Posts tagged ‘Database Marketing’
How Do You Like to See Your Data? – Parking Lot Chat
Are you a spreadsheeter, mapper, or grapher?
These days it doesn’t really matter, if you know what you are looking for. When data is in a good clean consistent format there are numberous possibilites of what you can learn. I just finished putting together some fairly simple analytics based on basic information that hopefully wows the audience. Unfortunately for the client, they would have to decode the data and possibly misunderstand how the data translates into information because they are not database marketers, they are the client that sells things or provides or services something etc.
I Like Spreadsheets…
And other visual formats but the spreadsheet is my friend. If the data is in Excel or a csv, ansi, or txt format, I can manipulate it while verifying that nothing is out of the quality control world. I have mentioned Pivot Tables and vLookups and other various Excel functions. Even when working with sophisticated programs like Salesforce, Excel is a big part of the reporting and both are useful and perform different tasks. Since Excel is able to read straight data, it is up to the user to make the magic and depending on the user, the magic is very cool.
On the Job
I worked for a database marketing agency for a few years and learned a great deal of valuable tricks, tactics, and shortcuts that create a more efficient use of time. The company has mail processors and they do a great job and it is important to verify, reverify, and confirm, when it comes to data, and even then there are errors that fall within a small margin that just have to be accepted. My point is that the processors never use Excel and don’t care to. I really do not want to process files and the nice thing is I like to audit them and find that issues.
Bringing it Back Home
Whether it is in graph, spreadsheet, map, video, or pictures, you know when something looks incorrect. If you look at data the way you look at or learn something that is more interesting to you it will increase your ability to work more effectively. I took data from a third party vendor and provided it to my contact with straight numbers, spreadsheets, and maps. I will follow up with what they like best.
Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Data – Parking Lot Chat
It is imortant to realize the power of your data. It is not the amount of imformation you collect, it is the quality that makes the difference. Do you want 1,000 leads to cold call or 100 that know your image, brand, and reputation.
Finding the right audience is tougher than defining it and one must come before the other. That whole cart and horse or tail and dog saying you refernce (maybe not you but I am sure you have heard it somewhere) is true.
What is the right order? – my thoughts
- Review you data and clean it for consistency
- Analyze and find trends and nuggets of information with value
- Evaluate the current assumptions about customers and adjust if needed
- Market with multiple vehicles cost effectively
- Test
- Rinse Repeat
How Often?
It is a good idea to keep your data clean for mailing and analysis. If you are planning Direct Mail the USPS require that file must be run through NCOA, presorted and all that jazz in order to qualify for postal discounts. This brings up a good point for cost effectively mailing by taking advantage of solutions and being creative. You can save almost half on postage using discounts offered for consistent and organized data. The answer is quarterly by the way. NCOA is valid for 90 days so if you are mailing the hand is almost forced.
So I Already Did It Right?
Yes and no. If you uploaded the mail file back into your database and track response, maintain a suppression file and use that file for future mailing, you are doing great. The beauty is how many birds the clean consistent data stone can kill; discounts, accurate analysis, transportability, and just a nice fresh feeling.
Challenge
This is not really a challenge it is a review of sorts. Take a piece of paper, even a paperless offices has paper. Have a pen handy and as soon as you get to a point were looking something up goes wrong, write it down. Think about your most important information and think about how easy it is to obtain.
Have fun…
Evidence Based Entrepreneurship, De Constructing Colorado – Golden, The Silver Bullet – Issue 2
First things first, Golden, Colorado is home to an american original that has been and continues to be a favorite of many.
With that being said, lets take a closer look at Golden, Colorado. I have included a few maps that show the boundaries of the city of Golden as well as the zip codes that are associated with Golden. This is important because if you plan to start a business within the boundaries of the city map,you will be dealing with the City of Golden. For the most part areas outside the city, inside Jefferson County and not within another city, you deal with the county. Remember this is Colorado so the landscape is beautiful and confusing. The second and third maps are the zip code boundaries of what the post office refers to as Golden. Everything will make less sense soon so don’t worry.
Golden has a vision and that is great when planning the economic future of a city.
When you hit their website it is not hard to find this:
The fact that they have the program tells you why it is worth looking at as a place to start a business. The odds are in the favor of the savvy business person when you live in a state ranked 4th in starting a new business and 4th in running a business. Sounds like easy into the market and easy when established, with the variable of IF factor, of course. A good business person in a bad area can make it work and the same is true for the flip side of that coin. That is of course IF you try to have a successful business because we all know that sustainability is the key and running a clean, lean, mean, efficient business is often a good way to survive.
The other reason I found important to Golden is their involvement in Economic Gardening. Take a look at my last post for some information about the Economic Gardening Program.
