How valuable is proprietary data?

We like to call proprietary data “the holy grail of B2B marketing.”

That might sound a bit overzealous, but it’s only because we’ve spent years reading (and writing) B2B marketing content using third-party data. If you’ve ever felt like you’ve seen the same statistic on a hundred different business blogs, you aren’t imagining it.

Almost every business is engaged in some form of content marketing, including at least 94% of B2B small businesses. Most of the content you can find on B2B websites contain claims that are backed up by third-party data and statistics.

That’s standard among business writers. If you want people to take your claims seriously, you need to back them up with data.

There’s nothing wrong with reusing it for your own purposes. But there’s one problem: other companies are doing the same thing you are, often with the same figures.

90% of top-performing B2B content marketers put their audience’s information needs first. Instead of writing for search engines or trying to sell to your audience with content, you need to offer them value — information they can’t get anywhere else and insights into the latest trends in their industry.

You need proprietary data.

What is Proprietary Data?

Proprietary data refers to any set of statistics, information, or documentation which is controlled solely by your company. Typically, you generate it internally and have ownership over it. It’s protected by copyright law, trade secret laws, and even a patent agreement, in some cases.

Your proprietary data could be based solely on your internal metrics, or you can generate it through research, surveys, and market analysis.

Either way, this data has immense value to your company. You can use it internally to enhance your marketing and sales strategy. You can even use it to develop new products and services. The more you know about your target market, the better positioned you’ll be to give them exactly what they need.

But more importantly, you can engage your market more effectively by publishing value-added content based on your proprietary data.

According to the Wall Street Journal, 97% of the companies surveyed in an Accenture study acknowledged that proprietary data was “very valuable” or “quite valuable” for differentiating one’s company from competitors. Experts also consider content-based data analysis to be some of the best-performing content on the web.

And yet, many businesses aren’t using original data in their marketing. According to one study, only about 47% of marketers are doing research to generate proprietary data which can be used in their marketing.

If you want to compete in today’s content marketing arena, you must decide which type of business you want to be: one that borrows value, or one that adds value.

How Can You Use Proprietary Data?

It starts with research.

Once you’ve conducted a survey, you’ll have a huge set of raw data. If you work with a data specialist, they’ll organize your quantitative data into charts and graphs that are easy to share and digest. You can even segment your data, including a wide range of unique qualitative data.

From there, you can launch any number of content initiatives. Here are a few of the data-driven content assets we recommend:

White papers

A white paper is an in-depth analysis of a data set presented in an easy-to-read format. Typically, the text of the paper will be accompanied by charts and graphs for reference.

These are extremely valuable pieces of content, especially to your customers. According to one poll, 79% of B2B buyers said white papers were the material they were most likely to share with their colleagues.

You don’t have to give your white papers away for nothing, but you don’t want to put a price tag on them, either.

The best way to use a white paper is as a lead generation tool. Build a landing page with a contact form, then provide your white paper to visitors in exchange for their contact information.

Articles and blog posts

Articles and blog posts are like the bread and butter of content marketing, but articles based on original data are more valuable than others.

If you’re writing articles as part of a full content suite, you can use them to drive traffic to the landing page for your white paper.

Take some of the most interesting insights from your research and use them to draft articles. You’ll pique your audience’s interest and encourage them to seek more in-depth analysis.

Infographics

You can compile data from third parties to create an infographic, but infographics based on proprietary data are much more effective.

An infographic takes your proprietary data and turns it into a designed asset that is both attractive and easy to understand. 84% of companies that use infographics in their marketing strategies consider them effective. 

Infographics are highly sharable, so they’re useful in social media and email campaigns. However, you can also gate your infographics like you would a white paper. It all depends on how you want to use them to create value.

Start Generating Proprietary Data Today

A single survey can generate enough data to create months of valuable content. Once the purview of big businesses, proprietary data is more accessible than ever.

Even if you’re on a strict budget, you can obtain affordable proprietary data with rand&rand. We’ll work with you to draft a customized survey that targets your niche market segment so you can generate a wealth of valuable data to be used in your marketing.

Reach one of our analysts today to discuss your next research project.