Building and Managing Your Marketing Database, Cont.
Lesson 1: PLANNING YOUR DATABASE
There are several key things to keep in mind when you are in the initial planning stages of your marketing database.
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Who should build the marketing database? |
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Should you consider outsourcing the development of the marketing database? |
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Who should be the marketing database decision-maker? |
Who Should Build the Marketing Database?
When identifying your system programmer, it's important to keep in mind that he or she should have prior expertise with direct marketing systems. Direct marketing systems have particular characteristics, so it will be especially helpful for the programmer to be familiar with those issues.
When selecting a system builder, you have several options to consider:
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Internal IT: Working internally usually results in better integration of the marketing database with other operational systems and can keep costs down. But keep in mind that your system may take a long time to develop and chances are you will not get the specialized expertise you really need to develop a first-rate direct marketing system.
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Outside Contractor: This can be a good option. You can find more specialized expertise and it tends to speed up implementation. However, it may be an expensive option and contractors aren't necessarily in it for the long haul: they may just be contracting temporarily until they can find a permanent job.
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Service Bureau: Specialized service bureaus usually have expertise, better internal resources and long-term commitment. This can speed up implementation, lower your costs and result in a long and successful vendor relationship. At a time when employee turnover is at an all-time high, that long-term relationship can be critical for the successful long-term management of your marketing database. And this option usually allows you to save on upfront costs of hardware, software and the internal IT support needed to build and maintain the system.
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Who Should Manage The Marketing Database?
Of course it’s usually best if the final decision-maker for the marketing database is the marketing manager, since it is the marketing department that will most often make use of the data. Regardless of who is chosen to manage the database, it is tremendously important that there be one person -- and one person only -- who is the final decision-maker. If multiple personnel are allowed to make decisions about the database, this usually results in unwanted changes being made to the database. This will negatively impact the usefulness of the data in the long-term.
Let me give you a good example of this. When Name-Finders Lists is retained to set up a client’s marketing database, it is common for the marketing person to say to us something like, “Oh, we moved that data field out of the way because Accounting wanted something -- and we needed some more room, so we got rid of that field.” Well it usually turns out that what Accounting had them get rid of was the most important bit of information for marketing to have access to. So we always recommend to our clients that they have one decision-maker only for the data management process -- the person who understands the value of the information!
Choosing an Outsourcing Vendor
Of course, in a company where there is high employee turnover, you should definitely consider outsourcing your database. If you outsource, there will most likely be an entire experienced team working on your project. As a result, you'll have better resources to call on, the work will get done faster, and there will be more consistent management of your database over time. Outsourcing is especially important if you work for a company where there is constant turnover. In this case, it's a very good idea to get a good database vendor who specializes in marketing.
There are many companies around the country that do this, and now that we're in the information age, it really doesn’t matter where your vendor is located. So we would highly recommend that you consider outsourcing. You have a lot of great vendor options to choose from. Call us for an up-to-date list.
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