Traditionally, the way marketers approach consumers when they don't have this authoritative data is to see most prospects equally, and treat them all the same way top to bottom. At the most, they have a lead score based on the narrow view of activities these consumers engaged in on the brand's own, first party website, downloading a white paper or attending a webinar. It's better than nothing, but doesn't even begin to provide the full picture of their complete buying journey across multiple competitor and third party sites. Therefore, it ends up being more of a spray and pray approach, applying one tactic to those most likely to be in the desired stage.

The overarching benefit to accessing an authoritative view into the consumer journey is the newfound ability to confidently tailor your messages, content, and marketing tactics to the stage of the journey each buyer is in, as they progress through that journey.

When the journey begins with the Awareness stage, consumers become aware of a product and if they become interested and move forward, they will likely conduct more online research. They will look at what their options are for purchasing that product, then ultimately move to the phase of narrowing down who to buy from, before ultimately making a final decision. When you have data that shows you the entire journey of each consumer, you can identify where those consumers are in that journey.

Once you know where the consumer sits in their journey, you can market to them appropriately with messaging that coincides with their stage of the journey. And, if you can identify those consumers who are early in their buying journey, you can get on their radar early and stay with them throughout the journey.

If you identify that a consumer has only just started their journey, you might put them into an email nurture program that provides her with educational content. Or, if the data indicates that the consumer is very far along in their journey, you can contact him with a special limited-time offer incenting the prospect to move from a research phase to a purchase decision with your brand.

If you can determine where they are in the buying journey, you can have a much more relevant conversation to get to the outcome you desire. You can decide what strategies and tactics to deploy with that consumer, such as offering an appealing special offer to a consumer who you have determined is in the decision stage.

For example, if you were a mortgage lender interacting with a prospective customer early in their buying process, data could reveal to you that this consumer was very early in process to buy a home. The data would show that he was looking at rates, but hadn't even looked at a single home yet. If you had access to this data, you could have a very specific, compelling approach to marketing to this consumer, such as putting him into a nurture campaign with educational resource downloads and other informative content that is relevant to someone just beginning their journey. You would know not to make persistent phone calls and try to hard sell him, since the signals clearly indicate he's just seeking initial information.

On the flip side, if you had a consumer in your funnel who is already under contract for a home, you would likely want to put out an all out hard sell to convince her why you are better than the competition and maybe even offer her a special deal.

With access to this type of authoritative data, the marketer is now equipped with the ability to deploy these types of strategies. When marketers can deploy these well-informed right- time strategies, they gain incredibly precise and powerful control over the consumer's experience with their brand.