Database marketing: a quick overview
Database marketing is the gathering of specific information  about your prospects or customers. The information stored in such system can then be used to market and advertise as well as to increase awareness about your products or services. The specific information you collect will depend upon the product or service you are selling. Basic information needs to contain contact details and purchase history.

Information is easily collected online but people are usually reticent about giving it to you. So to increase the number of opt-in’s you can add an incentive to your request in the form of a free e-zine, free e-book, or free contest when they visit your website.

• Team up with 4-10 similar e-newsletters, all listing each others’ name and subscription information on each issue.
• Allow archiving of back issues of your e-newsletter on their websites as well as your website.
• Ask subscribers to forward to friends, family and associates thus endorsing your e-newsletter. If they enjoy – they will subscribe.
• Consider publishing your e-newsletter on other websites like e-zine articles or e-zine directories. From time to time there are specific e-zine competitions like Next Top Newsletter which can give your e-newsletter the publicity you need.

A database helps you understand customers’ purchasing habits, which can in turn help you improve your website and write persuasive advertising material. Using database marketing you can:

• Find out the things they like and dislike about your business and use this to target your best prospects.
• Find out what new products or services they need or want and use this to test ideas before launching a full sales campaign.
• Find out how to improve your existing products and services to build customer loyalty.
• Find out which benefits or features they like most.

The list of beneficial uses is endless!

Here are the necessary components you need to put in place to get your database marketing right:

• A list of your contacts, if any to start marketing to.
• A good database system that you can use to collect and manage the data (we recommend using Capsule CRM).
• A data collection form on your website with a strong compelling offer.
• A system to follow-up with those who filled in the form – auto-responders and e-newsletters (we recommend using Aweber or MailChimp depending on your specific marketing model).
• A business process to add new contacts to the database, to regularly review the data and deal with errors, to create and send new marketing material in the form of e-newsletters.

The business process is the key element to it: there is no point investing time and money into setting up of such system and then never actually use. Same as with any marketing, it will take you some time to get it right, tune in your marketing message and tone, grow the list, build the trust with your subscribers.

What are your top database marketing tips? Please share it with us and other readers!