Marketing Database Toolkit Everything You Need to Build and Manage a High-Quality Marketing Database
Table of Contents Marketing Database Fundamentals... 3 Three Things You Need to Know... 3 What s Inside... 3 Building and Managing Your Marketing Database... 4 The Marketing Database Process... 4 Marketing Database Best Practices... 5 VMware Marketing Database Tools... 6 What s Inside... 6 Locating and Exporting Marketing Data... 7 Marketing Database Template... 8 Merging Marketing Data... 9 Cleaning Your Data... 10 Marketing Data Audit... 11 Enhancing Your Marketing Database... 12 Using Your Marketing Database... 12 Marketing Database Toolkit / 2
Marketing Database Fundamentals Building and managing a high-quality marketing database The database containing your customer and lead data is one of your most important sales and marketing assets. A high-quality database is the foundation of various programs from email marketing to outbound prospecting. The Marketing Database Toolkit will help you understand the basic concepts and best practices required to build and manage your marketing database. Using this Toolkit, you should be able to create a world-class marketing database that can then be used for a variety of marketing programs. Three Things You Need to Know 1. What it is A marketing database is a list of prospects and customers that you can market and sell to. You need a sufficient number of records and high-quality data in your database. 2. Why it s important Companies that have high-quality marketing databases generate 70% more revenue than those that don t (Sirius Decisions). 3. How to do it There are a handful of tools and best practices included in this toolkit that will help you build and manage your marketing database. What s Inside The Marketing Database Process Six simple steps to build and manage your marketing database. Marketing Database Best Practices Seven best practices designed to help with your marketing database. VMware Marketing Database Tools The tools you need for a high-quality marketing database. Marketing Database Toolkit / 3
Building and Managing Your Marketing Database Six simple steps to build and manage your marketing database Your marketing database contains the data you ve collected from leads and existing customers. In order to leverage this data to sell to them in the future, your goal is to have a database with a sufficient number of high-quality records that will enable you to generate pipeline and convert to sales. The Marketing Database Process 1 Locate your data Identify the systems where your data is located, such as your CRM system and finance applications, email marketing systems, excel spreadsheets, and salespeople s contact databases. 2 Merge the data Export data from these sources in the form of CSV files. Once you have collected all your data, merge the data into one CSV file or Excel spreadsheet. 3 Clean your data 4 Assess the data 5 Enhance and add data Once your data is in a single file, scrub your list of unwanted records, eliminate duplicates, and purge old records. Now check your database for things like the number of records, the data you have for each record, and how old the records are. Append data such as email addresses and phone numbers to existing records where needed. You can also add new prospects to your database if you want. 6 Use your data Now that your marketing database is up to date, you can use it for various efforts, such as multi-touch campaigns and outbound prospecting. Marketing Database Toolkit / 4
Marketing Database Best Practices Seven best practices proven to make your marketing database more effective 1. Treat your database as your core marketing asset Your database is your core asset and can be used to power a variety of programs from email marketing to outbound prospecting. 2. Identify the data you absolutely need for marketing Many marketers make the mistake of trying to collect too much data. Focus on high-value essentials like direct phone numbers and business email addresses. 3. Use a spreadsheet to manage your data The vast majority of marketing databases can be stored in a simple spreadsheet. It s a cost-effective option and most marketers have a good understanding of how to use a spreadsheet to store and manage data. 5. Standardize how you collect and store data Make sure new records and data collected by the company are stored in your database of record. Second, enforce data formats across the various systems that collect data, such as CRM system and landing pages. 6. Keep your database clean Delete duplicates and unwanted contacts, such as students, competitors, and old records. You should also give sales a chance to remove key accounts from the list. 7. Enhance your existing data according to business priorities You can add new records to your database or append data to existing records using third-party data services. If you do this, do it in a targeted manner. For example, focus on a handful of target companies or vertical industries. 4. Set a monthly objective for adding records Once you have a master marketing database, you should add a certain number of records to it each month. You can use simple offers like a newsletter signup to do this. Marketing Database Toolkit / 5
