Whilst data itself isn’t an activity, the collection of it is. Your Data is sacred and should be treated in this way. How you source and store your data is paramount to creating the base for your marketing activities and overall communication strategy.

There are many data companies/brokers within the market place offering clean data at exceptionally low prices. Having bought thousands upon thousands of data records from these companies, I would recommend that you: firstly know exactly where the list is sourced from; understand exactly what you are purchasing i.e. single use/multi use; what is the percentage bounce rate that they are offering, i.e. how clean are they stating the data is? And make sure you haggle over the price!

Other than buying data directly, we speak to many businesses who struggle to continually acquire new data; however there are many ways to address this.  Make sure your website is capturing data through downloads, newsfeeds, promotions and online forms. Incentivise your staff to find new data by making them aware of its importance.  Ensure that all of your marketing collateral gives the recipient the opportunity to respond with their details. The best form of data is the data you have collected yourself.

What do you think of our Digital Marketing Idea Top Tip number 20? Do you agree or disagree? Submit your comments below. What’s the worst that can happen?