Brunch and Learn - Direct Marketing on a Shoestring Budget
Growing Your Database Responsibly With Third Party Data
1. Growing Your Database
Responsibly with Third Party Data
David Fowler: CPO, Act-On Software
Dave Scott: Founder & CEO Marketfish
www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW
2. Today’s Presenters
Dave Scott David Fowler
Founder & CEO, Marketfish CPO, Act-On Software
www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW
3. About Dave Scott
CEO & Founder of Marketfish
• 20 years experience in lead gen marketing
• Head of Marketing at 3 public companies
• MBA in Marketing from Wharton
Author of “The New Rules of Lead
Generation: Proven Strategies to
Improve Marketing ROI”
• Focuses on the 7 best lead gen strategies
• Big focus on buying data
• Out in Q1 2013
www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW
4. About Marketfish
Largest data marketplace in the US
• 300M email records
• 500M postal records
Fully automated
• Self service
• Data in minutes
Servicing over 600 customers
• Ranging from small startups to Fortune 500
www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW
5. Today’s Agenda
• Generations of list fulfillment
• How to grow customers
• Why 3rd party data?
• Pros & Cons
• Questions to ask
• Warning signs
• Best practices
• Case study
• Wrap up – Q&A
www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW
6. Generations of List Fulfillment
1. Broker | Manager | Service Bureau | Database
2. Broker | Manager | Database
3. Broker | Database
4. Broker | Approval
www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW
7. How To Grow Customers
Most companies have a mandate to grow leads
and customers
Only 7 ways to do that
• Display
• SEM
• Social
• Trade Shows
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• Cold Call
• Email – Requires purchasing outside data
• Direct mail
www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW
8. Why Buy 3rd Party Data
Sales team requires a lot of warm leads
• Company growing quickly
• Sales team heavily relies on marketing
But tough to keep up with demand
• Current house lists isn’t large enough (or isn’t growing
fast enough
• Organic acquisition strategies aren’t sufficient to meet
need
Renting lists feels too risky
www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW
9. Should You Buy Lists?
Pros Cons
Buy targets based on You are probably buying
ideal customer non-permissioned data
Market to this list Most data is old and
alongside house list inaccurate
You get a one You don’t know who to
year, unlimited use trust
Pay for what you use
www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW
10. Questions to Ask
How is the data collected?
• Good answer: through a permission based process
• Bad answer: scraped using an internet crawler
How is the accuracy verified?
• Good answer: phone verified quarterly
• Bad answer: It’s not
What data elements do I get?
• Good answer: full record include geography and demographics
• Bad Answer: Just email or postal address
Is there a return policy if the data is bad?
• Good answer: Yes, unconditional
• Bad answer: no or limited to proven bad records
www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW
11. Warning Signs
Not a US-based business
The business is located in Florida
Willing to sell you 1 million names for $1.00
The file is large, blind and compiled
www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW
12. Best Practices
Ask around
• Your friends are also buying names
• Bad news travels quickly
Test before you buy
• Small batches
• Know your success measurements
The more automated the better
• Platforms are more efficient than people
• The more automation, the less errors
www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW
13. Case Study
• Reid Business Supply
• #1 supplier of industrial parts
• Marketing team of 4
• Started with 3 vendors
• Narrowed to one
• Started with test of 10,000 records
• Tested in small batches
• Measured quality and ROI with each test
• Grown to 100,000 records per quarter
www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW
14. Summary
Buying data is an excellent way to grow your
leads or in-house database
Pick a good partner, one that will work with you
and support your goals
Test, test, test
www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW
15. Wrap Up
• Third party data can be a successful strategy in
building your database
• Ensure you use a reputable vendor
• If in doubt shop around
• Look at all the T’s and C’s for your comfort
• Do your due diligence – ask for references
• Enjoy the ROI increase!
www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW
16. Q&A
• David Fowler
• Chief Privacy & Deliverability Officer
• david.fowler@act-on.net
• Dave Scott
• Founder & CEO
• dave@marketfish.com
www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW