Yes, We DO Teach Database Marketing at the Undergraduate Level

If you have heard of "Big Data" you may be interested in taking Database Marketing or hiring some of our grads for your company. "Big Data" technically refers to databases that are so large they can't be analyzed using standard statistical techniques.  However, all companies today are benefiting from data analysis and Database Marketing can help you understand how this is done and build the foundation for an entry-level job in the industry.  Together with Google Analytics from Marketing 470, students graduation from the IM program have a sound foundation in data analytics.

This video describes what we do in Database Marketing 455 at Northern Illinois University.  Students work with real-life company data that has been cleansed for teaching purposes.  They use basic statistical techniques in IBM SPSS such as t-tests, cross-tabs and regression to analyze a company's internal customer information, augmented with outside data and predict who the best customers will be and what will most likely make them profitable.  We them move on to segmentation techniques and  logistics regression to predict response.  Finally we look at some non-statistical data mining techniques such as CHAID and Neural Networking using IBM SPSS Modeler.  We compare three different predictive response models and analyze lifts, gains, and profitability.

Thanks to +Nicole Gault and +Mike Glassberg for putting this information together.

Congratulations to them both and to all our Spring 2013 Interactive Marketing graduates!

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on Google+ and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Five questions (and answers) about Data Analytics

Last December I heard +Jim Sterne speak at the Chicago DAA (Digital  Analytics Association) Symposium.  Jim is the founder of DAA and shared some key points that I thought might be helpful to my students as well as others interested in this field.

1.  What is Digital Analytics?  Jim says Analytics is more than data.  It means being able to look at customer data intelligently.The job is not just to  to make the data look nice but to make money, provide insights.

2.  What is going to be the 'sexiest' job of the 21st century?  According to Harvard Business Review, the data scientist!  This recent HBR article  talks about how LinkedIn use data science to improve how people interact with the site by suggesting people that they should know and asking them to connect.  The click-through rates on these suggestions of "People You May Know" were phenomenally high and contributed to LinkedIn's exponential growth.

3.  What do Employers need?  Companies need analyst skills like the mechanics and technology of data analysis, such as, the ability to collect, clean,  transform integrate data, store and report on it. Equally or even more important are  human-centric skills, which are explore,  analyze,  communicate,  monitor and predict.  I think this is what we call a 'whole brain thinker,' both right and left brain skills.

4.  What about this process cannot be automated?  Monitor and predict can be automated but explore, analyze and communicate, critical thinking and creativity, really are things that only human beings can do.  This is where we as data 'scientists' can add value to the organization.

5.  What further skills will the Data Scientist require?

KNOWLEDGE:  The ability to understand concepts from technology, math/statistics,  business
INTELLIGENCE:  The ability to multitask, be multilingual, a problem-solver  
CREATIVITY: The ability to drive insight from data.

Jim said to think about the Hierarchy of Data to Wisdom in this way:

Data:  This is a tomato

Information: A tomato is a fruit

Knowledge:  Fruit salad is good for you

Wisdom:  Don't put tomatoes in fruit salad

Insight:  Treat tomatoes like vegetables.

(Although I would put Wisdom as the highest form of knowledge as is traditional; Wisdom is an eternal principle  so I would say that an insight is that fruit salad does not taste good with tomatoes from which comes the Wisdom to treat tomatoes like vegetables).

Jim says Data Scientists, people who are good in Data Analytics,  make discoveries while swimming in data, their dominant trait is intense curiosity.  Right now in our Marketing 470 Marketing Technology Class we are using Google AdWords and Analytics in our AdWords projects for our corporate clients. Students seem to really enjoy looking at data and providing insights for their campaigns.  It looks like a data scientist is a rare breed and will be much in demand.  We are doing what we can in our undergraduate courses to expose the students to these concepts so they can have a chance to showcase these skills in a professional setting.  After all, Wisdom is what we seek in the educational setting, so we academics should be well-suited to helping our students along this path.  What do you think is the best way to produce "Data Scientists?"

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on Google+ and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

CAC Group presents "Segmentology" in Database Class

Brad Rukstales, the CEO and President of CAC Group, spoke about his success in building databases and creating effective segmentation schemes for Morton's steakhouse. He gave valuable insight into how companies are using databases to engage their customers across channels to create meaningful customer experiences. He emphasized the importance of data analytics in marketing and the number of jobs there will be in the area. Conincidentally we are working on developing a data analytics track for the interactive marketing program.

I found the segmentology overview on the CAC web site a useful way to discuss marketing segmentation and show its value. The company takes lifestage, demographics and other information and compiles it in a proprietary database. Coupling that information with proprietary in-house data allowed Morton's steakhouse to identify its best customers and market to them accordingly. The group helps other customers in the same way.

Thanks, Brad for taking the time to visit us.

Direct marketing for database marketers

Database Marketing at NIU

Accoriding to a recent ebook, the U.S. Educational system is failing in terms of the demand for skilled workers and there is predicted to be a 1.5 million shortfall in terms of the number of workers that can anlayze data and make effective decisions. Here at NIU we are working to bridge that gap and help our students be productive in the workforce.

