Opinion


kbb Birmingham 2018 Show Special


How to… market your business using data


Jim Geddes, managing director of Kitchens by JS Geddes in Scotland, explains how he’s built a successful retail business by putting into practice Charlotte Graham-Cumming’s tips about using data to your advantage


D


on’t we just love data! Lots of names, addresses, phone numbers, maybe even some e-mail addresses – all neatly saved on a


computer. But what data do we really need, how do we use


it and how do we comply with data-protection law? More importantly, how do we make a blog about data appear interesting? Kitchens by J S Geddes began in 1984, before computers became a business necessity, but, in a fit of forward thinking, on day one we started a hand-written journal recording every job and every client. Today we still maintain the computerised successor to this original database.


The advent of e-mail has changed the way we use data, allowing us to quickly and cheaply circulate promotional information to clients, although new regulations (GDPR) coming soon will require us to gain prior explicit approval from them


for this. I’ll talk more about this later on. So what data should we store? We have different databases containing different information, from basics, such as name, address, phone number, e-mail address, date of purchase and job number, through to more advanced information on products purchased, etc.


For a business to grow, you have to be able to get as much information to as many people as possible as often as you can


This information allows us to target customers by a specific date of purchase or a geographical area to send them newsletters or mailshots. On another database, we keep records of footfall in both our showrooms by date, enquiry type and consultations booked. We use this data to ensure all enquiries are followed up and that we have the right number of staff available each day. Although our Kilmarnock design centre is open


every day, we decided to close our Hayes branch on Mondays due to low or non-existent footfall.


How can data help grow your business? For a business to grow, you have to be able to get as much information to as many people as possible as often as you can. Historically, the best avenue for this was printed newspapers: we would


46 kbbreview kbb Birmingham Special Edition March 2018


place an ad in the local paper and two days later our footfall would rise. Today, times have changed, and it’s much more effective to e-mail or post newsletters or special offers to our database of existing and potential clients. Databases can provide a wealth of detailed information on client purchases, thus enabling us to send tailor-made offers and information to them.


Target market


Buying databases is another option to find or expand your target market. You can specify household income levels,


geographical areas,


employment sectors, etc, to narrow down the group of potential clients you wish to reach. Remember that databases don’t have to be limited to details of existing clients. They can also store direct enquiries generated by social media, magazine adverts, e-mails, etc, that can be used for targeted marketing actions.


Following up on your database marketing gives you accurate figures of returns for numbers contacted and can thus be an extremely cost- efficient way of marketing.


Any business that stores and uses personal details of individuals on one or more databases needs to be aware of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which comes into force in the UK on May 25.


Consent


GDPR requires database owners to receive explicit prior consent from data subjects for the storage and use of their personal data, and also gives them the right to have their details removed from the database on request. In summary, keep as much data on your clients and potential clients as the law allows and enjoy the benefits for your business you will gain from using it effectively.


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