Real-time marketing intelligence revolutionizes how B2B companies approach growth, empowering them with data-driven insights that drive conversions and retention. In this episode of the Predictable B2B Success Podcast, host Vinay Koshy speaks with Subra Krishnan, co-founder, and CEO of Lemnisk, to explore the profound impact of Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) on real-time marketing strategies.
Subra, an industry veteran with over two decades in building high-tech, big-data products, shares his ambitious goal to reduce mid-funnel drop-offs by 30% and boost conversion rates. They delve into how CDPs provide a unified view of customer journeys, enabling businesses to craft hyper-personalized experiences that are both timely and relevant.
With fascinating insights and practical examples, this episode sheds light on the future of B2B marketing and the critical role that real time intelligence plays in achieving measurable success. Don’t miss out on discovering how to align your strategies from the top down and turn every customer interaction into a proactive marketing moment.
About Subra
Subra Krishnan is a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lemnisk. Lemnisk offers real-time marketing automation built on a customer data platform and delivers superior customer experiences that increase enterprise conversions, retention, and growth.
Lemnisk, a leading enterprise Customer Data and marketing Platform, announced its entry into the Japanese market. The company’s solution enables enterprise brands to maximize their marketing ROI by orchestrating 1-to-1 personalization and cross-channel customer journeys at scale. Lemnisk customers include Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank, AIA Insurance, and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.
Subra Krishnan’s journey in big data and digital marketing laid the groundwork for his current entrepreneurial venture, Lemnisk. His career began at Trilogy in Austin, where he harnessed user behavior analytics on automotive microsites to optimize factory outputs and ensure value creation.
Transitioning to the ad tech industry, Subra leveraged dynamic retargeting for e-commerce, developing advanced algorithms to track and re-engage users across the web. These experiences underscored the transformative potential of data, guiding him towards his pivotal insight for Lemnisk: integrating user interactions across multiple touchpoints in real time could unlock vast value. This technological vision, unattainable in the past, inspired Subra and his co-founders to pioneer innovative solutions in this space.
Leveraging Real-Time Marketing Intelligence to Accelerate B2B Revenue Growth
Real Time Marketing Intelligence: The Key to Unlocking B2B Revenue Growth
B2B companies constantly seek ways to gain a competitive edge and drive revenue growth. One of the most powerful tools at their disposal is real time marketing intelligence. By harnessing the power of data-driven insights and agile decision-making, businesses can create highly targeted and effective marketing strategies that resonate with their audience and drive measurable results.
Understanding Real-Time Marketing Intelligence
Real-time marketing intelligence is collecting, analyzing, and acting upon marketing data in near-instantaneous timeframes. This approach allows businesses to make informed decisions based on up-to-the-minute information about customer behavior, market trends, and competitive landscapes.
According to Subra Krishnan, co-founder and CEO of Lemnisk, a real-time marketing automation platform,
“The big insight that we had was that if we could really combine or understand a user across all of the touch points, that the user has with a particular brand and really collate all of that and make it available in real time for analysis and insight, then there could be an incredible amount of value that gets unlocked.”
Real-time marketing intelligence encompasses several key components:
- Data Collection: Gathering information from various sources, including website analytics, social media, customer interactions, and third-party data providers.
- Data Analysis: Using advanced analytics tools and artificial intelligence to quickly process and interpret large volumes of data.
- Actionable Insights: Translating data into meaningful insights that can inform marketing strategies and tactics.
- Rapid Implementation: Executing marketing initiatives based on these insights in near real-time.
The Impact of Real-Time Marketing Intelligence on B2B Revenue Growth
Implementing real-time marketing intelligence can significantly impact a B2B company’s revenue growth. Here are some key ways in which it drives results:
1. Enhanced Customer Segmentation and Targeting
Real-time marketing intelligence allows businesses to segment their audience with unprecedented precision. By analyzing customer behavior and preferences in real time, companies can create highly targeted marketing campaigns that speak directly to the needs and interests of specific customer segments.
Krishnan explains,
“You could know that while of course you might be trying to target a 1000 users at the same time, you could, for example, you could know that user number 1 could be targeted at 9 AM in the morning via email, whereas user number 2 who could be targeted at 6 PM via maybe an app push notification.”
This level of granularity in targeting can significantly improve marketing ROI by ensuring that marketing messages reach the right people at the right time through the most effective channels.
