BUILDING BRANDS & EMOTIONAL CONNECTIONS: THE POWER OF ZERO-PARTY DATA IN B2B TECH MARKETING

 
 
 
 

I am delighted to welcome David Keane to the Spotlight on B2B Tech Marketing this week. David is an award-winning B2B CMO with an impressive track record in the technology industry and joins me to share his insights on navigating the evolving landscape of technology marketing.

Tune in as we explore the power of zero-party data, investigate the role of AI in transforming sales and marketing and examine the challenges of balancing brand building with demand generation strategies.

David, who currently serves as the Chief Marketing Officer for the European division of Wipro, has been rightfully recognised as a thought leader in B2B technology and was recently awarded the 2024 Top 100 Global B2B CMO award by Hot Topics.

David shares his perspective on how-to on leverage new technologies and data strategies to put the customer's real-world applications, challenges, and perspectives at the centre of product messaging, marketing campaigns, and overall strategy.

 

 

EPISODE OUTLINE AND HIGHLIGHTS

[00:10] Navigating the Changing Landscape of Technology Marketing

[05:47] The Importance of Marketing Investment in a Post-Pandemic World

[08:57] Building Brands and Emotional Connections

[13:52] The Role of the Tech Stack in Marketing Success

[23:51] The Future of Third-Party Data: Shifting Towards Zero-Party Data

[25:48] Understanding Customer Data and Poor Targeting

[28:42] The Power of Zero-Party Data and AI in Personalization

[35:07] The Transformational Potential of AI in Sales and Marketing

 

THE POWER OF ZERO-PARTY DATA

David Keane, award-winning CMO joins me on the Spotlight on B2B Tech Marketing podcast this week to discus the evolution of data usage in marketing, highlighting a shift from third-party data to zero-party data.

He explains his view that third-party data, often used for cold calling and unsolicited outreach, is likely to become obsolete as we move forward with advances in MarTech stacks and away from campaigns to conversations in tech marketing.

Instead, David advocates for the use of zero-party data, where customers voluntarily provide information about their interests and preferences. This approach, according to David, allows for more respectful, laser-targeted marketing that enhances customer experience. It enables marketers to create highly personalized content and offers, moving away from broad, purchased data sets to a more customer-centric model.

David emphasises that this shift requires marketers to focus on building relationships and understanding individual needs, rather than relying on traditional campaign thinking. He suggests that implementing systems to collect and utilize zero-party data effectively, potentially integrating AI for deeper insights, will be crucial for marketers adapting to this new paradigm. Overall, David sees this transition as an opportunity for marketers to improve data quality, enhance personalization, and ultimately provide more value to customers.

 

THE FUTURE OF AI AS A TRANSFORMATIVE TOOL FOR SALES AND MARKETING

I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation as it turned to AI and discovering David’s views on its potential as a transformative force in sales and marketing. He explains that while AI is still in its early stages of implementation, it offers exciting possibilities for scaling solutions and driving sales and marketing transformation, emphasising its potential to revolutionize how businesses understand and engage with customers.

David highlights several key areas where AI is making an impact:

  • Understanding buying groups: AI can analyze rich data sets to map out influence structures within accounts, helping marketers understand how people engage and prefer to interact.

  • Personalisation: AI can use zero-party data to tailor interactions and ask customers how they prefer to engage, moving beyond static forms to more dynamic, personalized experiences.

  • Journey mapping: AI can track customer journeys across websites and social channels, providing deeper insights into their behavior and interests.

  • Data analysis and targeting: AI can help determine high-propensity leads, refine email lists, and improve targeting for marketing campaigns.

  • Content optimization: AI can analyze email content to determine its effectiveness for different audience segments and suggest improvements.

  • Language translation: AI excels at translating content, making it easier to reach global audiences.

  • Speech recognition: AI can convert sales and customer service calls into text, allowing for better analysis of customer interactions.

We both agreed that AI doesn't replace marketers but rather enhances their capabilities, allowing them to drive more effective interactions and gain deeper customer understanding. David sees AI as a tool for transforming how businesses approach sales and marketing, moving beyond simple productivity gains to fundamentally changing how companies engage with customers

 
 

TODAY’S GUEST

Image of David Keene, CMO of Wipro - guest on Podcast Spotlight on B2B Tech Marketing

David is an experienced, growth-oriented global B2B marketing leader with a proven track record of orchestrating game-changing demand, go-to-market, marketing effectiveness, and revenue operations strategies that significantly boost market share, elevate brand engagement and drive double-digit revenue growth.

His successful marketing technology career has seen him successfully build and transform global marketing teams at some of the industry’s most significant B2B technology companies, including Google, Salesforce, SAP, Oracle, and Wipro.

You can connect with David on LinkedIn

 

OUR HOST

Karen Lloyd is a passionate marketing headhunter and recruitment expert specialising in marketing and C-suite in the technology sector. With over 25 years of experience in the recruitment industry, Karen brings a unique depth of expertise that sets her apart from most recruiters.

Over her career, Karen has accumulated a wealth of experience that includes serving as a Board Director and being actively involved in growing a business for 13 years. Karen has been a part of five start-ups, giving her first-hand knowledge of the critical importance of hiring the right people.

Currently, Karen is the founder and Director of Armstrong Lloyd. She leads a very special team that partners with businesses and empowers them to build industry-leading marketing teams for some of the most exciting B2B technology brands - from small agile and disruptive start-ups to global giants providing a wealth of product and service offerings.

 
 
 
Karen LloydCMO, SaaS, Data