Transform your Outbound Strategy with Help from Predictive Analytics

Outbound sales and marketing tactics are integral to any type of marketing campaign, but it’s no coincidence that ABM is far and wide considered to be so valuable. Consider this: in a survey by Forrester Research, 86% of marketers attributed their ABM success to predictive marketing. Pinpointing key personas at target companies and then tailoring their content strategy to those personas using predictive data is what gives ABM tactics a big performance boost.

If you’re new to the world of predictive analytics or considering investing in the technology to take your efforts to the next level, you might be curious: exactly how can it add oomph to outbound? Here’s some insight from our experience generating leads for our clients.

Identify your Most Active Accounts
When you begin planning your outbound strategy, you’ll want to make sure that your efforts (and budget) are well spent. Predictive analytics can help you figure out which accounts on your list are most active – who seems to be looking to buy – and bump them to the top of your list of priorities. You can then engage them with direct mail, a personalized e-mail, or a phone call. With predictive analytics, instead of wasting funds pushing your messaging out through all channels to all constituents of your target market, you can make the process more efficient by always keeping active shoppers on your A-list.

Hone your Content Tactics
Once you’ve used your predictive analytics to let your most coveted accounts float to the top, you can get a bit more granular: see what, specifically, these accounts are searching for in terms of keywords and topics, and see what types of content they respond to. Not only will this help you to develop your messaging and content strategy, it will also give you a bit of insight about what products or services these accounts might be most interested in. You can reduce the risk of pushing a product they already have and instead address their pain points – know their problem so you can solve it. Whether you choose to reach out via direct mail, phone, or e-mail, you can supplement your outbound strategy by putting those most-searched keywords to good use: keep pay-per-click ads and social media marketing running in the background to reinforce your brand messaging…

Avoid Missing the Boat on Late-Stage Buyers
One huge way that predictive analytics can change your outbound strategy is by allowing you to map out how far into the buying process your target accounts may be. If they’re only in the beginning stages of purchasing, in which they’re putting out their feelers to see what options they have, you can push them some awareness-based content in the form of the aforementioned outbound + display ad combo. In the same vein, it’s not too late if you end up with an account on your list that’s getting close to making a final decision. You have to act quickly and develop content wisely, but you can do that thanks to predictive analytics. If you send them a direct mailer with lots of information that corresponds with their needs, that could be the final push the account needs to make contact with your sales and start working out a deal. If you were working with a more general outbound strategy – one that didn’t have the benefits of predictive – you probably wouldn’t be able to employ the right content and tactics, and you’d miss the potential for a sale.

Realistically speaking, if you’re not using predictive analytics now, then the list of ways it will shake up your outbound strategy (for the better) is much too long for a blog post. Technologies that help you to profile your target accounts are changing the marketing landscape and improving conversion rates – marketing is getting smarter. But, if you needed some convincing, the big three listed above are prime examples of how predictive analytics can help streamline your strategic planning.