Tip #2: Don’t try to develop a marketing strategy without data

I was talking to a firm recently that wanted feedback on their marketing strategy. But when I asked them to back into how they arrived at the strategy itself, they couldn’t tell me:

➡️ Exactly what happens to leads when they hit their CRM
➡️ How quickly prospects are moving through the pipeline
➡️ Whether acquisition costs are trending up or down
➡️ Which channels are driving the best opportunities
➡️ What objection reasons are being given when opportunities move to closed-lost
➡️ The questions prospects are asking in sales meetings
➡️ The competitors they’re losing to, and why

How can you develop or refine a marketing strategy without knowing anything about what’s driving business or causing deals to stall? Marketing strategy is predicated on a constant flow of timely customer and performance insights from across the business.

If you’re running marketing in house, it’s vital to eliminate the silos between departments, particularly sales and marketing, that prevent the transfer of this information.

And if you’re working with a marketing agency, you need to be collecting and sharing this type of data with them. Otherwise, they’ll be forced to develop your strategy in a vacuum – and good marketing is never built on assumptions.

Kelly Waltrich is Co-Founder & CEO of Intention.ly. Contact her with question.