Imagine, if you will, a future with no unwanted advertising, where your email inbox is clean and your marketing messages are heard by every recipient because they want to hear what you have to say.

Though it sounds like science fiction, thanks to big data, we are much closer to this scenario becoming reality. Today, organizations collect data in all sorts of ways: from the grocery store discount card that offers coupons based on your purchases, to the credit union that recommends services based on your projected stage within the family lifecycle, to an association that manages "touches" across continuing-education videos and conference participation.

Laura Abraham, director of finance and banking for IXI Services, said in the January 2016 issue of Credit Union Management that implementation of something as straightforward as a customer relationship management (CRM) system has enabled credit union branches to collect data and has helped marketing executives to more precisely identify consumer needs and offer products at the moment customers really need them.

In another example, MGM Entertainment worked with ESS Analysis and marketing professors from Stanford to experiment with data to encourage new and returning visitors to play casino games. The result? An 8 percent increase in sales, which translated into $10 million to $15 million annually.

It's critical that the marketing team have a deep relationship with the organization's data.—Debi Sutton, Entomological Society of America

Both serve as examples that data, once collected, can be filtered and analyzed to reveal surprising correlations. It can be used to predict who will need a particular product in the short term, prompting an organization to send a well-timed offer that a customer can more likely use. Beyond selling, data can also help a nonprofit show appreciation for and commitment to its members and customers by suggesting resources that might solve a problem or advance their careers.

As a result, association marketers can plan robust campaigns that boost sales and increase awareness by leveraging everything from the most relevant member benefits to promote to the best time of day at which to promote them.

Keep Goals in Mind

For associations like the Entomological Society of America, analyzing and incorporating data from multiple databases has increased meeting attendance and membership renewals.

"While promoting two large meetings simultaneously, ESA membership, and a host of other services last year, ESA had the third-largest annual meeting, doubled scientific presentation submissions, and achieved its highest membership in 15 years," says Debi Sutton, ESA's director of membership and marketing. "We couldn't have accomplished these goals without our database manager, good data, and the tools we've recently started using."

Sutton says that an experienced database manager who is passionate about and has a solid understanding of an association's data is key. "In order to effectively market and analyze results for many program areas and an array of audiences, it's critical that the marketing team have a deep relationship with the organization's data," she says.

Also important, Sutton says, is always keeping in mind the expected ROI of any efforts. With new tools and access to big data, it's easy to get lost in how much customization is possible with any effort. So, her team focuses on a balance of personalization, customization, and testing—putting the greatest efforts where they believe they will get the highest ROI and fine tuning as they go forward.

Fill Your Toolbox

Once you have the anticipated ROI in mind, it's essential to have the right tools at hand to tackle new data-guided initiatives. Katherine Matthews, ESA's database manager, is a firm believer that most organizations have more data than they realize. She cautions, however, that "if you don't have easy access to the data, or you don't have the right tools to analyze and prepare it, you'll never be able to cross the starting line."

ESA has invested in an email service provider that supports near-endless personalization and provides detailed tracking data from the recipient level all the way to the campaign level. Additionally, to help reduce the amount of time spent on each effort, ESA relies on the integration between its AMS and email service provider to refresh basic customer data nightly. For more complex efforts, ESA leverages a data preparation tool to create repeatable workflows for everything from list segmentation to incorporating data from other sources.

For example, data on members who submit journal articles can be pulled from one database, members who present at ESA meetings from another database, and this data can be bumped against a full ESA member list from the AMS. Then, if ESA decides to change the focus of the effort to promote only to current student members, this change is made and, in a matter of seconds, the new data is available. The revised list can then be uploaded and the messages scheduled.

"I love this tool, because it means that we can modify or upcycle a message or group without starting from scratch," Matthews says. "We're a small team, so tools like these help us stay very nimble and allow us to move quickly."

The key is to automate what you can by integrating the email platform with the primary database to allow for basic personalization fields, and then incorporate other tools to simplify the process when developing more complex messages.

When selecting new tools or providers, ESA emphasizes the importance of comparing products for their user-friendliness, flexibility, support, and cost. It's extremely helpful if the email service has been integrated with your primary AMS before. With the many great options available today, there's no need to settle for a one-size-fits-all solution.

Thanks to data-collection and personalization tools being more readily available and affordable, as well as associations recognizing the value of hiring a data-savvy marketing staff, organizations of all sizes can take advantage of this bonanza of data and implement more successful marketing campaigns.

The authors are members of the ASAE Marketing Section Council's Content Promotion Subcommittee.