Is data quality essential to your business?

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Ryan

Marketers aren’t shy about their love of data – which makes more than a bit of sense. We all build (or should build) our marketing strategies on insights gleaned from the data we collect. It reveals our successes and failures. It also provides direction for future strategic decisions. Which begs the question, if data quality is so important, why do so many marketers settle for less than excellent data on their current customers and leads?

Rather than spend an inordinate amount of time delving into this conflicted psychology, I’ll let you know why data quality is essential to your business, and cover the objectives that accurate data can help you accomplish.

Personas and Targeting

Personas are essential to modern marketing strategy. This is especially true in content marketing and inbound marketing, but personas also have a place in the world of outbound marketing. Accurate customer data helps you better develop personas – essentially a compound of demographics and behaviors – that you can use to target your content, website, and marketing campaigns.

You can then go out and rent or purchase prospecting data that aligns with these personas to better target your outbound marketing program. Not only will this strategy lead to better budgeting of your marketing spend, but it will also lead to better campaign performance along the way. But you can’t reach this better performance if data quality doesn’t play into your overall strategy. Accurate data is going to help you first develop these personas, and then verify the efficacy of your personas as you begin to work them into your marketing strategy.

Sending Reputation and Deliverability

If you’re reading this post, there’s a good chance that email is a tool you use to contact current customers, prospects, and leads. If you don’t keep accurate records (name, postal address, email address, other demographics, purchase history, etc.) on your leads and customers, you’re going to run into all kinds of issues. You might personalize a message with the wrong first name, or, if the name is ambiguous, you might send men a message that’s targeted towards women. Both of these scenarios are going to limit the success of your marketing.

Worse still, if you aren’t keeping your eye on data quality, and running hygiene and validation programs on your list(s), you’re going to hurt your sending reputation and deliverability. If you’re trying to run a profitable email marketing program, that’s essentially a deathblow. At the very least, you’re going to lose money, and at the worst, if you’ve violated CAN-SPAM (even unintentionally), you could face legal action. So, it’s in your best interest to keep accurate records and continually verify your data quality.

Reengaging, Retargeting, Upselling

Good data is going to make it much easier to do things like reengage old or inactive leads/subscribers, retarget your campaigns to the most engaged audience, and upsell your current customers on new products. These are all very valuable actions that allow you to make the best use of your data, and continually work towards the ROI you want to see from your data and your marketing activities.

For example, if you track engagement with your email newsletter, and you see that a certain group of subscribers hasn’t opened or clicked-through your newsletter in several months, it might be in your best interest to start these subscribers on a reactivation campaign. You can further target these campaigns on attributes like time since last open, last offer acted upon, or some other combination of both demographic and behavioral attributes. By tracking engagement, and using all the data available, you can potentially win back some of these lapsed subscribers and see better ROI from your marketing and your data.

You can use this same approach to spearhead the other activities I mentioned. In its simplest form, the idea is to continually collect the most accurate data possible, determine how you can use that data to accomplish a business objective, and then execute, making sure to track the performance of your activities along the way.

Hopefully this post gave you at least a cursory idea of the importance of data quality. Remain ever vigilant with your data collection, validation, and cleansing programs. Then, develop a strategy that makes the best possible use of your data and watch your hard work pay off.

3 Reasons Why You Might Need A Data Management Platform

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Ryan

Big data. Big data. Big data. If you’re in digital marketing, reading about big data is all but inevitable. There’s a good reason for that. Big data is a catchall for many of the latest innovations happening in marketing right now. Simply put, marketers have a ton of data, they don’t quite know what to do with it, and they don’t have the tools to use it. But, there is a way that you can start curing your data malady, and make better use of your data while you’re at it: a data management platform.

Here are three reasons why you may want to consider implementing a data management platform (DMP).

You Collect Data from Disparate Channels

If you’re like most modern organizations, you’re collecting data from a variety of different sources. You could be collecting data from your website, mobile campaigns, social media channels, landing pages, or from your email campaigns, just to name a few sources. But, when you’re working with data from so many different channels, it’s easy for disorganization to slip into the picture.

You can’t use disorganized data as quickly or as easily as you want. Maybe you also store the data in several different systems, further confounding your ability to use your data as effectively as possible. This is a problem.

A data management platform is going to index all of this data, and spit out a unified view of your customers that lives on one platform, not several. This means that you can use all the data you collect to market to your customers and leads in a more meaningful fashion. You’ll be able to send more targeted offers, build a better customer experience on your website, and make better predictions and judgments about your customers.

You’re Managing Your Data with a Cobbled Together System

The intention isn’t to insult anyone’s engineering talent, but a dedicated data management platform tends to perform better than any homegrown system. They’re built to function without an extensive technical staff, which can save you the time and money that you’d otherwise allocate to staffing and training. You can now dedicate these valuable resources to other areas of your core business.

