Microsoft® Access® Small Business Solutions: State-of-the-Art Database Models for Sales, Marketing, Customer Management, and More Key Business Activities

Chapter 6. Marketing

Marketing is a complex subject—far too complex to cover completely in a single chapter. Often it contains large aspects of contact management—we dealt with that topic in earlier chapters, so you can use the information there to implement such requirements. For the purposes of this book, we have condensed coverage of marketing specific requirements into two sections: a generic marketing campaign database and a database to manage questions and responses for a questionnaire.

We start by creating a database formarketing with a design that is sufficiently generic to accommodate the marketing requirements of most organizations, rather than gear it toward a dedicated marketing company. To design the database, we consider what a marketing campaign consists of, the data that you need to use, and some concepts that will help reinforce what has been covered in other chapters.

Then we look at the questionnaire, a common tool that can be used to fulfill several roles in marketing database applications. For example, you can use a questionnaire to associate new and potential clients with their appropriate needs or to encourage horizontal sales to existing customers. This is done by determining if clients have other interests and needs that you could be fulfilling. The questionnaire is also a powerful tool for plain old market research.

Finally, in addition to supporting marketing campaigns, the questionnaire also functions as a standard resource that can be used inmany applications ...