Date-a-vendor Modelling Playbook: Pairing Data With Targeted Campaigns

So, you’ve evaluated and said “yes” 💍

Now it’s time to turn that honeymoon glow into real‑world campaign wins.

This is where the real magic happens:

Making your newly exclusive data relationship actually work for you across every channel.

Whether it’s pinpointing your next best prospect through paid ads, creating magnetic events that your audience flocks to, crafting emails that feel personally written for each recipient, or stitching it all together through powerful modelling.

You’re about to unlock a whole new level of marketing precision.

Here’s some of what’s coming up:

• How to sharpen your audience targeting across paid ads, events, and email.
• How to use data modelling to prioritise, personalise, and scale.
• How to orchestrate these channels into a cohesive, high-performing motion.

Let’s dive in.

Data Modelling Fundamentals for Multi‑Channel Marketing 💡

It’s time to model your audience so you’re always speaking to the right people, at the right time, in the right way. 🧩

Solid data modelling isn’t just about sorting names into neat little piles. It’s about truly understanding who your audience is, what makes them tick, and how ready they are to hear from you.

Let’s break it down:

Defining Your Romance Profile (ICP) 🥰

It’s not enough to know someone’s job title or the size of their company. 📈

A real Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) needs firmographics (like company size and sector), technographics (what tech they’re using), and intent signals (what they’re researching right now).

Think of it like setting up a dating profile:

It’s not just your height and eye colour that matter; it’s your hobbies, your goals, and the way you think.

Rather than just dumping data into your CRM, model your profiles around behaviours and buying signals.

• Who’s actively hunting for a solution?
• Who’s showing commitment signs, like downloading product guides or attending webinars?

Build your models with these behavioural clues in mind. 🕵️‍♂️

For a deeper dive into identifying your perfect ICP, take a look back at this guide from earlier in the honeymoon phase.

Segmentation: Your Speed‑Dating Rounds ☺️

Once you’ve built those profiles, it’s time to group them.

Segmentation is your version of speed dating: quick rounds to see who’s a match and who’s not.

Segment by:

• Role (decision-maker vs influencer).
• Buying stage (curious vs ready to commit).
• Geography (especially if your offer varies by region).
• Buying signals (intent data, event attendance, site activity).

But be careful not to overcomplicate it. 🛑

If your segments get too narrow, you risk burning resources on micro-campaigns with no scale.

Aim for groups that are distinct enough to personalise, but big enough to make an impact.

Enrichment: Gifting the Perfect Icebreaker 🔥

No one likes awkward silences, and enrichment fills in the gaps, giving you the perfect icebreakers to start real conversations. 🎁

Look to append:

• Contact data (mobile numbers, emails, social handles).
• Event insights (which webinars they registered for, which booths they visited).
• Behavioural data (content they’ve consumed, technologies they’ve installed).

This richer picture helps you move from generic blasts to meaningful engagement.

Prioritisation: Picking the Top Contenders 🤗

Finally, not everyone is ready for a big romantic gesture.

Prioritisation ensures you focus on those most likely to say “yes”. ❤️‍🔥

Model your audience by:

• Fit (how closely they match your ICP).
• Intent (how active and interested they are).

You don’t want to light candles for every match, only the ones ready to say “yes!”

That’s why we validate and rank our signals before we ever hit “go” on campaigns.

Liam Collins, Cognism’s VP of Paid Acquisition, says:

“We correlate the signals to all accounts to prioritise spend for ICP fit accounts, while we continue to provide air cover for the remaining accounts until we have further insights.”

Set up lead scoring to surface your hottest prospects, and just as importantly, filter out the ghosters who’ll waste your time. 👻

By the end of this stage, you’ll know exactly who to focus your ads, events, and emails on, setting you up for a multi‑channel strategy that delivers real results.

Paid Advertising: Crafting Your VIP Guest List 💸

So, you’ve got your type, and the data to prove it. Now it’s time to make your move.

With paid ads, data modelling lets you ditch the spray-and-pray approach and go full rom-com protagonist: confident, charming, and totally focused on the right audience. 🤴

Here’s how to make sure your ad spend goes toward people who might actually say yes, not just swipe past.

Lookalike Audiences: Finding Your Doppelgängers 🫵

You’ve already scored a few matches, customers who love your product, renew without blinking, and even bring mates along. These are your VIPs.

