Humpty Dumpty famously told Alice in “Through the Looking Glass” that a word meant whatever he chose it to mean. That axiom applies to today’s marketing language which tends towards the generic and is often imprecise. But it is really important for client-side marketers, agencies and marketing services companies to understand eggaxctly (pun intended) what the definition of the product, solution, or term they are talking about means in the relevant context.

Otherwise, you will enter a wonderland of misunderstanding, misaligned expectations, and elusive goals. Here are some examples of what I mean, with some questions and comments you can ask to provide full understanding. These are words or terms widely bandied about often with no clarity about value, use or application.

• Intent data. There is a common misconception that the application of “intent data” can transform a random account broadly in the Total Addressable Market into a qualified lead. Leaving aside for the moment the definition of a “qualified lead”, you must ask how the intent is gathered, with what reach, what tracking is done over time, and how keywords can be changed as engagement progresses. Intent waxes and wanes. Intent captured at a single moment in time is like predicting the face of an adult from a photo of a new born baby.
• Total Addressable Market. Is this all businesses that could buy your product? Or a useful subset of those that you are realistically able to reach? Work hard on your segmentation to be realistic about the broad firmographics you need to apply at an early stage to match your budget, your likelihood to reach, and the ability to get accurate data
• Ideal Customer Profile. There are two ways of identifying the ICP and, unfortunately, they are seldom used in tandem. The first is to look at your past history of success and failure. What are the common denominators that lead to success? The second way is also needed because things change quickly. New competitors, changing economic conditions, and different decisionmakers, can make last year’s wins and losses irrelevant. So take into account current factors including digital and sales engagement in the recent past.
• This is possibly the worst offender. The best definition is a set of accounts most likely to buy and therefore deserving of unremitting and focused attention from both sales and marketing. But define carefully with colleagues and partners what all this means. How big is the “set”? Too big and sales lose interest. Too small and marketing thinks their work is done. “unremitting” should been continual outreach, and “focused” should mean part of a well-defined process.
• AI This deserves a lengthy review all on its own. And it will get one next time!

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again. But Demand Studio will deliver effective campaigns with precise metrics, clearly understood terminology, and positive outcomes!