News
 Integrating
New Data Sources to Grow Your Universe
Many marketers are spending more, only to experience
decreasing response rates. Competition for eyeballs
and market share is making it more challenging for
marketers to remain top of mind with prospects, grow
relationships, and retain customers. Ozgur Dogan
shares his pointers on how to use data sources to
your advantage.
The plain and simple truth is that it is becoming
harder to identify – and market to – only the best
prospects.
As a result, many marketers traditionally have
looked to expand their universe by tapping into new
data sources. But thanks to new improvements in
technology – and the skills of the people who use it
– adding new sources of data now relies less on
emotions and “gut feel” and more on fact-based,
systematic approaches that can be tested prior to
implementation to yield the best results.
Before adding your next name, review these key tips:
• Challenge your assumptions. Too many marketers
think that they truly know their key demographics. A
merchant may think “We market only to 25 to 65 year
olds” and that view never changes. But assumptions
can act as virtual blinders, causing you to
systematically ignore groups of consumers and
potential markets. Relax your constraints and you
will potentially uncover a new untapped audience.
• Know your data from your content. Not all data is
valuable content. We’ve all known a marketer who
wanted to add names merely for the sake of adding
names with idea that more names will boost response
rates. Fortunately, advances in the way that
marketers access and use information are putting an
end to these outdated approaches. That’s where
content management – the process of accessing,
evaluating, and integrating data – comes into play.
• Utilize multiple credit and compiled data sources.
Operating under time and resource constraints, many
marketers utilize only a single credit or compiled
data source. Instead, break away from this
traditional practice and leverage the strengths of
multiple data sources by incorporating multiple
credit and compiled data sources into your
marketable universe.
Optimize your mix of list sources. Merchants are
tasked with selecting just a few lists from among
the thousands currently available. Not surprisingly,
many marketers consistently fail to successfully
identify and incorporate the most appropriate, newly
compiled vertical and trigger specialty lists. To
help ensure success, marketers should follow a
disciplined content evaluation approach to identify
the optimal mix of data sources.
Finding the best, most complete content is just the
first step. It is then up to your database marketing
team to leverage all selected data sources to create
highly segmented predictive models based on precise
factors to improve lift. By integrating the best
content from new sources, you’ll expand your
customer universe with fresh, untapped quality
names.
---Source:
Ozgur Dogan is senior director of database marketing
solutions for Lanham, MD-based database marking
company Merkle (www.merkleinc.com).
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