Advances in Database Marketing

While the idea of storing customer data in electronic formats to use them for database-marketing purposes has been around for decades, the computer systems available today make it possible to gain a comprehensive history of client behavior on-screen while the business is transacting with each individual, producing thus real-time business intelligence for the company. This ability enables what is called one-to-one marketing or personalization.

Today's Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems use the stored data not only for direct marketing purposes but to manage the complete relationship with individual customer contacts and to develop more customized product and service offerings. However, a combination of CRM, content management and business intelligence tools are making delivery of personalized information a reality.

Marketers trained in the use of these tools are able to carry out customer nurturing, which is a tactic that attempts to communicate with each individual in an organization at the right time, using the right information to meet that client's need to progress through the process of identifying a problem, learning options available to resolve it, selecting the right solution, and making the purchasing decision.