B2B startups that are up against established competitors, or trying to emulate successful startups from other industries, know what an important role data plays.

Growth for a startup is entirely dependent on attracting new customers. Reaching, engaging, and converting customers through sales and marketing activity requires data. However, early-stage startups rarely have access to a lot of it, making it difficult for them to make the right decisions and target the right customers.

The solution lies in investing in data. Depending on the startup, this can mean building a big sales and marketing team, testing and learning, commissioning researchers, or it can mean buying customer data and access to databases.

Whichever route you choose, it’s essential you’re using the right data – that is, data that’s relevant and accurate. If it isn’t either of these things, any startup will struggle to compete in their market.

Below we look at why it’s so important to build up from a firm foundation of reliable data.

1. You’ll be targeting the right companies

More often than not, startups are small teams – teams who are spread over lots of different and equally important tasks, and who don’t have the time or resources to do things an established sales and marketing team might do: run focus groups, send customer surveys, and analyze the available customer data. In fact, there’s often very little data you can go on at first, when you’re trying to increase the traffic to your website and build an audience on your channels.

But adopting a scattergun approach with your marketing, by setting up a presence on every channel, trying all the different content types you can, and trying to hit every message is not a recipe for success or for staying within your budget.

To achieve any sort of ROI in your sales and marketing, you need to make sure you’re targeting the right customers. And to do that, you need accurate data. Data that tells you where you can find companies matching your ideal customer profile, allowing you to filter and segment your target lists for outbound activity such as cold calling or direct email, and about their organizations so you can tailor your inbound marketing to make it relevant to them.

Without reliable data, you risk blowing your budget, wasting it on talking to companies that don’t match your customer profiles, or alienating the ones that could become your customers.

2. You’ll make sure your messaging and marketing resonates

If your company is looking at unreliable data, you risk any sales and marketing messages and campaigns you create coming across as irrelevant.  Not only is this a waste of time, but it could also mean giving your target audience the wrong impression.

By starting out with accurate data about an audience that matches your ideal customer profile, however, you’ll be able to develop strategies and marketing collateral that will engage potential customers, demonstrate you share the same values and goals, and reinforce how your offering can help them.

3. You’ll approach customers on the right channels

Successful marketing means putting the right content in front of the right people, at the right time and in the right place. The place is important – if you’ve put resources into creating quality marketing content, it could be completely wasted unless you share it on the channels where your target audience is actually present.

4. You’ll protect your reputation

Email marketing is a powerful tactic that many startups use, but doing it well hinges on having access to the right data.

We all suffer from information overload, and one thing we’re all used to is waking up to a full inbox. If any of those emails seem like spam or simply irrelevant, the temptation is to move it straight to the junk folder.

And it’s not just your reputation with customers you need to look after. If lots of the people you send emails to do this, it will seriously harm your reputation with any email platform, meaning your activity and ability to reach potential leads could be restricted.

Using the right customer data means you can reach out to companies your offering will be relevant to, meaning you’ll get better engagement.

5. You’ll be sure you’re doing the right thing

GDPR already means there are legal requirements and restrictions governing the data you collect and use. But GDPR is just the beginning of an expected wider move towards greater data privacy. Accessing data at any cost is not a good strategy – you’ll risk substantial fines, ruining your reputation, and alienating your customers.

For that reason, it’s crucial to collect and handle data in a responsible way, and if you’re buying data, to use a reputable provider that takes an ethical approach.

Imagine having complete confidence in your data

The RoyaltyRange database provides premium quality data on over 85 million companies across over 70 countries. Organizations around the world, including tax authorities and multinationals, trust and rely on our company data – so you’ll know you have the right data to make confident decisions and reach the right customers.

You’ll have access to rich organizational data such as company financials, ownership structures and more, which will allow you to identify high-value leads and create highly targeted marketing campaigns.

You’ll find our database simple and intuitive to use. With various user-friendly tools and over 60 different filters make it easy for you to find and shortlist premium-quality company data.

Getting started is simple. You can take the first step by requesting a one-off database search today and find your first sales leads, or you can select a subscription package that works for you and benefit from full access to all our premium tools and databases.

Find out more about how our company database can improve your sales and marketing strategies, or book a free demo here.

Explore more resources and read more insights.

Sources:

https://hbr.org/2018/05/strategy-for-start-ups

https://hbr.org/2022/02/the-new-rules-of-data-privacy

https://www.jotform.com/lead-generation/#buying-and-selling-leads_section