Database Marketing is a process to gather information about your customers and potential customers to gain a better understanding of them and their needs. Then communicating with those people by email, social media, phone, post or in person in the ways that are more relevant and useful.
2. Database Marketing is a process of identifying, collecting, and analysing
significant information from all sources (internal and external) about
your customers, leads and prospects to drive strategic marketing and
sales decisions.
Why should use Database Marketing?
Your marketing messages become more targeted as you can select who
will receive them
You can tailor your offers and marketing for different segments of your
prospect base
You collect feedback from your prospects, and adjust your messages
accordingly
2
Database Marketing – Definition
@somidhdas
3. Who Should use Database Marketing?
You work in a market place with a limited number of prospects, e.g. 100-
10000. In this case, if you can compile a database of all your prospects, it may
be more economical to communicate with them directly.
Your business is repeat by nature, your product requires regular replacement,
service or replenishment, or you sell complementary products. When you
have customer details on the database, you can contact them at the right
time with the right offer and gain extra sales for a very low cost to your
business.
Your sales cycle is three months or longer. Prospects will forget about you, if
you will be out of contact for 90 days or longer, so you need to remind them
that you are there. Database marketing is a targeted, cost-effective means of
doing so.
3
Database Marketing – Advantage
@somidhdas
4. The costs in Database Marketing include:
Creating and maintaining the database
Creating sales and marketing collateral
Cost of delivering the messages – via Email, Telemarketing, Online Advertising, etc.
There are Three main ways to reducing Cost of Data:
Using Email instead of Postage- Although emailing costs are low, people tend to ignore, delete and
block commercial emails, unless it comes from somebody they already know. With that in mind, good
results could be achieved by emailing a new offer to a database consisting of only your existing
customers and strong prospects.
Using Social Media - You can drive more traffic to company website, capture those visitors as lead,
nurture the leads into relationship and covert those leads as customers.
Improving Conversion Rate - Conversion rates will improve with repeated emails, dedicated follow-up,
and continual refining of your offers and a process supported by appropriate material (newsletter,
telemarketing scripts, etc.). For the reason, firstly, you will learn more about your prospects as you
collect feedback, and therefore your subsequent messages become targeted. Secondly, your
prospects grow to know your business; they gain a better understanding about what you have to offer.
4
Economics of Database Marketing
@somidhdas
5. Key Factors Determining Success
Quality of the database - To select good prospects for your database, look at your best customers (past
and present) and profile your existing customer database based on following –
• What differentiates our products or services from those offered by our competitors?
• How do our products or services create value for our customers?
• How do our prospects make buying decisions?
Quality of information and offers - Describe your product or service in detail through additional photos
/ features of your product (Whitepaper), providing technical descriptions (eBook), or through giving
your expert advice or assessment of prospect’s requirements. Whatever your promotional material is, it
should be structured in such a way that each paragraph is relevant to, and attracts the reader to act –
whether that be completing the survey, or picking up the telephone.
Systematic Approach - Successful database marketing typically consists of a systematic process of
contacting your customers and prospects using specifically targeted communications. This process of
contacts should direct your customer or prospect through the steps required to arrive at the decision to
purchase your product or service. Each supplemental interaction you have with your prospect should
provide you with additional information on the customer, and enable you to focus your efforts on
finding more of those most likely to purchase, or to unearth ways to move them forward through your
sales cycle.
5
Database Marketing – Key Factors
@somidhdas
6. Where to get the Database?
In-house Lists - Start with in-house database of previous clients and prospects. Where possible,
record details of people who contacted you with enquiries, or those who have purchased and
inform them you will be keeping in touch with them. This can be the cheapest and generally the
best source for obtaining high quality prospect information for your marketing database.
External Lists - Professional list providers either sell existing lists, or research and create lists
based on specifically requested target market criteria. The lists are typically contained company
name, website, contact name, title, email, phone number, geographic location, and industry-
specific categories. Purchased lists typically carry an accuracy level of 95% on contact information
and 90% on email deliverability for the period of 30 days (from the date of delivery) .
Website Visitors - Web site is also provides an excellent opportunity to capture information. Offer
a subscription to a newsletter, offering valuable material to download in exchange of submitting
a form, provides a faster and easier way to collect prospect data. Ask a few targeted questions
relevant to your business in the form also helps to create customer profile.
6
Database Marketing – Data Source
@somidhdas
7. Buyer Persona is a detailed description of an actual type of buyer who is involved in
decision to purchase the kinds of products and services you provide. A complete buyer
persona should contain the following components:
Company Information: The employee and revenue size of the buyer’s organization, What they sell,
Who they sell to
Type of Business: The type of business the buyer works for
Job Title / Function: The buyer's position in the organization
Buying Role: The role the buyer plays in the purchasing decision process
Objectives / Responsibilities: The business objectives and job responsibilities of the buyer
Major Issues / Concerns: This is the heart of the buyer persona. If you can identify what issues and
problems are keeping your potential buyers Conscious, you can create compelling marketing content.
Personal Attributes: These include Age, Gender, Education Level, and Compensation Level of your
buyer. Obviously, ranges will be used for most of these attributes.
Implicit Profiling: Buyer’s interests based on where they are clicking on your website. You will have the
data points that will help you to form the database for a specialized nurture.
7
Database Marketing – Buyer Persona
@somidhdas
8. Frequency of Contact
How often do you need to contact prospects? To ensure that your target market remembers who you
are, you should contact them at least once every 90 days. There is nothing wrong with staying in touch
more often, providing your message is interesting and valuable to your audience. This communication is
the point at which your marketing activity may connect with your sales cycle.
Can you get customers annoyed by contacting them too often? Maybe, but prospects are more
tolerant to frequency when your message is relevant. For example, your Internet domain registrar
started contacting you about 1 month before our domain registration was due for renewal. They sent
you numerous emails, two faxes and one letter. Result – you have renewed your registration with them
and no, you weren’t annoyed.
Role of Database Marketer
Analyse your existing customer base and understand what is common between the best customers
Accumulate a large database of well-qualified prospects
Stay in touch with them at least once every 90 days
Send custom-made communications relevant to the prospects
Follow-up persistently
Collect feedback from the prospects and adjust your marketing accordingly
8
Contact Frequency &
Role of Database Marketer
@somidhdas