B2B Personalization:
a closer look at
firmographics
Applying Customer Details to Drive Higher Engagement and Response
Jamey Gentry, Director
Marketing Communications
Personalization is no longer an optional, nice-to-do-if-you-get-around-to-it component of your marketing plan. It’s essential and it must be well executed. When your audience is business as opposed to consumer, you may find the situation to be a little more difficult — mainly because it’s harder to get the right data. Let’s start by addressing a few basic questions related to B2B personalization.
What are firmographics?
Firmographics are applied to businesses, companies and organizations in a similar way that demographics, like age and income, are applied to people and consumers. When you leverage firmographics, you gain greater insight on B2B prospects, giving you the ability to target ideal companies who are most likely to convert.
How can firmographics be used?
Firmographic characteristics allow businesses to create marketing segmentation for more effective lead generation campaigns and assist in lead scoring. Sales teams are then better able to personalize and prioritize their lead follow-up efforts.
Personalization reduces acquisition costs as much as 50 percent, lifts revenues by 1-15 percent and increases the efficiency of marketing spend by 10-30 percent. McKinsey & Company
What are some examples of firmographics?
- Industry or SIC/NAICS code
- Annual revenue or value of business
- Company size (by sales and number of employees)
- Executive title (especially if known to be influencer or decision-maker)
- Geography (physical location of recipient address)
- Location type (headquarters, branch, etc.)
- Status or structure (in relation to similar companies)
- Performance over time
- Stage in sales cycle (from buyer’s perspective)
What can personalization help businesses do?
- Leverage behavioral data and predictive analysis
- Simplify and enhance buying process
- Improve product findability and discovery
- Account/user-based content and product recommendations
- Increase customer loyalty and retention
- Ease replenishment and reordering process
- Optimize merchandising and field sales productivity
- Better support procurement and supply chain process
Continue reading here to learn how the B2C buying experience is influencing B2B marketers and the important role personalization plays.
