We’re living in a data-driven world, and marketers are taking note. According to the “2023 Database Strategies & Contact Acquisition Benchmark Survey” from DemandGen Report, 69% of practitioners plan to increase their investment in their database strategies this year.

The report notes some of the biggest obstacles marketers are facing when it comes to data—having complete information for ABM initiatives, keeping data clean, and database quantity—as well as what they’re doing to address these challenges.

Based on the survey and my own experience with B2B marketing data over the past two decades, here are three database strategies that elevate B2B customer acquisition and retention:

• Complete Records

Account-based marketing (ABM) continues to be a strategy worth investigating for marketers, especially with the rise of buying groups and increased buyer expectations for a seamless, personalized experience. Yet 47% of the DemandGen study practitioners are still struggling to collect account-level data on prospects. Specifically, marketers struggle most with collecting email addresses (86%, mobile phone numbers (53%) and business phone numbers (51%). However, when they double down on ensuring complete records for customers and prospects, they’ll reap the rewards of stronger customer acquisition and retention.

• Quality

The report noted that marketers are increasingly turning to third-party providers to keep data clean. Only one-third of marketers used a data validation service in 2021, with that number rising to roughly half in 2022. But marketers are still struggling to maintain data quality, citing old/outdated data, a lack of resources for effective cleansing, technology limitations, lack of first-party data on current customers and siloed data as the top challenges. And although data quality initiatives take time and effort, as I’ve mentioned before, the impact on your campaigns is profound. Without good data, ROI falls short, no matter how creative your campaigns may be.

• Volume and Depth

The report made it clear that marketers are focusing on volume – by increasing their audience size and depth -- and drilling down to reach the right contacts with the right data. While 65% are growing their database to add as many new contacts as possible, 56% are focused on targeting specific segments for better engagement and 45% are looking to collect prospective buyer behavior data to boost engagement and messaging.

The DemandGen report states that “marketers are now focused on collecting as many new contacts as possible while refining first-party data strategies to create more relevant outreach.” And while first-party data strategies can enable businesses to increase their database through data collection, such as website registration forms and in-person events like trade shows, the fact is that database growth will be slow. Marketers looking to significantly increase and improve their acquisition strategies need to also consider third-party data.

Proven third-party data providers can manage and license tens of millions of contacts, offering businesses the opportunity to reach new markets. Using firmographic, behavioral and contextual targeting -- as the data typically includes many fields and can easily be sorted and segmented – they can drill down to identify the ideal prospects for your offers. Third-party data actually works better and is even more powerful when combined with first-party data to fill in missing pieces from a customer or prospect record. Additionally, intent data is a fast track to identifying relevant, down-funnel digital prospects.

The report concluded that frequent cleansing builds stronger databases, and I couldn’t agree more. Whether you’re relying on first-party data or augmenting with third-party data, every database needs routine data cleansing to ensure data is as accurate as possible for the best results to increase market share.

How are you prioritizing your marketing database this year?

OMI’s high-quality B2B business contact data is used by Fortune 1000 firms and start-ups alike to drive modern digital marketing initiatives—from intent monitoring and ABM to email marketing and omnichannel campaigns utilizing display, social media, and more. Reach out to our team today for more information.