Chances are your organization has already made a significant investment in the IT infrastructure needed to support a mar­keting database. To maximize the return on your investment and truly unlock the power of database marketing, the next step is to implement a database analytics program that will return measur­able and actionable results.

The Internet has forever changed the way all companies do business. This has been especially true for small and midsize retailers (SMRs). Internet business can be a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it gives SMRs the same reach as the large chain stores and because of this allows them to compete more successfully. Unfortunately, these smaller companies are often ill-equipped to face all of the challenges that coincide with taking the business beyond bricks-and-mortar.

Author Robert Burns once wrote that "the best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry" — and that can be the case when it comes to analytics. Without proper planning and organizational engagement, it can be difficult to secure funding and resources needed for analytics.

Do you know why customers buy your products and services? Chances are the answer isn't in the tangible descriptions of your products. Those attributes tend to be short lived. They are important only until your competitor matches your product's features.

You can have the best sales pitch in the world, but if you don't know who your audience is, or what they are looking for, your strategy is based on chance. That means the potential impact of your communication is decreased.

In direct-to-consumer marketing, we track consumer behavior with software cookies, CRM databases, data and other whiz-bang tools. Yet few of us realize the small steps that lead individuals to embrace new products or procedures.

Leveraging all available customer touchpoints to drive relevant brand interaction is the future of marketing. But different lay­ers of process — including data capture, analytic scoring, database design and technical infrastructure — create dependencies which can cause even the most seasoned multi-channel marketers to rethink their chosen occupation.

Today's companies have a variety of tools at their fingertips to determine customer leads and qualified prospects, including list buying and building, Web research and old school cold calling.

Here's what you already know: As marketers implement more sophisticated customer relationship management sys­tems, databases gather richer content. Integrate what you have with predictive modeling techniques and you're set to hit the market with wonderfully personalized communications. Custom­ized messages, in turn, open awesome opportunities for jacking up response and improving ROI.

Managing your data has never been more critical. Establishing a concept of data strategy and how it relates to your business can make all the difference in the world. While it can be hard to know where to get started, here are a few steps that can guide you along the way.