Turning audience data into revenue: Part II

In Part I of this series, we covered the first phase of turning your data into $.  While this series has focused primarily on the media industry, allowing us to cover the multiple revenue streams unique to that business model, the experience I'm sharing also applies directly to any organization that's building or trying to improve their CRM capabilities. 

Once you've laid the groundwork... (1) development of the data environment (2) completion of a preliminary segmentation, and (3) delivery of a basic roadmap to improve and automate targeting capabilities, you are ready take it to the next level.

While these are not absolutes, the two primary ways to do that are (1) development of current and potential value models that expose the 20% of your audience that really drives 80% of your revenue, and (2) development of a more robust data environment that enables increased data storage and the processing power necessary to handle multiple, simultaneous, complex data queries. These are critical to broaden and expedite the insight you need to inform CRM-driven capabilities like new program design, campaign planning, content and product development, or even basic contact optimization strategies. 

The roadmap is designed to guide you through the tactics required to sustain and advance more accurate and impactful analyses that deliver real, actionable audience insight.  From the data assessment, consolidation, and ongoing collection tactics to cross-platform behavioral analytics. The key is to break down this seemingly monumental task of developing a "CRM platform" into manageable, performance-driven initiatives.  Don't wait until it's perfect.  Just test, learn and build.  Iterate, improve and report. This allows you to demonstrate the results and incremental improvement necessary to justify current and future investment.  Nine months of going off to ‘build a database’ with no business results won’t do that for you. Measurable, incremental improvement will.