Marketing campaigns can cover a broad spectrum of initiatives ranging from the launch of new products and services, re-introduction of an old one to the market, improving relationships with sales channels, forging strategic partnerships, corporate re-branding/re-positioning, enhancing corporate image, product/service brand awareness, international expansions, or just maintaining sales momentum gained over the past 12 months.

While you may spend all your time and energy preparing for each campaign, you may spend little or no time at all on your list. Yes, the list, your database—that very important file containing your 'potential' customers and current clients. You may have one database that has names of prospects and customers or you may be maintaining two files, segregating the prospects from customers. It doesn't matter. It also doesn't matter what contact management software you use as long as you can pull the needed information out of it and that it is suited to your organization!

Two important ingredients
Your database should be (1) current and must (2) contain the information you need to create a profile of your prospects and customers. If these ingredients are missing in your database, there may be no point in keeping one.

Keeping it current
By current, we mean a database that is updated periodically, at least on a quarterly basis. Keep in mind that contact lists degrade several percentage points per month. Database cleansing should not happen after your marketing campaign has been created and you're ready to launch it.

It is possible that your database is updated regularly, but when you are launching a new product/service, assessment has to be made if your list meets the criteria of the market you want to reach. Database review can start as soon as you know who your target audience is. If you have not yet developed a database, sales and marketing must first agree on the definition of a lead. Business-to-business prospecting is a lengthy process that requires nurturing at multiple touch points.

Know thy customer/prospect
An accurate and complete customer/prospect profile will provide your salespeople intimate knowledge of your market, insights to their needs, wants, and unmet demands. This is imperative in business-to-business marketing.

Every organization needs a clean and enhanced customer data and depending on the industry you are in, here is a list of basic information you need on file to develop a good customer profile:

Company name
City
State
Zip
Country
Industry
SIC code
Contact name
Decision maker (yes/no)
Title
Telephone number
Email
Product/service purchased
Gross sales
Profit
Sales channel (in-house, rep, distributor)
Date of first contact
Date when product/service was purchased
Other relevant information

You can customize your data entries to capture the information you need and while your options are limitless, you need to focus on the ones that can help move the sales cycle forward.

Missing information or incorrect entries may result in slow sales cycles or even worse, lost sales! For each marketing initiative you implement, one of your goals should be to talk to the right person in the right company at the right time. Attention to detail is a critical component of database marketing. When marketing and sales have clearly defined what constitutes a quality lead (budget, authority, need, timing, etc.), marketing needs to create a plan to constantly put the brand in front of the target market while it is sales' responsibility to engage leads.

Developing and maintaining a database is far from easy task that's why Borns developed a smart database marketing process that can easily be implemented. Call Luchi Nelson at 616.842.1666 extension 23 or email luchi@borns.com so we can evaluate your marketing objectives.