VMware Marketing Database Tools All the tools you need to follow up with leads This toolkit contains a number of tools designed to improve your marketing database. Each tool incorporates proven best practices to make your database a valuable sales-andmarketing asset. What s Inside Marketing Data Locator Use this table to locate all of your customer-and-lead data, and export it to a format that you can use. Marketing Database Template Use this template to identify the data fields and the standards you will use for each field. Merging Marketing Data Merging data from numerous sources into a single, master database is easy with this four-step process. Cleaning Your Data This tool makes it easy to clean your database of unwanted records and data. Marketing Data Audit Our data assessment tool allows you to quickly assess the quality of your database via key metrics, such as number of records and data-fill rates. Enhancing Your Marketing Database It s easy to improve your marketing database by either appending data to existing records or adding new records. Using Your Marketing Database Once you have a high-quality database, there are a number of sales and marketing programs it can support, such as email marketing and outbound prospecting. Marketing Database Toolkit / 6
Locating and Exporting Marketing Data At most companies, marketing data and lists reside in multiple systems and files. In order to leverage your data, you need to identify and understand your data. To identify all of your data: 1. Check all potential systems that may have relevant data in them. 2. Contact people in sales, marketing, support, and finance. 3. Export all lists to CSV files. Use the following table to help you locate your data, perform a quick audit of each source, and track whether you have a CSV export of the data. Marketing Data Locator Source name Location of source Notes CSV export System or file location The specific location of system or file Qualitative notes about data Have you exported the data to a CSV file CRM system Example: https://www.crm.com Estimated number of records Supported fields Source of data Yes/No Marketing database Marketing spreadsheets Sales-contact databases Shared drives Finance app Offline (i.e. business cards) Marketing Database Toolkit / 7
Marketing Database Template Collecting and storing the marketing data you need Once you ve identified where all of your data resides, you will need to export it and store it in your database of record using something as simple as a spreadsheet. It s critical that you design your database in such a way that it supports your marketing and sales programs. Most importantly, start with data that is essential to your efforts: 1. Don t try to collect all the data you can stick to the essentials. 2. Start with name, company name, email, and phone number. 3. Add data like company size and industry. 4. For current customers, include information on products and services purchased, including dates of purchase, if available. Use the following template to identify and standardize the data you want. Field Standard Example Req d First name First name of prospect John Yes Last name Last name of prospect Doe Yes Company name Name of company VMware Yes Title VP, Director, Manager, Admin, etc. Director Role Department prospect works in IT Yes Email address Business email address john@vmware.com Yes Phone number Complete number with country code 1-650-555-1212 Yes Street address Full street address One Hacker Way City Full city name Palo Alto State Two character abbreviations CA Postal code Universal Postal Union codes 94123 Country ISO 3166 2-character country codes US Employees Number of employees at company 100 Industry SIC industry codes Manufacturing Lead source Source that generated lead VMware Event Source date Date lead was sourced: mm/dd/yyyy 01/01/2014 Marketing Database Toolkit / 8
Customer Yes/no No Yes Customer ID DUNS number 150483782 Opt-in Yes/no Yes Yes IT environment Number of virtual machines 50 Budget Identified budget or ability to obtain $10,000 Authority Authority to make decision Yes Need Articulated need Yes Timeframe Timeframe that is six months or less 6 months Merging Marketing Data When you have multiple lists and datasets, merge them into one list that will act as your marketing database of record. Use the following best practices when doing this: 1. Only merge essential data. For sales and marketing, this is typically name, company, title, phone, email, and critical qualification data you may have collected like the number of virtual machines. 2. Start with one master spreadsheet and format the columns of all the other spreadsheets to match the master spreadsheet. 