Limits where there aren’t any
First it was just a mere observation, but I wasn’t quite sure if my perception was right or not. Now I know! Wherever you look or listen, even among the experts, Database Marketing is equalled with some kind of Direct Marketing, and more often than not, this is equalled with direct mail. Weird, because these ‘practitioners’ place limits upon themselves where they aren’t any. Needless to say they will never benefit from the real power of Database Marketing, which, as you may have guessed now, extends far beyond direct marketing and direct mail.
But how come? The answer is easy. Whereas maintaining a mailing list and doing some queries is easy stuff and can be done largely without any human interference, anything that goes beyond a piece of communication to the customer or prospect involves a lot more than just a database extraction and some mail merge.
This is when we enter the world of business intelligence tools, such as Cognos PowerPlay, Business Objects, Pilot Software, etc. But this is also where the average marketer — usually virgin in his relationship with analytical tools — has to do some serious slicing and dicing, drilling down and … applying of common sense.
This is where the task of real Database Marketing and Relationship Management begins and the world of opportunities unfolds. However, this is also the world where it becomes incredibly time-consuming, and where the computer becomes a means to an end and not the end itself. Unfortunately, most marketers lack this understanding, not only of the tools themselves, but of the application of Database Marketing in their daily operation.
All it really requires is to forget for a moment about creative direct mail campaigns, fancy brochures and the allegedly smart personalization of the mail piece. Close your eyes and think what else can be done with database information other than sending mail, and what else can be captured on the database other than address and transaction information.
If one did some creative thinking here, one would soon come to realize that there is a lot more to the database than the just mentioned applications. One would also come to realize that the scope of marketing is much wider than traditional thinking and textbooks ‘prescribe’. But it is this outdated and old-fashioned view that still persists in many marketer’s heads, and it comes as no surprise that the subsequent ‘interpretation’ of Database Marketing falls within the limits of the marketer’s thinking.
And so we come back to the limits where there aren’t any, but unless the mindset of the marketing fraternity changes, and they come off the idea that a campaign-like quick-fix will do, the results of ‘their’ Database Marketing will be as limited as their thinking.
Interestingly, it all comes down to good old personal energy and one’s own lifestyle, because what else is an accurate reflection of one’s doings than one’s relationship not with one’s customers or colleagues, but with oneself. Think about it!