Database Marketing is the most sophisticated selling process in the world today. It’s the foundation of the highest level of direct marketing – “1 to 1” made truly possible. There’s a catch though, you start with individuals and then find ways to organize them in groups.
Database Marketing requires the creation and maintenance of a "marketing database." What is a "marketing database"? A marketing database is a collection of information which helps you to spend your marketing budgets more efficiently. It allows you to focus your resource upon the superior opportunities and helps you to develop longer more profitable relationships with your customers.
Having a database allows you to analyze the behavior of your customers and identify their key characteristics. This enables you
- Communicate more relevantly with your existing customers and make more profitable sales to them over time.
- Use your knowledge of the "profiles" of your existing customers to finesse your targeting of new prospects.
- Increase the productivity of your marketing budget through better targeting and less waste.
- Improve your forecasting and measurement making all your marketing activities more accountable.
- Provide accurate business reports.
- Improve the effectiveness of all contact with customers by giving access to data to employees who are interacting directly with customers. This improves customer service and helps keep customers loyal.
- Develop more relevant products and services through dialogue with your customers.
So what kind of data should you capture in this marketing database, how will you use it, and where do you get the information from? The following table outlines the types of data that should be captured for both a consumer and business-to-business marketing database.
Consumer Data |
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|
Data Type
|
Uses
|
Sources
|
| Name and address | Addressing, mailings, deduplication |
Responses from advertising, rented lists, directories |
| Promotional responses - what sent, how responded |
Targeting and list selection | Own response data, rented lists |
| Inquiries - what about? | Targeting and list selection, product development |
Own records, rented lists |
| Purchasing behavior |
Segmentation, timing and targeting |
Own records, rented lists |
| Complaints | Selection of research groups, no mail - selection, product development |
Own records |
| Demographic - household composition, etc. |
Targeting of campaigns, profiling existing customers | Electoral rolls, lifestyle databases from Experian and others, CENSUS data |
| Lifestyle characteristics: hobbies, buying habits, etc. |
Targeting and profiling, development of offers and messages |
Experian and others |
| Neighborhood characteristics: property types, rural/suburban, etc. Geodemographics |
Targeting and profiling, development of offers and messages |
e.g., MOSAIC from Experian |
|
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| Company name and address, parent company information as well |
Addressing mailings, deduplication, pricing and service decisions |
Advertising responses, directories, rented lists, Experian and others |
| Name, title and function of individual |
Personalization of mailings, targeting of messages and offers |
Rented lists, Experian and other |
|
Buying characteristics: products, quantities, frequency, etc. |
Targeting of mailings and offers, segmentation of customers | Own records, Experian and others |
| Promotional responses; what sent, how responded? |
Targeting | Own data, rented lists |
| Inquiries - about what? |
Targeting, product development |
Own records, rented lists |
| Area characteristics; business sectors (SIC Codes), geographical, urban/rural, density of potential business |
Targeting of campaigns, sitting of distribution points, sales force management, sales forecasting |
Own data, sales force feeback; Experian and others |
| Competitor information | Research, campaign planning |
Own research and sales force feedback |
| Complaints | Forming groups for customer research, product development |
Own records |
| Turnover and financial data: year end data |
Risk prediction, sales predictions, targeting of messages, timing of offers, segmentation |
Companies, hose, Experian and others |
| Number of employees, sites, computers, vehicles, etc. |
Targeting and segmentation |
Lists, Experian and others |
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