As the semester ends I want to say how proud I am of each student in database marketing class at NIU this year. The students stepped up to the plate and learned a great deal in terms of how to prepare data for analysis and various statistical modelling techniques. Their final project was to find patterns in real-life company data and build a valid model around that data. They used regression, logistic regression, clustering and other techniques. More importantly, they learned how to recognize what technique to use and in what context. Whether they become modelers or not, and most won't, they have a rich understanding of how these techniques are used in the workplace and I have a real sense of pride in their accomplishments. Anyone looking for undergraduates to train in this area can look to our Interactive Program.

Using Screenr for class demonstrations

I teach database marketing and marketing technology in the spring and plan to use http://screenr.com to create simple demonstrations of how to use statistical procedures and aspects of google adwords. I think this will help the students learn the material as they can easily look up the keystrokes after class. Here is a sample of my first effort. I am NIUIMPROF on screenr and a youtube channel is next!

http://screenr.com/4jfs

NIU's Interactive Marketing Program Update

At Northern Illinois University, we have had our Interactive Marketing area since the early 00's and graduated our first students with a certificate in Interactive Marketing in 2007. The program is both online and offline channels and includes direct (where we teach email as a direct channel), imc, database marketing, Internet marketing (search, social, web design, etc.), and marketing technology where they drive traffic to a live web site acting as affiliates for Restaurant.com with two channels of their choice (10% of traffic is then donated back to charity). This marketing technology course is also taught as part of the Google Adwords challenge.

Forty students a year receive our certificate on their transcript and work for a variety of companies. Marketing Majors get a traditional major and then take four out of five courses in this area. We teach the managerial and strategic side, but students learn ExactTarget, Alterian's SM2, SPSS/Modeler and a variety of other technologies.

Let me know if you are interested in hiring our graduates for internships or full time positions or in joining our advisory board and helping us chart our direction.

Students work to beat benchmark cluster

This semester in Database Marketing we had the unique opportunity to work on some real-life data from Restaurant.com, a generous sponsor of our program. Here is a picture of my students working on a unique two-step cluster model to try to create a segmentation scheme better on some variable than the one that was presented by Restaurant.com. The students have a number of variables to choose from to create their clusters and I have a picture above of their hard work...is that steam I see coming from their heads or is it just the promise of extra credit?

I just came back from the DMEF/DMA conferences and a lot of other educators cannot believe what our students can do in analytics at an undergraduate level. After great preparation in our Marketing Research class, the students are able to analyze augmented customer databases and solve real-world problems using SPSS as a data analysis tool. Many of our students have gone to work at Nielson, Millward Brown and others and the analytical preparation they received has helped them on the job. Let us know if you need recent grads with these skills.

Defining Direct Marketing in an Interactive Age

Ron Jacobs of Jacks & Clevenger asks us to define Direct Marketing for our new world of multichannel, interactive media in the latest copy of CADM's ADMARKS. I like the DMA definition because it includes multiple media, a database and our old DM friend, measurability. Any Comments?

•An organized and planned system of contacts

•Using a variety of media

•Seeking to produce a lead or an order

•Developing and maintaining a database

•Measurable in cost and results

•Expandable with confidence (DMA)

I think that this definition does not include some of the aspects of interactive marketing such as collaborative social media tools that are not in total control of the marketer.

Wen Long used her database skills and visited China this summer!

Wen Long reports that she was a Digital Solutions Summer Intern, ADP Dealer Services, Hoffman Estates, IL this summer. She used her database marketing projects to help her get the job by showing she could do quantitative analysis.

She then performed qualitative analysis on marketing efforts for the Customer Touch Team, rebuilt and formatted collected data to concise meaningful campaign reports, analyzed dealer campaign reports to determine overall effectiveness and the ROI for clients and identified the effectiveness of Dealer Direct Mail Campaigns vs. Email Campaigns through a rebuilt and redesigned report.

Wen also said that she was exposed to numerous digital advertising platforms and worked with Customer Touch Team and Management to develop statistics to prove program trends and benchmarks. She also fit in some volunteer work for Chicago Care this summer and some international experience, by visiting the ADP office in Shanghai, China. What a great summer internship!

Final database marketing class

Good job Marketing 455 students! The students presented the final case, a Harvard one, entitled, "Pilgrim Bank" which is a study in how to determine the most profitable customers for a mythical bank. Students analyze the data in stages and at first it looks like online banking does not make a customer profitable but then we need to take age and income factors into account and when doing so, online banking is a factor in profitability. Students run various regression models and come up with the solution with the most explantory power. The students did well and were able to understand and analyze this advanced case. Their SPSS skills have improved and they were able to get to the heart of the case with some legwork. We also discussed what other types of data Pilgrim Bank might want to use to better understand its customers, both internal and external and how the Bank can manage customer relationshps for maximized lifetime value. Database Marketer extraordinary, Rob Jackson, an interactive marketing advisory board member, came to class and helped provide insight to our discussion. Thanks, Rob!