Digital Marketing May Be King but Friction Scoring Rules

While COVID-19 has caused major changes in marketing, the rapid rise of social media and digital marketing has largely superseded “traditional” marketing efforts.

Nobody lacks data anymore—the problem now lies in how to analyze that data to interpret targets’ behaviors and gauge campaign success.

CANOGA PARK, Calif. (PRWEB) October 05, 2021

Marketing has undergone major shifts within the last few years. While COVID-19 has been a major cause, the rapid rise of social media and digital marketing has largely superseded “traditional” marketing efforts. With the rise of digital, data has taken on all-new importance. While a plethora of data has become available to marketers, making sense of it all can be a daunting task in the ongoing struggle to survive in the digital marketing realm. “Nobody lacks data anymore—the problem now lies in how to analyze that data to interpret targets’ behaviors and gauge campaign success,” explains Sky Cassidy, CEO of MountainTop Data. “There’s a bevy of tools and services out there—and that alone can be daunting.”

Companies are extremely interested in tracking and scoring their customers and prospects’ behavioral responses to their campaign. They often use scoring models and algorithms, each process varying according to the field and the data source. Among these tools is intent data, which is defined as a collected set of signals (i.e., behaviors or actions) that a user is leaving and the strength of those signals which indicate a user’s interest (or lack thereof) in one’s product or service.(1) Multiple types of intent data have been developed to track certain kinds of behaviors, including friction scoring.

Friction scoring tracks how likely it is a person will react poorly when someone reaches out to them. The data it generates helps to identify people that are typically unresponsive or who respond negatively. Cassidy elaborates, “We created friction scoring to remove potential complainers ahead of time. Targeting makes sure your message is sent to the right people, friction scoring makes sure you’re not putting your message in front of the wrong people.”

Another new type of data scoring is the “Human Score”. The “human score” allows marketers to determine whether targeted individuals are real or are digital assistants or fake online personas. Marketers looking to companies to provide data services are faced with a complicated landscape, but ultimately, they just want to be able to get their message in front of people who may buy and not in front of people who won’t or even worse who will respond negatively. Fake and abandoned profiles are no small problem—according to a recent study, 26% of people have created a fake social media profile somewhere, on numerous platforms, complete with false personal or professional information.(2) Then there are companies that create armies of fake profiles for an assortment of nefarious purposes. Some data companies will either knowingly sell this bogus information or not know the difference, further aggravating the issue for marketers. Luckily the industry is developing scoring and other techniques to identify these informational issues.

Not every marketing technique will be the right fit for each company. The data is important, but the ability to analyze the results is no less critical. “Businesses work with data companies so they can get their message not just where the audience is but where they are likely to be receptive,” Cassidy stresses. Information is as information does—in other words, one must judge information by its quality. If businesses are to survive in the immensely competitive and crowded digital world, they must have not just good data, but the right data. Digital marketers who utilize data companies that can source, analyze, and deduce what people will do according to friction and other scores stand to benefit the most.

Cassidy advises, “While data companies can provide a bevy of information not all of that data is guaranteed to be accurate or even real. Marketers must know what kind of information will best serve their needs, but they must also do their homework to find the companies that can provide data that gives results, not just looks good on the surface. That means looking at many companies before deciding which one fits their needs and likely using more than one source.”

About MountainTop Data:

MountainTop Data, headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, has been providing data services for B2B marketing for almost two decades. With an unrelenting commitment to quality, they were the first company to guarantee the accuracy of their licensed data and business emails.  They provide marketing lists, data cleaning, data appending, and data maintenance services. Their data services have been used by some of the world’s biggest brands across a multitude of various industries from multi-national telecommunication companies to office technology, to PR firms and more. For more information, visit http://www.mountaintopdata.com.

1.    Garza, Peter. “B2B Intent Data Explained: How to Use it to Generate Quality Sales and Marketing Leads.” DealSignal, Retrieved 20 September 2021, dealsignal.com/b2b-intent-data-explained-using-it-to-generate-quality-leads/.

2.    Muhammad, Zia. “26 Percent of Social Media Users Have Created a Fake Profile Somewhere.” Digital Information World, 24 November 2019, digitalinformationworld.com/2019/11/26-percent-of-social-media-users-have-created-a-fake-profile-somewhere.html.

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