DATABASE SCREAMS!
The DMSI e-NEWSLETTER... Rants and raves from the database pros at DMSI.

In This Issue:

Dear Friends,

The enemy is us! If you are struggling with your approach to Integrated Marketing, join the club! A survey from Dimension Data, reprinted below, confirms that failures in corporate culture, not technology, is to blame.

We are happy to pass along a very flattering review of our WiseGuys Target Marketing software, published in the April issue of Catalog Age. The review confirms what our clients have been saying: WiseGuys does Database Marketing!

Finally, if you are in the midst of a career crisis, read about the emergence of the Marketing Power User. It could be your new career path. As always, please let us know how we can fit into your organizations Database Marketing plans!

Bruce Gregoire,
President and founder,
Desktop Marketing Solutions, Inc (DMSI)

Adjunct Professor, Marketing Information Systems
Johns Hopkins University Graduate School

Survey shows CRM Problems Persist - Part 3 in a series on Integrated Marketing Solutions
Companies are still struggling with the basics of CRM (Customer Relationship Management), according to a Dec. 2003 report from Dimension Data, which surveyed over 200 contact centers across the world. Dimension Data's Merchants Global Contact Centre Benchmarking Report found that more than 75 per cent of call centers say they still haven't achieved the holy grail of a single view of their customers across all touch-points. But it is corporate culture rather than failed technology that is undermining the success of CRM roll outs.

In particular, over 70 per cent of call centers cited "coordinating across departments" as a major stumbling block, followed by 37 per cent who were concerned with integrating the technology with legacy systems. Data integration was also mentioned as an outstanding hurdle. Adding to the bad news, less than half of organizations are able to use customer segmentation to tailor their contact strategies, and less than twenty per cent are able to measure the lifetime value of their customers.

Learn More: Read the full text of the article here.
Return to top5

WiseGuys Software Featured in Catalog Age
The April 2004 issue of Catalog Age contains a flattering review of the WiseGuys Target Marketing software, from DMSI. Click here to read the full article. The ability to precisely measure promotional campaign effectiveness - is the single largest unmet need for marketers. WiseGuys software from DMSI tracks the number of outgoing mailings in each campaign, and then does a "matchback" of orders against the mailings to calculate response. In this way, marketers can evaluate the success of each campaign.

The review is written by Ernie Schell, a catalog industry veteran who regularly writes about marketing software for numerous publications. Here is what Ernie had to say about WiseGuys:

When it comes to database marketing, the typical catalog company, regardless of size, talks the talk but fails to walk the walk. Bruce Gregoire of Falls Church, VA-based Desktop Marketing Solutions aims to change that. WiseGuys Marketing Software is built on Microsoft Access (or on MySQL) and performs both RFMP and LTV calculations in a robust and coherent fashion, with a price tag for the "enterprise" version of $2,500 With this kind of bang for the buck, and for so few bucks, at that, WiseGuys is a no-brainer for companies still stuck in "Excel hell."

Learn More: Read the full text of the article here. Better yet, contact DMSI staff at (703) 941-8109 for all the details on how WiseGuys can help your organization with database marketing.
Return to top5

The Emergence of the Marketing Power User
As many of us in the industry know, Direct Marketing (and Database Marketing) are not careers we studied in college (my own background is Engineering). But as I tell my graduate students at Johns Hopkins, a new career option is emerging for talented folks in Direct Marketing: the Marketing Power User. The Power User is not something that fits into a neat job search category: it is simply a blend of savvy technical skills mixed with a fundamental understanding of Direct Marketing. The Power User can perform at least two important functions for your organization:

1. Translator - speaks marketing to the IT department, and speaks technology to the marketing department. (yes, it is true, these groups rarely understand each other).
   
   
2. Perform queries - query your customer database for analytical results (crosstabs is a common example). Also, a Power User can create queries to pull the list themselves, versus forwarding your mail list selection request to the IT department. The user friendliness of modern software applications allow trained users to build these queries using point-and-click. If complex queries are involved, particularly with SQL programming statements, the Power User can then request help from the programmers in IT as needed.

What type of background might a Power User have? Statistics, business administration, marketing, perhaps computer science, and interestingly, languages. I have had two colleagues who majored in Russian!

Learn More: Go to Monster.com and search for "Database Marketing". A recent search displayed 2,500 positions nationwide!
Return to top5

How Desktop Marketing Solutions, Inc. can help you!
DMSI is a full-service resource for database marketing software, programming, installation and applications. Whether you're considering a new software system or just need help assessing your current one, DMSI can help. The staff at DMSI offer the rare combination of database know-how and direct marketing expertise. Our niche is small to mid-size organizations who need the power of advanced database techniques to grow their business. We provide software product installation and customization for "best of breed" marketing database and CRM packages.

And now, pick up the phone! One call gets you 15 minutes of Free Database Advice
Step 1: Call DMSI offices anytime at (703) 941-8109
Step 2: "Ask the Experts" at DMSI - give us your toughest database question.
Step 3: No charge - no obligation. 15 minutes may be all the help you need to start solving your marketing database problem.
Return to top5

Mark your calendars: RFM Boot Camp
Wed, June 16: RFM Boot Camp – facilitated by Bruce Gregoire from DMSI, and sponsored by DMAW (Direct Marketing Assoc. of Washington) Master the basics of RFM (Recency-Frequency-Monetary value) -- and discover new revenue opportunities in YOUR database. Using MS Access software, each attendee, working hands-on with a PC, will do basic RFM calculations to see how this knowledge can be used to increase campaign response. EXTREMELY user-friendly. No MS Access knowledge required -- just a desire to understand RFM better.

Learn More: Register at DMAW
Return to top5

Feedback from our readers:
"Great newsletter: It is one of the few I read top to bottom"
Carlie Adams, President, MAC Direct

"The newsletter is terrific. The content was valuable and interesting. Thanks for sending it, and we are looking forward to the next issue already.
Joanna Napolitano, Natural Wellness

 See Past Newsletter Issues