How HubSpot helps you implement a data-driven strategy

The time when customers made decisions purely based on product benefits is changing. In a webinar featuring Elena Hekimian, Director GTM at HubSpot, Jessica Palmeri, a HubSpot consultant, and Steve Mindrup, Senior Manager Marketing at Schellman, the discussion centered around how the buyer landscape had altered after the pandemic.

What are buyers focused on right now? They are doing a lot more research - because there is more information available. And they are also thinking through several scenarios before committing to a product, and companies selling to them must adapt.

Buyers are cautious and take their time. They want to be sure that the final purchase is the right decision for them and for their company. To meet the requirements of highly discerning buyers, a focused reporting strategy is required to show what touch points in the customer journey are being impacted.

In parallel, the promotion and outreach landscape has changed. Regular channels are saturated, and previous growth strategies are now less effective. Misalignment between the marketing and sales teams can come back to bite. If there is a gap, it must be closed and addressed. That is one of the first things to do, because it is within a company’s control.

Use data from customer interactions and insights to build a company compass. It sets the direction for aligning with interests and benefits important to customers

Marketers need data to do their jobs better

HubSpot’s own research revealed that over 80% of marketers think that they do not have access to quality data to do their jobs well. Data is scattered across end point solutions, stuck in different departments, and is impossible to get to in several situations. Without this, it is proving impossible to develop the strategic approach that is called for.

Automation has helped companies scale and keep contact with customers going, but the perception that it has reached a critical stage is gaining ground. There is no substitute for human contact to develop relationships and gain an appreciation for the customers’ concerns. So, automation by itself is not a magic wand unless there are specific interventions developed to ensure that real conversations do happen from time to time.

There is a rethinking of the personas of customers as well because they are dynamic, never static. Keeping a singular set of buyers in mind and using that as the main way to get through to them is proving to be less productive than before. The important thing to see is how buyers themselves are rethinking the way the company should be structured; after all, they are serving their customers in turn, so most products become a link in the chain and not stand-alone points.

That is a shift that companies must accept and see how their products fit in with that concept.

Educated buyers will become the norm

One of the consequences of the internet expanding so deeply and rapidly is that proprietary information does not command the premium it used to. Companies have published white papers and detailed data on technology in several fields, so it is easy to find out how markets are changing and evolving if the required effort is made.

The nature of pitching to customers involves setting the stage for your solutions. It’s not so much the product benefit as the ways in which it will help customers succeed that matters.

A specific purchase has more defined requirements because it is meant to either upgrade or enhance an existing product. A deeper understanding is necessary for how the company will deploy the product and how it fits into their workflow.

Take a company that already has thousands or millions of customers in its database. They do not require another CRM solution as much as a smart way to segment their base and create the right sub-segments to appeal to them. That is where HubSpot’s email solution, coupled with the CRM, can enhance the value of the database and provide customers with a solution that takes them to the next level.

So, the data driven approach is to understand the context of the customers’ issues and provide solutions for them. That is where HubSpot helps to capture every interaction, align sales, marketing, and sales departments within companies so that a unified effort gets the desired results instead of a scattershot approach.

Spend time deciding what data reports you need.

That is the decision to be made about the data. Not what you have, but what do you want to know? Building the website and generating content are a few steps to getting there, but once you have the basics in place, what comes next?

How do you showcase and understand marketing’s contribution to revenue? And how does the company increase spending efficiency? Those are the business needs that must be addressed.

The tough job is getting baseline reports. Start by looking at website traffic. What parts of the website's content generate the most interest? How does that interest translate to revenue? Educating buyers early in the process is a great place to start. When customers perceive that they get value without being forced into a pricing discussion or a negotiation early on, the chances of success multiply.

Identify the top performing marketing assets that drive revenue for the business. Use the data to construct a customer journey analytics report. Initially, these reports will have gaps. They will not present the complete picture. Then implement projects and processes that fill the gaps. It is not going to be easy, by any means. But that is where the work needs to be done.

Talk to our expert consultants at Blueoshan about getting deep into the data and unearthing the facts that matter. It calls for patience and understanding, but the net result is a repeatable, revenue generating model.

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Blueoshan is a HubSpot Diamond -Tier Solutions Partner. Delivering worldwide from India