Database Marketing

Database marketing is a branch of online marketing whereby the database of potential customers is either downloaded from the sites of service providers or bought from various dealers who sell such data to companies who intend to promote their sales by contacting their customers personally.

Database is maintained by companies such as telecom companies which usually maintain them in order to improve the services they provide to their customers. Many BPO(s) take these records from these companies and try to persuade them to take them into confidence to take their products. Local BPO(s) take these records from their main offices and other offices buy them from the main offices.

Databases maintained by offices usually consist of the name, address, contact details and office addresses of their customers. In case of telecom industries the call details and history is also maintained. The companies often sell these records for money.

Ever imagined how you get a call from an unknown number? The caller tells you your name, your number and your exact monthly expenditure. Do you ever wonder how they get all the information? Well this is done through database marketing, which is a branch of online marketing. The BPO(s) shell out lots of money to get these details.

The data maintained by companies is divided into two categories namely the consumer data and the other business data. In consumer data the telephone numbers, addresses and demographics of the customers are maintained. This data can be easily taken from the company easily without having to shell out much money or paper formalities.

The business data consists of the contact details and account details of the customers. This data in database marketing is out of reach of normal buyers. People have to shell out large amount of money to get these details. Business details in case of this marketing are obtained online through on-line surveys, direct sales efforts and some special publications.

Database obtained is often secure. Therefore this type of marketing has to be carried out with tact. The data has to be analyzed and distinctly arranged so that information of special clients is not disclosed to other buyers. This data is often controlled and arranged using techniques such as neural networks and logical regression.

Database marketing should be secure. The real time business intelligence determines the extent of database marketing and often depends upon the parameters such as the amount of business online and the degree of sophistication of the software being used for online marketing via database marketing.

Companies like Dell, Apple and Google apart from other telecom companies are the major users of database marketing. Although the efficiency of database marketing depends on the time lagged between the time of acquiring the data and the time usage of the data.

Hence for effective promotion of one's business online or for online marketing, database marketing is a good method of acquiring data of potential customers.

By Tony Stark