Optimal Database Marketing: Strategy, Development, and Data Mining
Authors: Ronald G. Drozdenko, Perry D. Drake
Venue:  (2002)

:Contemporary direct marketing and e-commerce companies cannot exist in today's competitive environment without the use of marketing databases. Databases allow marketers to reach customers and cultivate relationships more effectively and efficiently. Although databases provide a means to establish and enhance relationships, they can also be used incorrectly, inefficiently, and even unethically. "Optimal Database Marketing" was written to provide the marketing manager or student with a complete and solid understanding of how to properly establish and use databases to help organizations maximize their relationships with customers. The book originally evolved from an outline developed by an advisory board of industry experts that was established by the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation. As such, this book looks beyond the temptation of the quick sale to consider the long-term impact of database marketing techniques on the organization, customers, prospective customers, and society in general. Co-authors Dr. Ron Drozdenko and Perry D. Drake help the marketing manager and student gain a thorough understanding of how to properly establish and use databases in order to build strong relationships with customers. There is not another database marketing applications book available today written specifically for the marketing manager - the how's, why's and when's. In addition, buyers of this book will have access to sample data sets for conducting various types of database analyses. Dave Heneberry, past Chair of the DMA and current Director of Western Connecticut State University's Direct Marketing Certificate programs, was quoted as saying upon reading this book, "The most useful database marketing reference guide published today. The authors do an excellent job of laying out all the steps required to plan and implement an effective database marketing strategy in a clear and concise manner. A must have for academics, marketing managers and business executives." Brian Kurtz, Executive VP, Boardroom Inc., 2000 DMA List Leader of the Year and DMA Circulation Hall of Fame Inductee, said about this book, "Destined to be the definitive guide to database marketing applications, analytical strategies and test design." Kari Regan, Vice President, Marketing Services, The Reader's Digest Association, said "This book should be studied by all who aspire to have a career in direct marketing. It provides a thorough overview of all essential aspects of using customer database to improve direct marketing efforts. The material is presented in a style that renders even the technical subjects understandable to the novice direct marketer." Dante Cirilli, DMEF Board Member and Retired President, Grolier Direct Marketing, was quoted as saying "This book is a must for all marketing managers in understanding databases issues to successfully manage and structure marketing programs and achieve maximum results." What you will Learn in this Book "Optimal Database Marketing" illustrates how organizations can properly create and effectively use marketing databases. It offers in-depth, practical coverage of the strategic and tactical decisions involved in marketing database development, maintenance, and mining, while emphasizing how organizations can establish and maximize their relationships with customers. A partial listing of some of the things you will learn in this book include: Methods to monitor the vitality of your customer base. The steps involved in developing any database strategy to ensure marketing objectives are met. The 6 rules to building robust response models guaranteed to hold-up in roll-out. Why and how we segment the marketing database to increase marketing effectiveness. How global, social and ethical issues impact database marketing today. Options available for determining customer lifetime value. How to monitor promotional intensity. The steps involved in developing an RFP for purposes of outsourcing the database. Outside list test design considerations. The proper steps to analyzing your marketing tests with confidence. How to plan and implement database development and maintenance to increase effectiveness and efficiency. How to establish marketing tests that will yield the most reliable and actionable results. The steps to ensuring a successful database marketing plan. The basics of database technology needed to effectively interact with IT professionals. Chapter Content Summaries Chapters 1 & 2 - These chapters lay the foundation for the book and explore general marketing database concepts and strategic considerations related to marketing database development. Chapter 3 - The process of building a marketing database begins with a definition of what the database is expected to achieve in both the short and long term from a marketing perspective. Among other things, this chapter discusses the determination of the data requirements needed to meet the marketing objective including internal, external, demographic, psychographic and census level data. Chapter 4 - A properly maintained database is key to cost efficient and effective marketing campaigns. In this chapter you will read about the standard database maintenance routines used by major direct marketers for purposes of scrubbing the data. Chapter 5 - In most organizations, marketing is not responsible for establishing the technical specifications of the database. However, marketing personnel should have a basic understanding of database technology. With such knowledge, they will be in a better position to establish marketing specifications for the database that are reasonable and maximize effectiveness. Chapters 6 & 7 - Proper sampling is key to ensuring marketing test results received are reliable and