Keri Lee had mixed emotions when she received the news that her application for a new position at DSI was approved. Although she enjoyed her job selling software to customers in the b-to-b market, she was seeking a change. The constant travel required in the sales position was reducing the time Keri wanted to spend with family and friends. She also wanted to be part of a team that was more directly involved in developing marketing strategies and programs. Her new position, as associate product manager in DSI’s consumer’s division, would present this challenge. The consumer division was new, and they were in the process of developing a database to achieve marketing objectives.
Keri’s new supervisor had extensive experience in database marketing, coming to DSI from a major direct marketer of computer hardware. Keri realized there would be much to learn. However, she was confident that with her academic background—she was a marketing major and an infor- mation systems minor—and previous work experience, she would succeed.
At her first meeting in the consumer division, Keri discovered that database development had only just started. There was some customer information housed in various company files and databases, but this information was incomplete and scattered throughout several departments. DSI had just devel- oped a very basic Web site, and some data were also being collected there.
After DSI analyzed the opportunities and structure of the consumer graph- ics software market, they decided to use direct marketing approaches. The goal was to establish a database of nonbusiness users of graphics software programs so that the company could develop targeted promotions for their product lines. Because the development of graphics software is very dynamic, DSI felt that they could gain a competitive advantage in respond- ing to customers’ needs through a database. One of Keri’s first tasks was to gather all usable internal data and explore external data sources. She would be working with the marketing manager and the information systems manager on this project.
As we discussed in Chapter 2, the process of building a marketing data-base begins with a definition of what the database is expected to achieve in both the short and long term from a marketing perspective. A review of the organizational objectives and marketing plans must first be conducted in order to set the foundation for database development. Once determined, the details of the database can be outlined.
In particular, the following steps must be taken in the development of the database to ensure that marketing objectives will be met:
? Determine the data requirements needed to meet the marketing objective
? Establish guidelines for database maintenance and program coding ? Evaluate the database structure, including hardware/software
requirements ? Determine whether the database will be built and maintained inside
the organization or outsourced
This chapter discusses the first step—determining the data requirements. Subsequent steps are discussed in Chapters 4 and 5.
Data Needs Determination _______________________________ Database development begins by determining the types of data attributes (fields) required to support the marketing objectives. The amount of data residing on a database can vary greatly from company to company depend- ing on needs and how the database will be used to meet the marketing objectives. For instance, a food company might wish to use a database only to introduce a new line of organic breakfast cereals. To promote the cereal to a group of health enthusiasts, the company might use a mail-in response card in a diet and nutrition magazine. Responders will get a free sample of the new cereal. Because the product will be sold only in supermarkets, the company will not be able to establish a database that includes historical sales data. After the product is introduced, the database’s utility will be limited to a consumer loyalty program (e.g., coupons).
On the other hand, the direct marketer of a series of home improvement books might be striving to establish long-term relationships with cus- tomers. Customer retention and product development are important goals for the database. Therefore, an extensive database is needed to record and analyze the ongoing transactions of customers.

chapter4 # 3,4,5
chapter5 # 1,3,6