John Hagerty, founder of advertising giant BBH, is not a man who minces his words. And he surely riled up a lot of people last March when he expressed his disdain for big data in marketing. He explained, “It’s because I’ve spent my life dealing with people who’ve got all the data in the world and yet they can’t invent anything.” This is something that should be heeded by those involved in b2b lead generation. While they may claim that big data, precision marketing, and targeted audiences can bring in the much-desired sales leads, actual experience shows just how messed up the results can be.

It seems like big data is no use at all.

The poster child for this would be Facebook, the juggernaut of big data marketing. No matter how much data they used to precisely target their audience, Facebook ads are really performing badly. Come to think of it, how many mainstream companies have advertised in this social media site and earned big-time sales or B2B leads? Not that many. One might as well go back to telemarketing, since it seems to get much better results.

Problem here is pretty much the use of big data. In the marketing world’s attempt to be more measurable, more precise, more numbers-based, and more elaborate, in their appointment setting efforts, they lose the most basic element in getting their message across the audience – the human factor.

Ignoring the power of genuine human connection and concentrating more on numbers is the one most damaging effect to your lead generation efforts.