Data Driven Marketing For Dummies

Chapter 1

Data Driven Marketing 101: It’s All About the Customer

In This Chapter

Understanding what data driven marketing is

Compiling, managing, and analyzing customer data

Understanding the components of database marketing campaigns

Measuring and learning from your marketing campaigns

Data driven marketing means using data about customers to drive marketing communications. The use of consumer data in advertising was pioneered back in the 1930s by Arthur Nielsen of TV ratings fame. Nielsen’s data was, and still is, largely derived from survey research. In this book, I approach the subject of data driven marketing primarily, though not exclusively, from the perspective of database marketing.

Database marketing uses direct communication to individuals, like direct mail and e-mail campaigns. What sets database marketing apart is, not surprisingly, the data it uses. Even though the phrase data driven marketing refers more broadly to all types of marketing, I often use the phrase interchangeably with database marketing.

Database marketers rely on customer databases that contain more ...