Internal Databases for Marketing Research

Direct marketing and database marketing involve the use of customer-level data on buying behavior to target and communicate to individual consumers. Database analysis provides specific measurement of the financial value of customers to a firm and the responsiveness of individual consumers to direct communications. A major advantage of customer databases is they allow for precise specification of market segments compared to the more limited information used in segmentation with demographic or survey data. Direct marketing features an array of direct media technologies that allow for one-to-one communications. With the ongoing digitization of media, the direct approach and database marketing approach are becoming more central to the practice of marketing. Digital, interactive media facilitate addressable marketing communications that are precise and measurable. The ability to communicate with individual consumers through direct media will revolutionize the way marketing is practiced and advance the field to a more rigorous level.