Author: Celene Adams

Client: Confidential

Date: Jan. 15, 2009

How to …… Internet advertising

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Chapter 5

How to select, set up and use a database

OVERVIEW:

A database connects the dots between what you’re advertising and where, what you’re selling, who’s buying your products, and why and when they’re buying. It analyzes the information to help you find new ways to market and to increase customer satisfaction. This attracts repeat business, saving you time and money. Plus, it’s more effective than a spreadsheet, which can only create lists of data.

Setting goals for your database

Before choosing a database, know what you want to do with it.

For instance, you might consider all or some of the following objectives.

Tracking customer data, such as contact information and buying habits Tracking daily sales Tracking sales trends Creating targeted marketing campaigns Tracking ad effectiveness Analyzing information, such as who is buying, when and why

EXAMPLE:

South Sun Products, a San Diego jewelry store, uses its database to create targeted weekly email coupons to customers. When customers use the coded coupons, the point-of-sale database automatically enters their demographic information. Periodically, it also generates a sales report that shows where the coupons are most effective, with whom and why. For instance, it finds the store’s customer base is predominantly female and shows the women’s age, their zip code, the type of jewelry they buy, that they most often buy gift items, and that the store’s appeal for them is largely its selection of beads and other craft items to create handmade jewelry. The owner then tailors advertising to meet these customers’ needs and so attracts their repeat business.

Author: Celene Adams

Client: Confidential

Date: Jan. 15, 2009

EXAMPLE:

Swiss Watch Gallery, also in San Diego, gets a whopping 60% of sales from its database! The store asks each customer to fill out a name slip, so that it can record which products they’re interested in and how they found out about the shop. It follows up with a thank you note and sends emails or calls when an item fitting their needs arrives. Using a database costs the store a fraction of what it would cost to advertise in print or on a website, and the ads it does run have a much wider impact than they otherwise would.

How to select a database

Ease of use is key to setting up a database. PC Mag offers a list of user-friendly databases, along with product and price reviews.

View the demo video after choosing the software. Also check out the templates that come with it. Templates can do everything from organizing your inventory into categories to tracking customer demographics and frequency of repeat business. You can customize templates to do what you want and to store the information you need.

How to use a database

How you use a database will depend on your goals. To track Internet promotions, for instance, you’ll need to know where online your customer heard about your service or product. If you’re seeking to place ads in other Internet venues, you’ll also want to know why the customer visited that site. This will reveal customers’ service and emotional needs and help you to target other similar sites to place ads.

Information you might want to collect:

Name, job function and title, company name, address, and phone number. Personal information (home phone, address, email)

The market the individual is in or their service needs

Whether the customer is a repeat client

What the customer buys and why

Whether the customer uses coupons.

Author: Celene Adams

Client: Confidential

Date: Jan. 15, 2009

If you’ve already collected some of this information and have stored it in spreadsheets or documents, you can drag and drop it into a database template and generate a report. This will help you see what additional information would be useful to add to your database in future.

How to gather information

Gather customer information by:

Asking for it on your landing page Creating a hyperlink on your home page that enables users to email you the

information Inputting the information at point of sale Asking customers to leave a business card with their purchase or to fill out an

entry form for a store drawing, so that you can input their information into the database later.

How to manage a database

Managing a database is crucial to its effectiveness. Update it regularly because it costs time and money to create ads targeting customers who’ve moved or whose needs have changed.

To keep your database current but ensure the information isn’t compromised: Create a policy of when records should be deleted and created. Designate the

task to one person. Train other staff to add new clients and update records on a daily basis.

Backup your database regularly.

WHAT TO DO NOW

Visit filemaker.com or netsuite.com to view online demos of simple-to-use databases.

Author: Celene Adams

Client: Confidential

Date: Jan. 15, 2009