actionable. Once conducted you will want to determine what separates responders from non-responders, attritors and non-attritors, etc. In these chapters you will learn how to become intimate with the customer data for purposes of exploiting the information to its fullest predictive potential. Chapter 8 - Segmentation is an essential component in marketing planning. Segmenting the customer file allows a direct marketer to more effectively and efficiently market products and services to consumers or other businesses. In this chapter you will learn why and how to segment the customer database and the various quantitative techniques employed including RFM analysis, cross-tabulation analysis, factor analysis and cluster analysis. Chapters 9, 10 & 11 - The use of modeling arms a direct marketer with a powerful tool for identifying the customer most likely to order, pay or attrite. In these chapters, you will learn in an easy to follow format geared for the marketing what a regression model is, how to build a regression model, how to validation the model and how to create and use the gains or lift chart for purposes of making a marketing decision. Chapter 12 - Key to the establishment of proper strategy for any database marketer is the tracking of customer counts, activity, demographics and value over time. Without such analyses a database marketer will be unable to make the best long-term decisions regarding names sourcing, offers or treatments. Chapters 13 & 14 - Testing is the foundation upon which a direct marketer builds their business. Unfortunately, many direct marketers lack the necessary skills to properly design and analyze their test plans. In these two chapters you will be taught how to establish marketing tests that will yield reliable and actionable results and how to properly interpret those results. In addition, you will be taught the proper way to design your outside list tests and how to interpret test results with small sample sizes. Chapters 15 & 16 - Many direct marketers are conducting business on-line as well as off-line in today's competitive environment. These chapters focus on basic database concepts, both strategy and analysis, as applied to the Internet. Chapters 17 - Marketers have to consider more than potential profitability when developing, maintaining and utilizing databases. Global, social and legal factors also need to be considered. This chapter examines these issues in addition to future trends in the marketing environment. Who Will Benefit From this Book Marketing managers wishing to gain more understanding of database marketing practices to further their careers. List managers wanting a more thorough understanding of database marketing practices. Direct marketing executives requiring a solid overview of database marketing practices applied today. Academics wishing to provide students with a strong foundation in database marketing applications and strategies. Quantitative analysts desiring more understanding of the analytical process step by step. Consultants wanting to better service their clients. About the Authors: Perry D. Drake has been involved in the direct marketing industry for approximately 15 years. He is currently the Vice President of Drake Direct, a database marketing consulting firm specializing in the strategic use of customer data. Prior to this, Perry worked for approximately eleven years in a variety of quantitative and marketing roles at The Reader's Digest Association, including Associate Director of Magazine Circulation Marketing and Director of Marketing Services. In addition to consulting, Perry has taught at New York University in the Direct Marketing Master's Degree program since Fall, 1998 currently teaching "Statistics for Direct Marketers" and "Database Modeling." Perry was the recipient of the NYU Center for Direct and Interactive Marketing's "1998-1999 Outstanding Master's Faculty Award." Perry also lectures on testing and marketing financials for Western Connecticut State University's Interactive Direct Marketing Certificate Program. Along with Dr. Drozdenko, he is collaborating with the Direct Marketing Education Foundation to develop a model curriculum for universities pursing the area of interactive or direct marketing. Perry earned a Masters of Science in Applied Statistics from the University of Iowa and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Missouri. He is a member of the Direct Marketing Association, the American Statistical Association and the Direct Marketing Club of New York. Ronald G. Drozdenko, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the Marketing Department, Ancell School of Business, Western Connecticut State University. He is also the founding Director of the Center for Business Research at the Ancell School. He has more that 25 years of teaching experience. The courses he teaches include Strategic Marketing Databases, Interactive/Direct Marketing Management, Product Management, Marketing Research and Consumer Behavior. He is collaborating with the Direct Marketing Education Foundation to develop a model curriculum for universities pursing the area of interactive or direct marketing. Working with an advisory board of industry experts, he co-developed the Marketing Database course in the model curriculum. Dr. Drozdenko has co-directed more than 100 proprietary research projects since 1978 for the marketing and research and development departments of several corporations, including major multinationals. These projects were in the areas of strategic planning, marketing research, product development, direct marketing and marketing database analysis. He also has published several articles and book chapters. He holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Missouri and is a member of the American Marketing Association, the Society for Consumer Psychology and the Academy of Marketing Sciences.