Which TV Show Matches Your Data Utilization Strategy?

One of my most inspiring (and terrifying) advertising professors advised on a daily basis: “NO borrowed interest!” In other words, don’t cram an analogy somewhere it doesn’t fit just to be “creative.”  In this case, I think he would be quite accepting of the TV show = data challenge correlation. (Including what you can do to get it all in Prime Time). 

So, with a respectful nod to Dr. Ruben, here’s a list of some popular TV shows. See if any of these resemble your current data utilization practices.

1. Hoarders- Man, oh man, your company can’t seem to throw anything away. Try these simple, but effective first steps to break down those rooms full of clutter.

• Standardize and Sync Across System Fields. Consider country/region and pick list values for previously identified fields, such as industry, lead source original, lead source most recent, lead status, key demographics, campaign focus, etc.
• Mandate 100% Data Population on Key Fields. This should be expanded to existing web forms, CRM lead page and list uploads templates.
• Junk Contacts. Employ a name analyzer program or database scripts to identify junk content and records in the database.

2. The Walking Dead- You’re not quite sure just how much life your contacts actually have in them.  A solid lead scoring plan is what Rick would use (if he were a marketer). Delivering 1,000 “zombie” leads to a rep where only a fraction convert wastes their time. . When done correctly, Lead Scoring can yield significantly shorter cycle times, higher conversions, and enhanced follow up by sales. You don’t have to eat any brains to do it, but you do need a marketing automation system that allows for activity monitoring and recording.

3. Love It Or List It- Can you improve what you have? Or should you start fresh? You have first party data, third party data, and second party data (info shared with and from partners) plus enterprise data all trapped in sales, CRM, and commerce systems. Growing daily. Stagnating separately. Here’s what you need to do to “love it” all.  

Do the hard homework and normalize your fields across databases. It will take help from multiple stake-holders, but that one exercise will allow you to draw up personas based on key, defendable attributes across the industries and/or verticals you’re targeting. If you still end up with a mess, then “Listing It” may be the better option: consider new contact acquisition and more stringent contact field rules.

4. Modern Marvels- You’ve already built an aggregated database that gets “oohs” and “aahs.” But how can you squeeze even more out of it? By unlocking the hidden value of all those bits and bytes through data activation.  The insights derived can power things like look-alike segment modeling for more precise inbound ad placement and super-targeted outbound.  If this is your primetime show, you could experience 2x sales conversions and up to 50% savings on media and data costs.

And now for a commercial break.

Not really. But if you’d like to explore more what powers are locked in your data and how to free them, I invite your download the new Modern Marketing Essentials Guide to Data Management. 

See, Dr. Ruben, it worked. Thank you to the various TV shows I hijacked to make a point; be sure to visit their sites and catch them on the media device of your choice.