Where do fleet “lead lists” fit in a demand gen world?
Data is still critical for demand generation. You are acquiring data to understand and reach your entire potential market, instead of only as individual prospects to target.
Just as shifting from lead gen to demand gen requires a mindset shift, likewise, your data priorities can change.
Data can obviously be used to build account and contact lists, with emails for campaigns and phone numbers for outbound dials.
But for demand generation, this data can be used more holistically as addressable market intelligence.
Same fleet data, but what you value in the data is different
With lead gen, you might prioritize acquiring people’s contact info. Usually, this leads to a mindset of focusing on individuals. (And though many people call these “leads” and “lead generation,” they’re not, this is outbound.)
With demand gen, you want to reach your addressable market to increase brand awareness and educate. Thus, you want to find and reach all the right fleets for your product. You are looking at a wide audience of accounts and the right people at those accounts.
This is your Fleet Addressable Market (FAM). Acquire this data, to educate decision-makers at these fleets so they come to you inbound as a result of your demand generation activities.
It’s the same data as “lead lists,” but instead of email campaigns and cold calls, you use the data for different activities. If you’re distributing content through LinkedIn ads, you can use the accounts as a matched audience, for example.
Instead of focusing on number of emails, you focus on identifying all the fleets that fit criteria important to you, such as vehicle type, industry and geography. Your priority is ensuring you have full coverage of data at the company level. Then, fill in the contacts.
To reach your audience, know your audience deeply
Find out where the people in your FAM hang out online and offline. Where do they go for vendor recommendations? What association and Slack communities are they in? Where do they go to learn? Who do they follow in their LinkedIn feed? Do they even use LinkedIn much? (Those of us in B2B marketing and sales are there, but many professions don’t use it so much.) What fleet trade media and conferences do they pay attention to? Beyond fleet, what other industries do your customers identify with? Who do they listen to for advice? Are they listening to podcasts, watching videos? Try SparkToro to see where your audience hangs out online.
Where online would they get exposed to ads? You can use the data for matched lists to reach your audience through ads. For example on LinkedIn, you can reach your FAM with company data. Load the companies with fleets you want to reach as matched lists, and select the job title keywords and contact level and functions.
With demand gen, data will help you to:
- Reach your FAM by using the Accounts and Contacts as matched lists for ads on LinkedIn and other ad platforms.
- Compare inbound inquiries to your data, and you’ll know how well inbound fits your FAM and ICP. You’ll know whether your activities are actually reaching your FAM and ICP.
- Knowing the fleet profiles of inbound opportunities might show you that your assumptions about your FAM and ICP were spot on, or maybe they need to be adjusted, or there are additional markets with needs that you hadn’t anticipated.
You can do all this with the data typically available on “fleet lead lists.” Just use the data in a different way, to help you reach your whole audience with demand gen activities.
ProsperFleet can help you identify and reach your Fleet Addressable Market, whether you’re seeking light, medium or heavy duty fleets.
Director of Marketing & Customer Success at Valgen
Grew up by the Motor City. A spelling nerd, I wrote Chevrolet in chalk on our driveway. Thought I was a big kid writing a big word. Didn’t stray far from cars: worked in transportation and fleet safety, preventing distracted driving. Now working with marketers and sales teams to connect with their next fleet customers.