Modelling lets you take those best-fit accounts and build lookalike audiences that actually look like them, in firmographics, technographics, and intent.

🎯 Seed smart:

Start with accounts that aren’t just high-value but high-fit. The ones who were most likely to convert and most likely to stick around. Use your ICP modelling to define the data points that matter most.

Of course, you can’t just grab every lookalike and hope for the best, you need to know which signals actually move the needle.

Liam says:

“We track each signal, validate its impact on revenue, then continually test and refine our seed lists, so our audiences are precisely targeted.”

💡 Top tip:

Your lookalike audience shouldn’t just be based on revenue. Include signals like:

• Tech stack similarities.
• Job titles engaging with your content.
• Channels where conversion tends to start (paid social vs. search, for example).

💷 Budget wisely:

Lookalikes tend to outperform cold audiences but still sit a tier below retargeting. Use mid-funnel budgets here and monitor closely. Tweak seed lists monthly to keep things fresh and relevant.

It’s not just who you target, but how often. We’ve found a sweet spot for ad exposure that drives real action.

Liam says:

“We know that when an account sees an ad between nine and fourteen times, they generally convert to an MQL, so we model our frequency targets around that window.”

Technographic Targeting: Tailored Invitations 💌

Would you turn up at a vegan dinner party with a steak? Exactly.

If your solution complements specific platforms or tools, or even replaces them, you need to be using technographics to focus your invites.

🛠️ Find your stack soulmates:

Use data modelling to pinpoint which CRMs, analytics platforms, or cloud providers your top customers use.

And it’s not just about what tech they run, it’s about double-down investing where you’ll get the biggest uplift.

Liam says:

“Enrich your master account list into four tiers, then allocate a large portion of your budget to the biggest two. That way, the majority of your ad spend goes straight to your best-fit accounts, and the rest warms up future targets. By sharing the better fit account lists with sales it allows then to be more focused in their outreach.”

Make it personal:

Write copy that references their known environment:

“Already using HubSpot? Here’s how to double your ROI with [Your Product].”

🎨 Creative cues:

Consider visual cues in ads, like UI callouts, logos, or product comparisons (carefully and respectfully). You want recognition to spark interest, not panic.

Intent‑Driven Ads: Timing the Perfect Proposal 🕚

Some prospects are just browsing. Some are actively Googling “alternatives to [your competitor]”.

Guess which ones you want to be in front of?

⏳ Model for readiness:

Use intent signals in your prioritisation models to surface accounts showing increased research activity, surging interest in your category, or engagement with bottom-funnel content.

💍 Make the move:

Create ad journeys that reflect the stage of intent:

• Early stage? Educational content and light brand intro.
• Mid-funnel? Product comparisons, testimonials, light demo offers.
• Late stage? Book-a-demo CTAs, ROI calculators, pricing pages.

📊 Example:

A B2B SaaS company might run this ad progression over a two-week surge window:

1. “Thinking about switching analytics platforms?”
2. “How we saved £120K by ditching Google Analytics for [Your Product]”
3. “See [Your Product] in action. Book a 15-min walkthrough”

Intent-driven modelling means you’re not just guessing when to pop the question; you’re showing up exactly when they’re ready to be asked.

Event Enrichment: Turning “Seen You There” into “Let’s Talk” 👏

You’ve invested in data modelling, enriched your lists, and crafted clever ads; now it’s time to work your magic at real-world (or virtual) events. 🌟

Events are pure gold for engagement, but only if you activate your data properly before, during, and after the big day.

Let’s turn casual glances into meaningful conversations...

Pre-Event List Building: Sending the Save-the-Date 📋

Before the first handshake or virtual wave, data can help you curate the perfect event experience.

• Filtering attendees by fit: Use your modelled ICP (firmographics + technographics + intent signals) to pre-filter who you actually want to meet. Not every badge scan is created equally!
• Scoring for VIP outreach: Layer intent data and engagement signals to score registrants, identifying who deserves a white-glove invite to a private dinner, exclusive session, or fast-track booth experience.
• Personal touches: Armed with mobile numbers and LinkedIn profiles, pre-schedule subtle nudges like mobile alerts, personalised emails, or InMail messages a few days before the event.

