest brain science explains why direct mail maintains its role as a multichannel marketing linchpin. In fact, direct mail beats or ties digital advertising in almost all the ways marketers seek to woo buyers, per a recent Temple University neuromarketing study sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service Inspector General's office. As reported by Direct Marketing News, the study, which showed a mix of 40 e-mail ads and postcards to laboratory subjects, found that a digital approach bested snail mail in only one area: grabbing customer attention. However, postcards outperformed e-mail in five other areas: holding customer engagement longer, generating a greater emotional reaction, generating speedier recall, and creating subconscious desire and perceived value for a product or service. And the two methods tied in three categories: engagement in terms of the amount of information absorbed, memory accuracy, and willingness to purchase and pay. The Inspector General's office is hoping the findings will inspire marketers to make better use of mail's power to win customers. Among its suggestions are increased marketer testing of mail creative, sequencing, and digital print technology, such as augmented reality and QR codes. For more details, read http://www.dmnews.com/postal/direct-mail-has-a-greater-effect-on-purchase-than-digital-ads/article/423292/