Database marketing evolves from direct marketing and more powerful for B2B marketing. Database marketing involves using marketing databases in your strategies, personalized contact, careful research, and meticulous relationship building.
Traditionally, direct marketing takes on a slightly different approach. Organizations try to take their marketing messages to the customers, directly. They may do this through email, direct mail campaigns such as brochures and catalogs, and cold emailing. The goal of this direct approach is to entice a customer to purchase something. Direct marketing is considerably less successful using the standard form. This is hugely to do with the lack of knowledge marketers have about the people they want to reach. However even direct marketers use customer databases, but these are primarily used to source data about contact phone numbers, email and mailing addresses.
Database marketing is different in part. Although it still directly messages to potential customers, database marketing does not use a quantity over quality approach. Comparatively, marketers use detailed information to learn about contracts and businesses. These databases include email addresses, contact names, and roles, marketing niches, software systems, company names, and industries. With this data, marketers can find out much more about the client before designing a mailer, sending an email or approaching phone contact.
Knowing the difference between these two marketing strategies is a huge step into knowing why you should invest in database marketing for your company.
Streamline Activities and Information
Setting up a database will allow you to organize and manage information about your customer base. Using database marketing services allows you to organize large amounts of information and create lists of specific details such as phone numbers, inquiries, demographic information, email addresses, and past purchases. For example, if you need to know how many women aged 18-30 bought a smartphone from your company in the last 3 years, you can use your database to find out.
Targeted Promotions Creation
By using database marketing you can use the information to send targeted sales and promotion to potential customers and good sales lead. For example, if you are having a sale on smartphones, you can send an email specifically to the people who have previously purchased smartphones on your site. Targeted promotions are a more efficient use of time and resources by reducing the promotion creation to people who are already interested in your products without sending it needlessly to people who would not buy your product.
Predict Customer Behaviour and Actions
With database marketing, you will be able to analyze customers’ buying patterns and past behaviors. This will enable you to make better and more informed marketing decisions. For example, you can focus on sales trends based on what customers’ brought in the past and predict which customers are likely to continue buying in the future as well as which products they may be interested in purchasing in the future.
Track Marketing Campaign’s Success
An essential element of any marketing campaign is tracking its success. You can gather metrics to find answers to questions such as do your customers respond better to social media campaigns or email approaches? You can use the data you collect to measure results that can be used to create email and social media aspects targeted at two different prospect groups.
Save Money
Using a more streamlined approach will save on cost, time and resources, database marketing helps to target messages to customers who have purchased in the past. You can then spend your money on those people who are more likely to buy from you again without needlessly wasting your resources sending messages to people who are unlikely to buy your product.
Data Share
When you begin database marketing, you may need help with this form of marketing. Fortunately, you can buy or rent product lists and email prospect lists that can help you with product launches or specific campaigns.
Well-rounded Marketing Approach
You will need to use quality information for your database. You will need to continually analyze and gather data about your customers particularly their demographic information, buying history and habits. The more efficient data you collect, the higher the success of your marketing campaigns.
Success, Effective Marketing
Database marketing is a powerful and effective investment for your company if it is implemented successfully. Before fully investing in database marketing ensure you understand the three main stages of effective database marketing.
Data Collection
Data collection is the aggregation of accurate and relevant data about potential and existing customers. You will need to ensure this data is available for use by the company’s marketing in their related fields.
Data into Knowledge
The next stage, turning data into knowledge, requires the analysis of the data you collected so that it can be used in effective communications and marketing. This involves using data to segment potential and existing customers so that appropriate marketing messages can be created.
Developing and Evolving Business Strategies
Developing business strategies involves the use of the data and the knowledge within the database to develop a strategy for the business.
Knowing the basics of database marketing and the benefits of investing it for your company will help you consider the best marketing approach for your company.