2. Personalization at Scale
With real-time marketing intelligence, B2B companies can deliver personalized experiences to their customers at scale. By leveraging customer data platforms (CDPs) and marketing automation tools, businesses can create tailored content, product recommendations, and offers based on individual customer profiles and behaviors.
According to a study by Evergage, 98% of marketers agree that personalization helps advance customer relationships, with 70% claiming it has a “strong” or “extremely strong” impact. This level of personalization can lead to increased engagement, higher conversion rates, and, ultimately, revenue growth.
3. Agile Marketing Strategies
Real-time marketing intelligence enables businesses to adopt an agile approach to their marketing strategies. Companies can quickly adapt their tactics to capitalize on emerging opportunities or address potential challenges by continuously monitoring market trends, customer behavior, and campaign performance.
Krishnan highlights the importance of this agility:
“You don’t necessarily have to wait for a moment of truth opportunity to happen for you to intervene. That you can, using machine learning and big data, literally create those opportunities.”
This ability to pivot quickly based on real-time data can help B2B companies stay ahead of the competition and maximize their marketing effectiveness.
4. Improved Customer Journey Mapping
Real-time marketing intelligence provides a comprehensive view of the customer journey, allowing businesses to identify key touchpoints and optimize the customer experience at each stage. By understanding how customers interact with their brand across various channels, companies can create seamless, omnichannel experiences that guide prospects through the sales funnel more effectively.
Krishnan emphasizes the importance of this holistic approach:
“A classic CDP use case in the b to b space would be the ability to stitch behavior of a prospect across different sources, specifically across an anonymous source and maybe a known source.”
5. Data-Driven Decision Making
Real-time marketing intelligence empowers marketers to make data-driven decisions rather than relying on gut instinct or outdated information. By basing strategies on up-to-the-minute data and insights, businesses can allocate their marketing resources more effectively and achieve better results.
A McKinsey study found that companies that use customer analytics comprehensively report outstripping their competition in terms of profit almost twice as often as companies that do not.
Implementing Real-Time Marketing Intelligence for B2B Revenue Growth
To effectively leverage real-time marketing intelligence for revenue growth, B2B companies should consider the following strategies:
1. Invest in the Right Technology Stack
Implementing real-time marketing intelligence requires a robust technology infrastructure. Key components of this stack may include:
- Customer Data Platforms (CDPs)
- Marketing Automation Platforms
- Analytics and Business Intelligence Tools
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Solutions
Krishnan notes,
“You have to organize all of your customer data into one single place and all of your customer journeys in one single place.”
2. Focus on Data Quality and Integration
The effectiveness of real-time marketing intelligence depends on the quality and integration of data from various sources. Ensure that your data collection processes are comprehensive and that data from different systems can be easily combined and analyzed.
3. Develop a Culture of Data-Driven Decision Making
Encourage a culture within your organization that values data-driven insights and rapid decision-making. This may involve training teams to interpret and act on real-time data effectively.
4. Implement Continuous Testing and Optimization
Use real-time marketing intelligence to test and optimize your marketing strategies continuously. A/B testing, multivariate testing, and other experimental approaches can help refine your tactics and improve results over time.
5. Prioritize Privacy and Compliance
As you collect and utilize customer data, ensure that you adhere to relevant privacy regulations and maintain customer trust. Implement robust data governance practices and be transparent about using customer information.
Real-World Examples of Real-Time Marketing Intelligence Success
Several B2B companies have successfully leveraged real-time marketing intelligence to drive significant revenue growth. Here are a few examples:
- Adobe: The software giant uses its own Adobe Experience Platform to deliver personalized experiences across multiple channels. By leveraging real-time customer profiles and AI-powered insights, Adobe has seen a 50% increase in conversion rates and a 33% decrease in cost per lead.
- IBM: Through its Watson Marketing platform, IBM utilizes real-time marketing intelligence to deliver personalized content and product recommendations to its B2B customers. This approach has led to a 3x increase in click-through rates and a 70% reduction in campaign creation time. (Source)
- Salesforce: The CRM leader uses its Einstein AI platform to provide real-time insights and recommendations to its sales and marketing teams. This has resulted in a 34% increase in lead conversion rates and a 28% increase in sales productivity. (Source)
Overcoming Challenges in Implementing Real-Time Marketing Intelligence
While the benefits of real-time marketing intelligence are clear, implementing such a system can present challenges. Here are some common obstacles and strategies to overcome them:
1. Data Silos and Integration Issues
Many B2B companies struggle with data silos, where information is scattered across different departments and systems. To address this, focus on creating a unified data architecture and invest in integration tools to bring disparate data sources together.
