Nuts & Bolts - Database : Perfect Couple—Asset Database & Digital Workflow

One of the challenges marketers face today is providing relevant information and offers in a timely manner. Because consumers can shop online rapidly, leads can grow old in days—and in some instances, even hours. Thus, failure to fulfill marketing leads in real time reduces the opportunity to close. Other challenges include lengthy print and distribution lead times, obsolescence, and regulatory disclosures. Establishing an asset database and digital workflow can work to resolve these problems efficiently, reducing cycle time while increasing response and overall return on investment.

According to a 2009 Vertis Customer Focus consumer survey, the most important factor that drives 67 percent of adult consumers to open their direct mail is the time at which the offer arrives.

An asset database provides faster access to reusable graphic images (product, lifestyle), text (copy, offers) and even government disclosures. Once the database is created, a rules-based approach then sets up a kind of electronic pick-and-pack environment. This allows the marketer to select the appropriate graphics, offers and regulations that pertain to a certain customer's or prospect's demographic profile, while ensuring brand and offer consistency. Such a workflow helps marketers deliver true one-to-one efforts, matching lifestyle graphics and offers associated with individuals within demographic profiles—improving relevance and timeliness as the message is distributed across the multimedia channels of choice (direct mail, text messaging, pURLs, e-mail, etc.).

Tips for targeted marketing success:

• Maintain a history of asset usage along with notations on what is working, where and in what combination.

• Install permission and proofing protocols to track project progression and obstacles.

• Match your assets and offers against your database history of customers' purchasing affinity to cross-sell and/or upsell related, yet relevant, products.

• Already have an asset database? Then investigate enhancing your workflow by adding the business rules and distribution logic for efficient and consistent multichannel output.

• Analyze the data, make your offers relevant and timely, and create value for the consumer.

Tim Hendricks is an adjunct marketing professor at Benedictine University and a senior vice president for Baltimore-based marketing services provider Vertis Communications. He can be reached at thendricks@vertisinc.com.

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