Beyond the time and money saved by not hiring a huge technical staff, in a general sense, a DMP is going to allow you to perform core functions like segmenting and extracting data, and running profiles of your data in a way that is seamless, fluid, and less headache inducing.

You Want to Move More of Your Infrastructure into the Cloud

Data management platforms truly excel when they live in the cloud. The cloud is, after all, the future of computing. In large part, that future is already here. It allows your staff to access services no matter where they are, as long as they can get an internet connection – a very powerful development that keeps employees productive, even if they’re on the road or working from home.

Beyond the obvious productivity benefits, cloud based services can save your money – always a positive in this economy. In fact, research from the Cloud Disclosure Project found that by investing in cloud-based services, “US businesses with annual revenues of more than $1 billion can achieve economy-wide savings in energy alone of $12.3 billion a year by 2020.” You can also save on hardware and staffing costs. And you won’t have to worry as much about a complete hardware failure wiping out all your data – regardless, I do recommend establishing a backup plan.

When investigating these cloud-based data management platforms, I recommend inquiring about their intrusion security and backup procedures. Your data is one of your most valuable assets, and you don’t want to ensure that your platform protects it appropriately.

If your organization falls into any one of these buckets – or perhaps all three – investigating a data management platform could be worth your while. In today’s data driven economy, it pays dividends to have the right tools for the job at hand.

3 Ways A Data Management Platform Can Help You Do More With Your Contact Database

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Ryan

You’ve probably heard that old affiliate marketing adage: “The money’s in the list.” There’s nothing but truth in that statement. But, the truth doesn’t necessarily lie solely in the names you’ve collected, or in the size of your list – the methodology and tools you use to work with your list are oftentimes just as important as the list itself. That’s why a data management platform (DMP) can be a boon to email marketers everywhere. Here are three ways a data management platform can help you do more with your contact database.

Accurate Data

When working with email lists, clean and accurate data is priority number one. If you don’t have accurate data, you can’t expect your messages to reach your customers’ inboxes. So, not only are you losing money on ineffective campaigns, but you’re also hurting your sender reputation and overall deliverability performance. Not a good thing for email marketers.

A good DMP is going to help you solve this problem. It’ll offer a variety of services aimed at improving the accuracy of the data you’ve already got, and ensure that you’re consistently working with the most accurate data possible.

These services will do things like ensure that ensure that you’re working with accurately formatted email addresses, autocorrect any inaccurate email addresses or other record level information, and check your list for any spam traps or inactive email addresses. Some, data management platforms will even include integration with an appending service, which will add more demographic and behavioral information to your list at the record level. This will help you send more targeted and relevant messages to your customers and leads.

Intuitive UI

At first glance, an intuitive UI might seem entirely cosmetic, and note really an essential component of a good data management platform. That’s a mistake. When you work with a tool that’s easy to use, you and your team become that much more effective.

We live in a society where technology is pervasive. Cobbled together systems with interfaces from the late 90s shouldn’t be the norm. An intuitive UI is going to cut down the learning curve when adopting a new system, save you time overall, and eliminate headaches across the board.

Campaign Management Tools

Not every DMP includes campaign management tools, but I recommend choosing one that does. This is going to help you consolidate the number of systems used by your staff. It’s also going to eliminate overhead like training costs and additional administrative staff.

Ultimately, a DMP is there to simplify your workflow, and make your team more effective. Using a DMP with campaign management capabilities is going to make it that much easier to achieve that goal. Tools you’ll want to look out for include real-time segmentation, creative management functionality, ESP integration, and a sophisticated analytics suite.

I hope that you found these tips helpful. Choosing a data management platform is a big decision, but ultimately, that benefits this type of platform delivers will far outweigh the costs.

What Tools Do You Use for Content Creation?

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Ryan

With 91% of B2B marketers using content marketing, it’s safe to say that if you’re a marketer, you’re producing content. For the most part, marketers use content (whitepapers, blogs, webinars, infographics, videos, etc.) to bolster their inbound marketing programs. But as an outbound marketing service provider, we believe that content marketing also has a home in your outbound marketing strategy.

For example, if you’re working with Marketfish to acquire new customers through permission-based, third-party lists, content can work well as a top-of-funnel offer for potential leads. With content, there’s a lower barrier to entry. Done right, top-of-funnel content delivers information in a compelling package with next to no sales pitch. It’s perfect for getting leads into your funnel where you can nurture them with more content.

But content marketing doesn’t come without its challenges; 64% of companies say that producing enough new content is their top content marketing challenge. And while we can’t turn an untalented writer into the next Steinbeck, or give your designer a direct line into Milton Glaser’s creative process, we can share some of the tools we use to expedite the content creation process.

Research

Research is obviously more of a process than a tool, but it deserves a mention. Research adds to the verity of your content; readers respect and respond to facts. I recommend gathering research from your industry’s leading trade publications, but don’t limit yourself to just those sources. If you’re a large organization, and have the budget, consider conducting your own studies and research – these can work as a great lead generation/content marketing tool as well.

