The most underutilized asset of ANY organization is their database.

Usually when I say this, my audience looks at me like, “I thought your introduction said you were a Madison Avenue advertising guy.” It seems to me they hope I will give them the killer creative idea and the keys to a digital media trick no one has heard about yet. So at first, it’s a big letdown.

In 1984, a man named Bob Lieber taught me that most marketers think creative first, media second. It’s a common error. His theory was to reverse that process. “Your database is your media to the people most important to your growth, Tim, so you must - before spending any other money - make sure you will be talking to the right people.”

Bob went on to teach me what I’ve since titled the “three immutable laws of marketing”:

1. Create a great list 
2. Create an irresistible offer 
3. Then make your creative product clear and attractive to that audience 

When we follow these rules in reverse, which most marketers do, we might send great creative, maybe even with an irresistible offer to a bad list. That means you failed.

What kind of list do you keep? Many CEOs I speak to proudly tell me they have 5,000, some even 40,000 contacts on their database, and they spend a lot of money mailing, emailing and sending flyers to those people. Others admit they don’t really have a formal database protocol; some don’t even have much of a list since they’d rather count on “spray and pray” media for their messages.

Whatever their answers, the moment of truth usually comes when I then ask “how often do you clean your lists?” I watch my audience then and notice most searching for an answer and some just staring at their shoes.

It’s natural for lists to be overlooked since they require constant attention and detail. Creating and maintaining a relevant, updated and efficient list of your current customers, prospects, employees, candidates for employment, associations of like-minded people, vendors and donors is just not how most people want to spend their time.

But unless EVERY DAY, someone at your company is adding people to your lists and just as importantly taking people off each list, you are a. wasting money on every marketing effort you do and b. not maximizing your direct marketing investments.

These rules apply whether you run a non-profit or profit, a large or small venture or are just preparing for your own entrepreneurial venture.

When I began I wrote up a list of 165 people I knew and then looked up each of their addresses (there was no email back then). Then I began to communicate with them in a bi-monthly newsletter which over time built relationships and brought business. Today, the databases I live and breathe on include:

• You and a couple thousand other email friends who climb into and out of The Business of Good’s website/blog database every month 
• 1.3 million employer key contacts that are the foundation for our direct marketing (WorkPlace Media) business. On this one, we make 6,000 calls a week asking our contacts if they still want to receive our client’s stuff and getting updated info if they do. 
• The same business’ client and prospect database which is about 1,500 contacts at about 500 target companies. Here again, we try to get people into and out of this database daily. 
• My immediate family database (104), my high school classmate database (98) and so on and so forth.

Communicators communicate and that helps everyone understand what you’re selling or sharing freely. With that information, they can then choose whether they wish to be a part of your gig or not. To become efficient and effective, I believe the list you work from is the #1 priority of any great marketer.

Next month, I’ll share my learning on the second most overlooked immutable law of marketing – the offer.

Peace,

Tim McCarthy