2. Skills Gap
Implementing and leveraging real-time marketing intelligence requires specialized data analysis, machine learning, and marketing technology skills. Consider investing in training for your existing team or partnering with external experts to fill any skills gaps.
3. Balancing Automation and Human Touch
While real-time marketing intelligence enables high levels of automation, it’s crucial to maintain a human touch in your marketing efforts. Krishnan advises,
“You want to be automating, you want to have machine learning drive a lot of your outcomes, but you also want to have intelligent sort of checks and balances in place.”
4. Measuring ROI
Demonstrating the ROI of real-time marketing intelligence investments can be challenging. Focus on establishing clear KPIs tied to revenue growth and use attribution modeling to track the impact of your real-time marketing efforts on business outcomes.
The Future of Real-Time Marketing Intelligence
As technology continues to evolve, the capabilities of real-time marketing intelligence are expected to expand. Some trends to watch include:
- Increased Use of AI and Machine Learning: These technologies will enable even more sophisticated analysis and prediction of customer behavior.
- Greater Integration with IoT Devices: The Internet of Things will provide new data sources for real-time marketing intelligence, offering deeper insights into customer behavior and preferences.
- Enhanced Predictive Analytics: As algorithms become more advanced, businesses can predict customer needs and behaviors with greater accuracy, enabling proactive marketing strategies.
- Augmented and Virtual Reality Integration: These technologies will provide new real-time marketing engagement and data collection channels.
Conclusion
Real-time marketing intelligence represents a powerful tool for B2B companies looking to drive revenue growth in today’s competitive landscape. By leveraging up-to-the-minute data and insights, businesses can create more targeted, personalized, and effective marketing strategies that resonate with their audience and drive measurable results.
As Krishnan emphasizes, “You have to create not just wait for marketing moments of truth.” By embracing real-time marketing intelligence, B2B companies can proactively identify and capitalize on these moments, positioning themselves for sustained growth and success in the digital age.
To fully harness the power of real-time marketing intelligence, businesses must invest in the right technology, foster a data-driven culture, and continuously adapt their strategies based on real-time insights. While challenges exist, the potential rewards for improved customer engagement, increased conversions, and revenue growth make real-time marketing intelligence an essential component of any forward-thinking B2B marketing strategy.
Some topics we discussed include:
- Why Subra advocates for real-time marketing
- Does all marketing need to be real-time
- Why some companies don’t see value in real-time data and take action on it
- In general, is a Customer Data Platform (CDP) seen to be more of a marketing prerogative
- How CDP’s can help with marketing automation and enhance customer experiences across their journey with a brand
- Where and how does AI come into the picture with real-time marketing
- B2B use cases for a CDP
- Pre-requisites for launching real-time marketing in your company
- Key metrics to watch to drive growth via CDPs and real-time marketing
- and much, much more …
Listen to the episode
Related links and resources
- Check out Lemnisk
- Learn from Andrew Fryrear – How to Use Lean or Agile Marketing Principles to Boost Business Growth
- Learn from Dr. Stepehen Timme- Insight Selling: How to Increase Pipeline With Powerful Data
- Learn from Rob te Braake – How to Read Financial Statements to Look For Insights That Drive Growth
- Learn from Michael Laps – Data-Driven Decision Making Examples: How to Leverage Customer Insights to Drive Growth
- Learn more from Andrew Deutsch – How to Conduct Customer Research That Drives Growth via New Insights
- Check out the article – How to build online authority quickly when starting out
- Check out the article – The Power of Storytelling to Increase ROI: How to increase online conversions by 4 times
- Learn from Gene Valentino – How to Identify Business Opportunities For Fast Growth And Profit
- Listen to my interview with Mike Krass – How to Pick B2B Marketing KPIs That Deliver Insights and Drive Business Growth
- Listen to my interview with Reynaldo Santana – What is a Socialpreneur And How to Easily Drive For Profit Growth Fast
Connect with Subra
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