If you’re a smaller organization, consider leveraging the research of a larger organization in your industry. You can also look outside trade publications to traditional news sources like the New York Times, Washington Post, or Wall Street Journal. I recommend making a list of sources, checking them regularly, and saving any pertinent information you find. Last piece of advice, always properly site and link back to any research you leverage for your content.

Evernote

Beyond a word processor and a quick wit, Evernote is my top content creation tool. The service can seem like a dauntingly blank slate at first, because there are so many uses for this software. I mainly use it to organize research, outlines, and photos for whatever piece I am working on in one central location. The Evernote Web Clipper browser extension (available for most major browsers) makes it easy to save URLs, bits and pieces of articles, photos, etc. in Evernote very quickly. Plus, since it is a cloud-based service, you can access your work from anywhere you have an internet connection. I like to think of Evernote as the central hub of all my content marketing activities.

Skitch or GIMP

At Marketfish, we use Photoshop to work with photos, but it’s expensive. If you don’t have the budget, I recommend either Skitch or GIMP. Both of these tools are handy and free photo editors. Skitch is available for OS X and Windows 8. It’s not as feature-rich as other photo editing applications, but it’s easy to use and if you spend most of your time working with stock photos, Skitch is up to the task. GIMP is for Windows and Linux only, but if you need Photoshop-esque functionality, GIMP is your best bet.

Stock Photos

In many cases, stock photos are enough for your content creation efforts. When you’re first starting out, you may want to use Flickr Creative Commons, or www.sxc.hu, as they’re both free. You might also want to go this route if you’re producing a lot of content and don’t want to incur the high cost of hundreds of stock photos. But if you need the highest quality images, I recommend paying for the products at iStockphoto and Getty Images. They are industry leaders for a reason.

Word Processor

I use MS Word, you use MS Word, everybody uses MS Word. In all seriousness, there are a bunch of word processors out there, but MS Word is pretty much industry standard. Google Docs is a viable alternative, especially if you need to collaborate on a document with several of your coworkers.

That’s about it folks. We use a few other tools for content creation, but these are the big ones. Let us know what you think in the comments!

Are you involved in content creation? What tools do you use?

5 Tips for Locating Reputable Mailing Lists

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Ryan

In our last post, we gave you some tips for effectively working with mailing lists. We hope you found that post helpful, and feel comfortable approaching mailing lists with a test and measure mentality. Now, to further your list marketing mojo, we’re going to give you some insight into locating reputable mailing lists. Here are some criteria to consider before making a move towards signing any sort of insertion order or contract:

Ask Your Network – If you’ve been in marketing for any length of time, you probably have some contacts that work with reputable mailing lists. Don’t be shy about asking for recommendations. Or, if you’ve already built a list of potential vendors, vet it against your network. In either case, you should ask questions about price, data quality, make goods, campaign minimums, and targetability.
Data Quality – Accurate data is a key determining factor in locating a reputable mailing list. A few factors that affect data quality include:
1. Freshness – You want to work with a list provider that refreshes their list regularly. That means every 60 days at a minimum, but shoot for 30 days. List providers should also flag and remove opt-outs and hard bounces from their list immediately.
2. Hygiene – Work with list providers that use a hygiene service. This service could be proprietary, or it could be sourced from a third party. Either way, the hygiene process needs to be there in order to ensure that all information is valid, correctly formatted, and that no spam traps are included in the list.
3. Permissioning Process – You want to work with a list provider whose lists are permissioned through an opt-in or double opt-in process. Opt-in means that the members of the list knowingly requested to receive third party offers. Double opt-in means that after members of the list request to receive third party offers, the list owner sends a message confirming this request.
Make Goods – Any reputable mailing list provider is going to include a make good clause in your contract – you just might have to ask for it first. A make good means that a list provider will send a new “refund” campaign on your behalf if the first campaign goes sour. Don’t sign a contract without one.
Targetability and Campaign Minimums – You want to work with a list that’s going to reach your target audience. Otherwise, there’s no point in using the list. A reputable mailing list vendor is not going to mislead you in this regard. Oftentimes, they even take an extra step and provide you with a test sample of the list, so you can check its quality. Many list providers have mandatory minimums for any campaigns sent to their list. If this is the case, make sure the list owner with work with you and your budget.
Work with Industry-Leading Vendors – You can use vendors like NextMark to search for a list provider or target audience and find a reputable mailing list that matches the audience. Alternatively, you can use Marketfish to identify lists and audiences, and then rent or license those lists directly from the platform. We work hard to provide our clients with the best possible mailing lists.

Use these tips to evaluate any potential list partners, and you’ll have a good foundation for identifying reputable mailing lists.

Have you worked with mailing lists in the past? What advice do you have for evaluating list providers?