How to Use Data-as-a-Service to Inject New Life into Your Marketing Database
The days of the traditional marketing database are gone. Today’s marketers need more robust databases that support not only traditional data, but a wide range of new sources of data - digital, social and big data.
Successful marketing begins with data - knowing as much about your customers and prospects as possible. This is nothing new. Marketers understand the necessity of integrating their internal data sources to establish that ever-elusive 360-degree customer view. And when additional demographic and firmographic data is added to the mix, the view gets even more robust.
Now Enter Data-as-a-Service
Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) has arrived in the world of marketing, which means new life and unique data sources for your marketing database. In addition to the traditional data sources you may be using, DaaS adds unique and hard-to-find data that has been aggregated from hundreds of Big Data sources.
Three Types of Data = Foundational Data
Foundational data comprises three types of data:
- Internal data
- External data, such as demographics or firmographics
- Specialty data sourced through DaaS
Internal Data
Internal data includes any type of information created by the operation of your organization. This may be anything sitting in a data warehouse, CRM system, or any other sources of information. Examples of internal data include customer service records, purchase orders, transactional data, or email.
Consumer and Business Data
Adding additional demographic and firmographic data establishes a more comprehensive customer and prospect profile. This includes demographic data, such as age, health interests, marital status, net worth, occupation, religious affiliation, and more. Firmographic data may include annual revenue, D&B credit rating, legal code, number of employees, primary business address, SIC, and years in business.
Unique Data
As data continues to grow, marketers are continually told that they must get in the Big Data Game or be left behind. However, getting in the game requires having the resources and the infrastructure to mine the data for useful insights.
DaaS provides data assets that have already been mined– valuable information that has been sourced and structured based on a company’s unique objectives. These data sets are highly targeted and go well beyond third party lists.
For example, if you work in the travel industry, imagine getting information about every consumer who just booked flights to your company’s geographical locations. And better yet, these travel reservations include information about length of the trip. Or perhaps you are in the financial services industry and are looking for people who are in the market for home loans. These may be consumers who just sold a house or who are currently searching for a lender.
This data is out there. Companies are producing mass volumes of unique data by the moment and DaaS can be used to source this Big Data ecosystem. It’s the difference between modeling who MAY be interested in a family vacation and who is actually making purchases at the moment.
Examples of DaaS
While the possibilities are endless, some examples of unique data sources include:
- Niche company lists, beyond high level SIC and NAIC code descriptions
- Information (contacts, top customers, products, shipments) on 1.5 million buyers and suppliers in 90 countries. Helps sellers identify/evaluate buyers, helps buyers identify/evaluate suppliers.
- Data collected on residential and commercial building permits 88 million residential and commercial building permits, 155 million inspection records, and 7 million contractors in the U.S.
- Spend data on specific businesses by categories.
- Specialized lists in the outdoor and recreational segments (boating, waterfront property owners, snowmobilers, fishermen, hunters).
- U.S. manufacturing industry data with unique attributes such as certifications (ANSI, ISO), business type (exporter, distributor) and products & services (adhesive technologies, compounds).
- Comprehensive healthcare data (doctors, dentists, other prescribers, their practices, clinics, hospitals, etc.)
So when thinking about your marketing database strategies, it may be time to start thinking about venturing into the world of DaaS and infuse new life into your marketing database with any number of unique data sets.
