What is Database Marketing?

Database marketing is the development of your customer and prospect database as a marketing tool. It is gathering information about your buyers and prospective buyers and using this knowledge to market on a more targeted level. Database marketing is mass marketing, conducted on a deeper, more personal level. Although you may never meet all of your customers, you'll identify their motives for buying, and apply these indicators to large populations to reach individuals or companies who display similar characteristics.

The result: You sell to a targeted audience. You get to know your customer's name and business. Your marketing database helps you develop a highly accurate customer profile. It helps you to better understand your customer's business. You'll identify the key contacts in your marketplace and focus your efforts on the decision makers.

Database Marketing is Customer-Centric Marketing. A well-constructed database gives you extra power and flexibility to support all your marketing efforts:

• Relationship Marketing. It's knowing your customers in-depth. You address their specific needs and wants in your communications. You learn what, when and how they buy.
• One-To-One Marketing. Capture detailed demographic business and technology data on an individual basis at both the site and enterprise. Reach key buying contacts by name and job function with a personal message targeted to their interests.
• Database Integration. Once you know your customers’ needs and match your product to them, you overlay your data to other databases to find other customers with similar needs.
• Loyalty Marketing. Create an ongoing exchange with your customers that carries beyond the sale. It instills confidence and encourages the sale of related products and reorders.
• Targeted Marketing. Identify your best customers and treat them as individuals who deserve your special attention.

What's the Point of Database Marketing?

• It's relevant to the customer. You reach customers who find your products and services relevant to their needs. Give extra care to service questions and new sales propositions.
• It's informative. Targeted messages are read! You're not only selling a product, you're providing information specific to the customer's or prospect's market. If there's interest, there's no perception of an unwanted sales call or unwanted mail.
• It's more efficient use of your marketing dollars. The money invested in creating a database will return dividends as you promote fewer “suspected” buyers and reach more “prospective” buyers. Customers tell you who they are and what their preferences are.

Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