The Bigger the Company the Poorer the Marketing Data
Posted Monday, November 10, 2008 by jay buford
It's a fact, smaller companies would be out of business if they utilized data quality management processes like their bigger brothers!  My mailbox is full of Fortune 500 companies' duplicate mailings of irrelevant offers.  Even basic work like Move Update (National Change of Address) do not seem to matter to companies like Allstate Insurance, Ford Motor Company and Countrywide Mortgage (no wonder a bailout was needed).  It is time for all of us to look at our marketing database, asses data quality from even the lowest common denominator; "does that person live at that address (NCOA)?" and "does that address even exist (CASS, DPV, etc)?"  Only after this basic assesment can marketers pretend to have a chance at driving a true marketing ROI. 
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Move Update for Standard Mail
Posted Friday, September 5, 2008 by jay buford
I, for one, am thrilled with the USPS change in regulations on NCOA requirements for Standard Mail and the frequency of Move Update requirements for First Class mail.  In my world of database marketing, I rely on quality data management as the core to delivering marketing ROI to my clients.  Their message sometimes finds itself in the trash beside a piece of true "junk mail" due to other database marketers refusal to adhere to data quality management best practices.  Recently my mail box included mail addressed to a former Tennessee Titan player who built my house 11 years ago and then was traded and moved the next year!  The Doctor who bought the house from the Titan also has mail from his former life, he has been gone for 7 years!  Not only will these new regulations save the USPS untold millions of dollars in UAA mail, the by product should include better results for my client's direct mail marketing programs and less trash in our landfills.  As Sarah Palin would say, that is just a great win for all of us!
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Open Source Brand Strategy
Posted Thursday, August 14, 2008 by Jim Drummond
While it's now clear the earth is flat, data intelligence is key, and integrated marketing is all the rage, too often I find that Brand strategies are still linear and often media focused.  With the media landscape evolving incessantly these days, Brands and Brand strategy need to be agile and all-inclusive.
The concept of open source was initially a software development method that allowed for distributed peer review and transparency of process.  Opensource.org believes the promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility and lower cost and this has generally proven to be true.  But open source has evolved beyond software in my opinion.  Wikipedia explains the open source model as allowing for concurrent input of different agendas, approaches and priorities and made available for public collaboration. Just like web 2.0.
Brands today need to adopt an open source strategy.  Along the marketing continuum, the media and touch point options will continue to segment and proliferate.  A strategic position reliant on only current options is doomed to long term failure in our new environment.  However, a strong strategy that allows for immediate execution in any media stream or any environment and that allows for ongoing customer interaction is one that will survive as well as thrive.
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Preparing Data to Drive Marketing Intelligence
Posted Thursday, June 26, 2008 by Tracy Guilford

With a slowing economy, it is important to use information to drive marketing communications. Data collection and analysis needs to create business intelligence that marketers can use to identify the right opportunity at the right time and guides marketers to deliver the right message.

Data is everywhere. It is with sales reps, in departmental databases, in market research departments, and list processing services to name a few. The first step to turning this data into marketing information is to utilize data management services.   

A key element to data management services is electronic data processing. Automatic data processing is used to consolidate data into a 360 view of the customer. Data quality management uses hygiene procedures to clean and standardize the data. Data consultants can assist in recommending data management solutions to address specific needs and concerns.

Once data is clean and consolidated, the second step is using advanced data processing to continue turning data into information . . .

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