Imagine your prospect thinking, “Wow, they really get me” before you’ve even met. 😍

On-Site Signals: Real-Time Chemistry 🧪

Once the event is underway, it’s time to listen for the sparks. 🔥

• Capturing booth visits, session joins, badge scans: Don’t just track check-ins, combine them with who attended which breakout session, visited your booth and asked a question, or scanned a QR code.
• Modelling engagement intensity: The more touches, the stronger the buying signal. Create live scores during the event to prioritise real-time follow-ups.
• Field team empowerment: Feed these signals straight to your sales or field marketing teams via mobile apps or Slack alerts, helping them “bump into” hot prospects on-site naturally.

It’s like speed dating, but with badges and coffee instead of roses and awkward silences. 💍

Post-Event Follow-Up: The Thank-You Note That Converts 👋

The event may end when the booths close, but your data-driven romance is just getting started. 🎉

• Enriching CRM with session data and behaviour triggers: Capture not just “attended” but what they engaged with during the event. Enrich lead profiles instantly; booth scans, session joins, and conversations had.
• Prioritising follow-ups by combined event + web signals: Who visited your website after meeting you? Who downloaded content related to the session they attended? These are your hottest leads.
• Tailored nurture journeys: Don’t send a generic “thanks for stopping by” email. Instead, use dynamic content blocks to reference what you know: “We loved chatting with you after the session!”

The goal?

To make your new prospect feel seen, remembered, and understood, as opposed to being just another scanned badge. 💖

Email Marketing: Crafting the Love Letter Campaign 📧

You may have charmed them through ads and wowed them at events, but now it’s time to slide into their DMs with the same winning energy. 📬

Email remains one of the most powerful channels for turning interest into lasting engagement, but only when approached with care, creativity, and compliance.

Here’s how data modelling helps you craft irresistible messages that feel personal, timely, and impossible to ignore. 💌

Compliance‑First List Building: Respectful Courtship 🤝

Before you start pouring your heart out, make sure you’ve been properly introduced.

In today’s world, regulatory compliance isn’t just a box-ticking exercise, it’s the foundation of trust.

• GDPR, CCPA, and beyond: Only target contacts who've opted in, and clearly manage consent preferences. Data modelling helps by tagging contacts according to consent type, region, and marketing permissions, so you can stay compliant without losing momentum.
• Suppression logic: Model your lists to actively suppress unsubscribes, hard bounces, and competitors. It’s like making sure you’re sending roses to admirers, not to people who’ve asked to be left alone. 🌹
• Update cycles: Run regular checks to refresh permissions and remove outdated records. Good relationships (and good databases) thrive on respect and attentiveness.

💡 Top Tip:

If you’re using intent data or third-party enrichment, double-check their compliance stance too; you’re responsible for the company you keep…

Dynamic Segmentation: Tailored to Their Heartbeats 💓

Not every prospect is ready for a grand declaration of love, some need a few more coffee dates first. ☕

Data modelling lets you dynamically segment your audience based on real-time signals like:

• Buying stage: Cold, warm, or sales-ready model engagement scores to determine where each contact sits in the funnel.
• Behavioural triggers: Website visits, webinar attendance, resource downloads. Use these to predict interest level and message accordingly.
• Firmographic and technographic charms: Personalise messaging based on company size, industry, and tech stack. A fintech scaleup CTO deserves a very different approach from an enterprise healthcare procurement manager.

By grouping contacts according to emotional intensity and context, you can avoid the classic mistakes of over-eager (or underwhelming) messaging. 💔

Example:

1. Someone who just downloaded a buying guide? Queue them into a nurture sequence.
2. Someone who’s been attending your webinars and visiting pricing pages? Send them a much more direct, high-touch invitation to chat.

Personalisation at Scale: The Illusion of One‑to‑One 🕵️‍♀️

Here’s the secret: with the right data models, you can make thousands of prospects feel like they’re the only one. ✨

• Data‑driven hooks: Automatically reference key details like recent funding, tech they’re using, events they attended, or recent job changes. “Congrats on your Series B funding, Alex! Here’s how we can help you scale even faster…”
• Smart templates: Build modular email templates that swap in personalised blocks depending on audience segment or behavioural triggers.
• Triggered journeys: Set up event-driven workflows (e.g., after downloading an ebook or attending a session) that feel hand-written, but run automatically at scale.

