After years of evolution and struggle, marketers are finally getting a handle on data and analytics --thanks to the abundance of tools and resources now available. They’ve gotten much better at using data to reach prospects through targeted campaigns and personalize their communications based on the buyer journey, while also relying on ongoing testing to optimize their efforts.

As data has moved to the forefront in marketing, it’s clear that the days of generic campaigns and mega-blasting, especially when it comes to email, are long gone. In fact, a new study by marketing research firm Ascend2 indicates that marketers have really upped their game with data usage – and the proof is in the campaign results and business outcomes.

From my perspective, here are four ways I’m seeing top marketers use data to drive high-quality leads and stronger revenue with their customer acquisition campaigns:

• Leverage Multiple Data Sources: In the Ascend2 study, 50% of respondents said their top data source is their own internal sales and customer service teams. Additional data sources include internal marketing programs (45%), public data (e.g. social networks) and third-party vendors. My takeaway is this: when it comes to finding new customers, the most effective marketing campaigns leverage multiple sources of data. In fact, internal marketing data combined with prospect/acquisition data obtained from reputable third parties is ideal. With the bigger, more comprehensive perspective provided by these combined sources, you gain a better understanding of opportunities, market conditions, the buyer, and so much more. Acquisition data enables you to expand your marketing reach outside the scope of prospects you’ve already been engaging with, while also still zeroing in on the audiences that best characterize your target market.

• Strategic Audience Building: Speaking of zeroing in, another way data is driving success in acquisition campaigns is through audience building. By taking a strategic approach to developing your email audience as a business asset – including scaling it, enriching it, and optimizing it over time – marketers can more consistently and effectively identify the right audiences to target. An investment in strategic audience building translates into an investment in high-quality email data, which you can use to accelerate results on the front end -- or top -- of the sales funnel. Audience building involves carefully orchestrated segmentation efforts, which allow you to optimize your reach to new prospects based on their interests and stage in the buyer journey. For more information on audience building, click here.

• Data Integration Across Channels: Being successful with omni-channel marketing requires tight integration across the marketing technology stack to create a unified view of your brand for your customers and prospects, no matter where they’re at on their journey with you. (That’s why, at OMI, we offer turnkey services for integrating our acquisition email campaigns with our clients’ social and display advertising campaigns. We can also integrate our email data with Salesforce and a variety of CRM platforms.) When all channels are data driven -- and working together toward the same goal -- the results are much more powerful.

• Amplified Use of Programmatic: The concept of integrating B2B acquisition email campaigns with display advertising is still in its infancy, but it’s poised to take off in a big way. Combining these two channels gives organizations a powerful one-two punch, allowing them to spark a prospect’s interest with a personalized email campaign and then follow up with a targeted cadence of display ads. It’s a win-win approach to target marketing that becomes more effective with the strategic use of email acquisition data. Read more here.

While marketers continue to make inroads in leveraging data and analytics to sharpen their email campaigns, there will always be those who can use more education, guidance and support in order to enjoy similar improved results. We at OMI stand ready to help, answer questions, and deliver what every marketer is looking for at the end of the day: increased revenue for their companies.

Outward Media’s accurate, targeted email data can help you achieve better email marketing ROI by targeting your best prospects and, ultimately, converting more prospects into customers. Take a look at our case studies to find out more.