Golden has a 7.5 ratio of Accredited Investors to New Businesses in the past 12 Months
Good ratio when the state is at 2.2. Golden looks good, has a nice economic base with a successful brewery and a nice College with a good reputation. The only thing I found to be a little hard to nail down at first and just like all other areas, the post office is not the best place to rely on exact borders and city designations. The chart and maps below show Golden, what is considered Golden for mailing purposes, populations, and business counts well as the numbers for the zip codes and what they are actually made up of as far as cities.
Clear as mud right? Take a look at the maps below for some clarification. There is a good amount of work involved in actually learning about an area and depending on your business, different areas will yield different experiences. A wise, very tall man once said (or maybe said 1,000 times) “There is no bad place to start a business”. The only time I disagree with that is when it is user error. It is bad to start somewhere without finding out more about the area. Just saying that you want to have a business in Denver doesn’t mean it is the best choice for the type of business, cost of operations, pool of talent and so on.
Enjoy some maps detailing Golden and what is called Golden
- The Black Border Shows the City of Golden City Limits
If you are living here in Colorado, chances are you drive in the mountains and there sure is a lot of space with those big rock formations and trees and woods and so on. Some of the space is federal land and other is state land and other land is owned by cities. Just Northwest of Golden in the mountains is a tiny town named Baltimore. It is a ghost town and in my mind I see a ghost Ray Lewis. Check this out… Baltimore, Colorado
The map below represents zip code 80403, which is considered Golden. Look at how big and far that zip codes goes and compare the numbers on the chart above. There are more people in this zip code than in Golden and this is only one of the zip codes. See the chart below the map for a reality check on the actual cities included in 80403.
Zip Code 80403 - Very Big and 14% is actually the City of Golden
Below is 80401, which is the other zip code associated with Golden. There are actually two others, one dedicated to the government and one that is all P.O. Boxes. Remember that we will want to explore that P.O.Box thing in the future. As you can see below, this zip code is a lot larger than the city limits of Golden.
Zip Code 80401 - Population 38,580
That main road makes a great place for a storefront and a lot of charming businesses inside the city limits of Golden. Those zip codes are big though and obviously everything that the post office states is Golden is not really Golden now is it. Especially just about anything south of I-70. Well there are 4,723 businesses in that zip code according to a reputable data source and that zip code is made up of the following cities:
That is all so far about Golden and I am sure you will see more. The plan is to take away some guess-work, busy work, and come up with ideas that as an entrepreneur, might not be at the top of your mind. It is good to know what to do and just as good to know what not to do. There is a lot of real estate in Colorado and we want to be sure you are happy with where you plan to place your stake in the ground.
Next up, my neighborhood… Englewood, I mean Centennial, well I am not sure… I better pick it apart and then tell you.
Of Course Jon Has Something to Say – Go Ravens, Go Homemade Horn Lady
First off, go Ravens. It is not easy wearing a Ravens hat out of the house the same day they beat the hometown team. I am happy that they are getting it together in a way that allows both running, passing, and defense. They get better every year at including all three so I hope it sticks.
The second item is my Out of Office Notice. I am traveling to Baltimore to speak for a Dealer 20 Group and it gave me another opportunity to make a video. Some will watch and some will pass it over, the bottom line is that video produces better memories for people a lot of time and it also give a reason to laugh if funny, cry if sad, and sleep if boring.
What is More Entertaining?
I will be out of the office from October 18 – October 22. I will be available and working the whole time, so feel free to call me or send an email. My information is on the blah blah blah.
or…
The 53 Second Profile – Me
My 53 Second Profile. I figure if I am making thrse for others I should make on for myself. Take some photos, add some music, and mix in the secret sauce and you have this:
JWconsulting is Producing Videos
Over the past week I have discovered that producing a video is not as hard as I thought. I have a great HTC Droid phone that helps since it has a 5.0 Megapixel video recorder and the ease of use couldn’t be any better.
It all began at the Denver Zoo the other day. I have been going to the Zoo for a long time and recently discovered the Tapir. This is a favorite animal of my son and he wasn’t with me that day. The Tapir is always lying around or walking slowly, but not this day. Mr. Tapir was fired up and running around so I had to take a video to show the rest of my family that wasn’t with me at the Zoo.
I have gotten good response from those that have viewed the Tapir ad since most people have the same idea of the Tapir’s activities, if they even know the Tapir at all. The odd behaviour sparked an idea and I am now constantly on the lookout for out of the ordinary, and always appropriate, sights. If you haven’t seen the Tapir ad yet, here is a link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMQK07Lc2QY
Today another out of the ordinary sight popped up and I had to capture it on video. This is another video my son will enjoy since he is a truck fanatic. I was driving down I25 in Denver and traffic seemed to be getting heavier in the right two lanes. As I got closer this gargantuan truck was taking up both lanes with a huge box on some creatively assembled flat-bed like trailers. This sparked by interest so I did what I had to in order to get far enough ahead and capture the biggest truck I have ever seen on video. Here is ad number two http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY69JwSZ8CU
