Must-haves to build your brand and customer relationships, with Brandon Freisen

Marketing with data is all about trying to put your audience at the center of the universe and understanding when, where, and how you connect to them. Right audience, right message, right time. But how do you make that happen? 

Recently on an episode of The Intent Data Exchange, our Mike Burton spoke with Brandon Friesen, CEO at Just Global, Inc., about the evolution of Just Global, and his take on building your brand and a stronger emotional connection with your audience.

Let’s dive right into this data mine of a conversation!

The keys to brand marketing success

Brandon has been a part of the B2B marketing world since childhood, growing up in his father’s telecom business. There, he learned three key must-haves for growth, and despite the progression of time have remained the same throughout his career:

1. Great content
2. The right audiences
3. The right advertisers

After college, Brandon entered the tech publishing industry with a hunger to learn the editorial side of the business. In publishing, he learned to envision how advertisers could interact with audiences in a digital environment.

After publishing, Brandon pivoted to sales, and from there, his journey lead him to be a future leader of what was then called Just Media (now Just Global).

Using data to plan customers’ campaigns

About nine years ago, Just Global dipped its toes into the usage of programmatic platforms and social in B2B. After much success, they launched their creative team based on listening to customer demand to become a full-service agency for B2B brands. And less than two years ago, they acquired another agency and globalized to four continents and 65 countries.

“We deliver a combination of strategy, media activation, creative and content experiences, and advanced B2B analytics to accelerate relationships for our clients in the market,” Brandon said. Almost a decade ago, Brandon realized that this thing called “Intent data” was going to become big. The data market has changed since then, but the role of Intent data has immensely grown — and is instrumental in the success of Just Global.

So, a lot has changed — yet not in fundamentals. In our podcast, Brandon shared some core tenets that have always been foundational in B2B. 

Be intentional about every marketing touchpoint

It’s important to avoid the “random acts of marketing,” as Brandon put it. Make sure you have a strong strategy in place based on data that allows you to put the customer at the center of the universe.

Consider every single different touch point throughout the buying journey — not just after the sale has closed.

Plan your brand marketing efforts with data in mind

Use data to understand when, where, and how you connect with customers.

“Right account, right audience, right message, right time,” Brandon said.

Demand gen and performance activation and sales enablement tools are all well and good, but building your brand on customer relationships is the essence.

“It’s not just about activating the audience, it’s also about that long-term brand relationship with your customers,” he added. Customer lifetime value comes from thinking holistically about long-term strategy.