When done right, it’s not creepy, it’s courting. It shows you’ve paid attention and genuinely care about what they need. 🥰

Cross‑Channel Synergy: Orchestrating the Perfect Date Night 🌹

You’ve sent the love letters, made the grand gestures, and impressed at the big events.

Now it’s time to bring it all together into a single, unforgettable experience. 💃🕺

Cross‑channel synergy ensures your brand feels present, relevant, and irresistible, without becoming overwhelming.

Here’s how you can orchestrate a seamless multi‑touch journey that moves prospects from mild interest to full-blown commitment. 💍

Retargeting: Ads to Those Who Opened Your Love Letters 👋

Not every open or click turns into immediate action, and that’s okay. It just means you need a gentle reminder. ✉️➡️🎯

• Syncing audiences: Use your CRM and email engagement data to automatically build custom audiences for retargeting ads. If someone opened your email but didn’t reply or book a meeting, hit them with a relevant ad while you’re still top of mind.
• Personalised nudges: Reference the theme of the email they engaged with. For example, if they clicked on an ad about scaling IT infrastructure, follow up with a case study on that exact topic in your retargeting creative.
• Frequency control: Make sure your ad strategy feels like a friendly reminder, not a stalkerish bombardment. Think flowers delivered to their desk, not dozens of texts at 2am. 🌸

ABM: Syncing Email, Ads, and Direct Outreach into One Choreography 🔁

When you really like someone, you don’t just rely on text messages; you call, you meet up, you plan special dates. The same goes for your top prospects. 📞🎯📬

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) lets you tightly align multiple channels into a powerful, multi-threaded approach:

• Orchestrated sequences: A top-tier prospect might receive a personalised email, followed by a LinkedIn ad, followed by a personalised LinkedIn InMail from their assigned sales rep.
• Intent signals as triggers: If an account’s activity spikes, say, they’re researching your competitors! Your ABM sequence can kick into high gear automatically, bringing sales into the dance at just the right moment.
• Unified messaging: Ensure that the tone, value proposition, and CTA are aligned across every touchpoint. It’s like making sure your outfit, flowers, and restaurant choice are all telling the same romantic story. 🌹✨

No one channel can carry the show alone. You need share-of-voice everywhere, but with one clear story.

Liam says:

“Our omnichannel approach is all about share of feed, deploying ads across every available format, but governing creative so our core message is consistent. Whether someone sees us on LinkedIn, YouTube or Meta, it all feels like the same conversation.”

Measurement: Unified KPIs, Engagement, Pipeline, Deal Velocity 📈

How do you know if your date night went well?

You check for all the little signs: laughter, eye contact, plans for a second date... ❤️

Similarly, cross‑channel marketing needs consistent metrics to tell you if it’s working.

Engagement rates

Track opens, clicks, event attendance and ad interactions across all channels. Engagement isn’t about a single campaign; it’s about the full experience.

Pipeline influence

Use multi‑touch attribution to understand how each channel contributed to moving a prospect forward. No one likes to be the forgotten wingman.

Deal velocity

Measure how quickly prospects move through stages after multi‑channel exposure. A well-choreographed sequence should shorten your sales cycle significantly.

Top Tip:

Dashboard your metrics in one place to spot gaps or channel imbalances early. A strong romance needs good communication and so does your marketing engine. 📈💬

Your Modelling Checklist for Everlasting Love 😘

You’ve collated your data, wooed your audiences and orchestrated a multi-channel romance that turns prospects into partners.

Let’s cement that relationship with a simple, repeatable checklist, your blueprint for sustaining pipeline month after month.

How to use it:

1. Kick off each quarter by revisiting your ICP, markets shift, tech changes, and new intent signals emerge.
2. Refresh segments weekly or after major campaigns. Keep your audience definitions sharp so your outreach never goes stale.
3. Automate enrichment wherever possible, your data should feel as alive as your best relationships.
4. Prioritise! Focus on the prospects most likely to engage, and let the rest simmer for later.
5. Activate across channels in harmony. Get ads, events and emails all singing the same song.
6. Review, report and revise. Celebrate your wins as you would anniversaries, and learn from the times you were left on read.

With this checklist in hand, your data model becomes a living love story, one that evolves, deepens and drives revenue.

Here’s to a long and prosperous partnership between your team, your SDRs, and the perfectly modelled prospects you’ll delight next.