MEET THE CLIENT
In collaboration with the American Dental Association, the client offers contact information of the most comprehensive and regularly updated contact database to track the key decision-makers in the DSO market. This includes all organizations – from the small ones with at least three locations to the enterprise-level ones, with over 75 locations. Their portfolio of services is designed to enable companies to stay on top of the pulse of the changing dental market by understanding how deals are being made, which parties are involved, and how such deals may impact their business.
THE CHALLENGE IN AUDIENCE TARGETING
Given the rate at which the DSO market is transforming the dental market, the client was looking for a robust, accurate, and relevant contact database of decision-makers and dentist titles of DSOs across the US. DSOs are organizations that contract with dental practices so as to offer critical business management and support for non-clinical operations. Meaning, while dental practices take care of the clinical side of operations, DSOs handle the business side. This expands dental practices’ ability to concentrate on patient care while the DSO handles administrative tasks.
Not only that, the client wanted their database to be regularly updated and appended, as much as two times a month. Plus, the client’s target audience was pretty niche, mainly heads of DSOs who want to leverage the DSO model, including –
- DSO DirectConnect Portfolio
- DSO Dealbook E-Newsletter Program
- Facebook Ad Campaigns
- LinkedIn Advertising
- Custom Email Blasts
- Data Appending
- Data Enrichment
Since the client was looking to target multiple buyer personas, they needed a premium contact database built on audience segmentation that facilitated successful Account Based Marketing (ABM). The database should at least be segmented based on the different dentist titles so that it becomes easier to develop ICPs and target accordingly. And this is where the problem was found – Lack of a quality dataset had made the marketing metrics hit at an all-time low. The client’s marketing and sales efforts seemed to be going down the drain as very few quality leads were found in the pipeline. The client wanted quick and correct answers to one of the most pressing marketing challenges, including –
- Data Accuracy – The client wanted the database to be 100% free from errors, duplicities, and missing fields
- Data Relevance – The client wanted to identify and capture their TAM in the most precise way possible. The target audience should have the budget, purchasing power, and need for the client’s services plus they had to be reached at the right time.
- Data Compliance – The database had to be 100% compliant with data norms such as CAN-SPAM and GDPR
- Data Updation – The client wanted their database to be updated on a regular basis to ensure no opportunity slip through the sales funnel. The data needed to be updated twice a month.
What Happened Next?
The client had realized their need and lack thereof of a premium contact database. And they were aware of their niche targeting needs. Hence, part of the market research and analysis had been done right on the client’s part. At this point, they approached the data experts of Lake B2B with their specific concerns. With the loopholes already discovered and the niche requirements conveyed, Lake B2B’s data experts immediately set out to first collate a contact database that met all of the client’s requirements while also ensuring that the database kept abreast with the dynamism of the target market.
THE SOLUTION
Lake B2B’s lead-gen and demand-gen experts started out by salvaging all relevant and genuine contacts from the client’s existing database. Their contact details and other information were thoroughly verified to ensure they were 100% accurate.
The next task in line was to collate an entirely fresh contact database that matched all of the data integrity points the client was looking for – accuracy, relevance, compliance, updation, etc. Only leads that displayed the strongest buying signals based on the BANT framework were included. On top of that, each lead’s position in the marketing funnel was identified so that the client could create content exclusively tailored to each of their needs.
To help the client serve their clients well, over 110 data intelligence fields were included in the database, including –
- Prospect’s Full Name
- Name of the DSO
- Job Title and Role
- Email Address
- Direct Mail Address
- Phone Number
- Fax Number
- City
- State
- Zip Code, and more
Once the database was collated, pilot programs were run to test its quality. The client wanted to use multiple communication mediums with hyper-personalized content. So, each audience segment was offered uniquely curated content and invites on email and social media ads to explore and learn more about the client’s portfolio of services. Based on each lead’s position in the buyer’s journey, key benefits of the DSO model were highlighted. Quickly followed by lead generation were customized email nurture journeys to keep the leads informed, monitor their response, and pick up on strong buying signals from interested prospects.
Content marketing was one channel widely used but the content was created to match the leads’ position in the buying cycle. For instance – whitepapers for the awareness stage, case studies and blog posts in the consideration stage, and testimonials and success stories in the decision-making stage. Email follow-ups were made to stay on top of the mind of genuinely interested leads – Portfolio and e-newsletter benefits were shared, so were social media handles where the leads could gather more information. Plus, email invites for informative webinars helped the client get further details of interested leads.
Moreover, for prospects that signed-up but later missed the event, a re-engagement strategy via email was established to ensure no genuine lead leaked through the sales funnel. The lead nurture timing was taken into consideration so as to avoid stagnancy or over-nurturing. The leads were sent highly relevant long-form content once every week. Then, after three weeks, a dynamic and sales-driven marketing message was delivered to push them forward in the sales funnel. Each lead’s activity in the meanwhile was monitored and accordingly, the right time was decided to encourage them to make a purchase decision.
Even gated content sign-ups were used to collect valuable leads’ contact information in return for informative eBooks. Finally, the client’s website visitor count was tracked and each visitor’s activity was monitored – time spent on the website, pages frequented, number of visits, etc. In the midst of it all, the client’s database received fortnight updates through our platform so that the information always remained fresh, relevant, and up-to-date.
THE RESULT
These strategies worked like a hot knife through butter. The client not just started generating quality SQLs but was also able to re-engage those that may have been churned due to lack of proper info of the client’s portfolio of services. In each case, intent-based marketing worked the magic – since every lead’s purchase intent was discovered, they were delivered content or pitches based on their pain-points and stage of the sales funnel.
Plus, the same technique worked out for the lead nurture stage. It was all like working on sharpening an axe and ensuring the first hit would strike down the tree. The client’s sales cycle shortened by 3 months. Email deliverability stood at a whopping 95% whereas bounce-backs hit an all-time low at 28%.
Remarketing to prospects impacted the ROI by 120%. The gated content enabled the client to secure useful lead information, thereby increasing quality web traffic, lead flow, with more quality leads entering the pipeline. Finally, the client found 6x increase in their lead acquisitions and engagements as a result of Lake B2B’s data-driven marketing solutions.
