In his new book, Mapping Innovation, Greg Satell came up with some very clever insights regarding innovation. If you have not read it, here is his conclusion: ‘Many organizations get stuck because they end up locking themselves into a single strategy. Every strategy fails eventually because you have to match solutions to problems, not the other way around.’
The book is essentially about using technology to develop new products, solving problems that current products cannot fix. However, this attitude is true for most things in your organisation, marketing being one of them. The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which is coming into effect next May is one such problem that cannot be fixed using old techniques unless you want to be penalised and risk being fined.
As I wrote in my last Blog, GDPR will essentially force you to focus on the right target markets and communicate well with them which is not a bad thing. Still, this can seem like it’s easier said than done so here are a few things to consider if you are going to get your business ready for the new regulations:
- You will need to invest time and resources into inbound marketing. Yes, this old chestnut again I am afraid. Inbound marketing is about writing engaging content, sharing your knowledge and generally being seen as a helpful expert in your marketplace. This does not mean you stop selling but rather than constantly sending hard core sales messages, you create interest in your brand which in turn makes it more attractive to buyers. This strategy will be key to retaining more contacts on your marketing database, through generating a higher level of consent.
- You will need to consider your lead generation strategy and come up with alternative tactics to approaching new business. However good your content is, you will still need to approach new markets and let them know you exist. As e-mail marketing use for new business is going to be restricted, you need to review and choose other tactics available such as traditional and digital advertising, direct mail, telemarketing and so on. The best way to do this would be to go back to your lead generation strategy and go from there. If you don’t have an up to date strategy, it may well be time to consider drawing one up.
- Consider how you manage your databases and what data you keep. In short, you will need to consider what databases you keep and which you delete. GDPR is going to make keeping and collecting personal data for the sake of it unattainable so make sure you review it accordingly.
I agree that this is a challenge that will take some thinking to get over and create a new innovative solution but, with some 42% of B2B marketers saying that a lack of quality contact data is the single biggest barrier to lead generation, I think it will be worth it.
The good news is that we have come up with a GDPR Package designed to support the shift in your lead generation approach. Click here for more details or get in touch for a chat.