3. Keep track of the spreadsheets you have already merged so you can avoid duplicating data. A Step-By-Step Guide to Merging Your Data Step Instruction Example 1 Design your master database in Excel 2 Apply master design to exported data in CSV files 3 Copy and paste data from exported files to master database Specify column headers and data formats in the masterdatabase spreadsheet Columns and column headers in original, exported CSV files need to match master database With the columns lined up, copy and paste the data from the various files into the master spreadsheet, one by one See master-database template tool In all files, column 3 contains company names and column header is Company Name Copy the data contained in the CRM-Exported-List CSV file and paste it into the Master Database Excel file 4 Check quality of merged data in Check master-database file for Company names are data and formatting contained in two different Marketing Database Toolkit / 9
master database inconsistencies, then correct as necessary columns in masterdatabase file Note: If you have more than 65,000 records, you will likely need to use a different tool for your database (i.e. Microsoft Access). Cleaning Your Data Once you have all data in your master database, you need to ensure the data is clean. Your ultimate goal is to have a clean, valid, de-duplicated list. Don t underestimate the importance of quality data companies average a 4% increase in sales for every 1% improvement in data quality. Step-by-Step Guide to Cleaning Your Data Step Description How To 1 Eliminate duplicate data 2 Scrub the list for unwanted prospects 3 Purge old records and data Make sure you delete duplicate email addresses as recipients that receive duplicate emails from the same campaign tend to respond at a much lower rate Scrub your database of any records that you do not want to target via email, phone, and direct mail Use a third-party data provider to update records greater than 12 months old, or delete them outright Use Excel s filter feature to delete duplicate email addresses. See instructions here. Ask sales for a list of prospects that should not receive campaigns. Then eliminate competitors, students, interns, etc. If you have stored a source date in your database, use Excel s sort feature to identify and delete records that are greater than 12 months old, or export them to an archive CSV file to be updated, if needed. Marketing Database Toolkit / 10
Marketing Data Audit Assessing the quality of your marketing data With a master marketing database, you can now assess the quality of your data. Keep a few things in mind when assessing database quality: 1. Make sure you have a sufficient number of records to market to. 2. Track the data you ve collected for each record. 3. Assess the age of your data the fresher, the better. Use the following tool to help you perform a quick audit of your new, master marketing database. Marketing Data Audit Tool Variable Description Example Number of records Count the number of records contained in your master database 1,500 Data fields Identify the data fields that are supported/required in your master database - Name - Company name - Email address - Phone number - Company size - Industry - Etc. Quality Age of data Calculate the percentage of records that have data for each field Calculate the percentage of records generated in last 12 months (note: to calculate the age of a record, you will need to support the source date field in your database) 87% of records include phone number 51% of leads generated in last 12 months Marketing Database Toolkit / 11
Enhancing Your Marketing Database Once you ve assessed the quality of your database, identify what improvements are needed. There are usually two issues with marketing databases: First, existing records are incomplete and/or out-of-date. Second, there aren t enough records in the database. Here are some simple best practices you can use to overcome these issues: 1. Make sure you have an email AND phone number for all records so that marketing and sales can leverage the database. 2. Ensure that you have valid data for records that are 12 months or older. 3. Add new records that fit your target-buyer profile to increase the size of your database. Your VMware concierge or Partner Business Manager can identify third-party data providers to help you enhance your marketing database. These sources are also listed in the VMware Demand Center. Using Your Marketing Database Improving your database by adding data By using the VMware Database Tools, you now have a clean, targeted, ready-to-use marketing database that can support various marketing and sales programs. VMware provides select partners with access to a number of campaigns to generate more qualified leads. You simply need to identify the campaigns you re interested in and have your data available in a CSV or Excel file. Before you explore these different campaigns, make sure that you are able to follow up with leads in a high-quality manner. Visit the VMware Demand Center in Partner Central to learn more about the programs and campaigns you can use to successfully sell VMware solutions. Marketing Database Toolkit / 12