Call it small data if you like. While big data can be used to find complex activities and trends, small data is easier to digest but it can still be hugely valuable - and all too often it is so small that is missed.
There are so many distractions for businesses today: social media presence, the Gig Economy, the challenges and opportunities of globalisation, online marketplaces, subscription selling, utility pricing, omnichannel and more. It can be tough to decide which swim lane is appropriate for you to occupy, which tactic will work and what will suit the needs and culture of the organisation. At times like these, the only way to stay sane is to make the customer the north star and be guided by that light.
By seeing every strategic action through the lens of the customer need and desire, companies can be confident that they are doing a lot of the right things. That’s why Customer Experience is being treated as such a leading business focus today. By delivering outstanding interactions, CX delivers happy customers and its impact can be measured by the metrics of both Big Data (the deep insights and breadcrumb trails into what customers do) but also Thick Data (the experiential, qualitative insights derived from what customers say).
But there is another dimension in play when it comes to high-value business-to-business relationships. Here, supply-side businesses still want to deliver a great CX but they also need a source of clear insights into how customers are behaving behind the scenes – and that’s what account-based marketing (ABM) provides.
Call it small data if you like. While big data can be used to find complex activities and trends, small data is easier to digest but it can still be hugely valuable — and all too often it is so small that is missed.
ABM shines a light on those activities that might otherwise be overlooked, delving deep into who is hiring and for what jobs, events attended, declarations to the stock markets, products bought, executive speeches and public comments, social media activity, content consumed and much more.
This is small data but it’s also rich data and smart businesses should already recognise that while there are riches to be mined from huge data sets, delivering content and offers that closely match the implicit needs and desires of hugely valuable audiences can be at least as valuable.
Just as CX is rapidly changing the way that organisations serve customers, ABM is changing the way that businesses market and sell to other businesses. Once again, the focus is exactly where it should be…on the customer.
If you’re interested to hear more about we’re constantly building new ways of finding the small data that matters for our customers, drop us a line or come and see us at the ITSMA’s ABM Forum, held in London on June 20th.