Data Driven Marketing For Dummies

Chapter 2

Communicating Directly with Your Customers

In This Chapter

Understanding the key components of a campaign

Using data to focus your efforts

Crafting your message with your data

Getting the timing right

You have no doubt pulled hundreds, if not thousands, of database marketing communications from your mailbox in your lifetime. From glossy catalogs to dull postcards addressed to Occupant, these mailings vary widely in quality. Some go directly into the recycling bin. Others get opened and read before being tossed. A precious few may actually capture your interest. This variation in quality and effectiveness is the result of the attention, or lack thereof, that was paid by the sender to the basics of database marketing.

In this chapter, I discuss the core components of database marketing campaigns. Your business model, marketing budget, and the quality of your marketing database may all limit how much you can do with a campaign. But regardless of your limitations, all database marketing campaigns have the same basic structure.

So, What Is a Database Marketing Campaign?