• by Lena Bourgeois , Columnist, February 8, 2017

Marketing to affluent audiences relies heavily on reaching audiences that have the spending capacity to afford a brand or service. This includes both a brand’s existing customers, as well as prospects who match the spending or behavioral characteristics of those valuable existing consumers. The trick is for marketers to use all of the data and tools at their disposal to reach both existing and untapped audiences. 

Third-party data and spending records can provide additional input to a strong, targeted marketing strategy. Some marketers know these options exist, but they don’t necessarily know who exactly may have complementary data and how it can be analyzed and segmented to help augment efforts to reach existing customers and prospects. Fortunately, there are more available options than ever to help marketers access and make use of both their captured data and third-party data.

In some verticals, a partner or financial processor may have relevant data. Credit card processors may have access to spending data, and auto sales aggregators may have industry-wide scale that marketers can’t achieve on their own. Once a potential partner is identified, marketers can inquire about ways to enable their complementary data for marketing. If your organization is capturing its own data, you may also have a good opportunity to evaluate potential partners who can enhance those records into more targetable audience segments. It is a considerable bonus if your partner can do it both online and offline.

When discussing how to make this data actionable, it’s important to consider an outside party’s security and processes. Where does the data come from, and how do they gather it? Is it reliable? And, perhaps of greater concern for the marketer, can they trust this partner with their own first-party data? These kinds of safe havens for data sharing and processing weren’t available in the past, so marketers need to perform their due diligence when evaluating potential collaborators. 

The end goal here is to empower a brand to use all available data across every channel in which they buy media. Retail provides a unique case study, because nearly every retail brand has a loyalty database, and some even have branded credit cards. Those create opportunities to reach consumers online and off with direct mail offers, email newsletters, and even targeted display ads if they log into a loyalty profile on their desktop. Third-party data partners can augment that with additional spending insights for more precise audience targeting, delivering offers that drive prospects to stores and also get loyal customers to increase their spending.

This is especially relevant today amid a changing media landscape. Brands can’t forget about leveraging these augmented data resources online, especially in mobile. If we stick with retail as an example, we know that many brands have launched mobile apps to bring the shopping experience to this new frontier, but it’s safe to assume that not every single customer enrolled in the loyalty program will download or sign into the app. What if an extremely loyal customer, one who shops with the retailer one to two times a week, is in a physical store but does not use the app? 

Armed with more intel via third-party providers, the retailer should be able to glean more insights on customers to make data-informed assumptions about future purchases. This is the kind of opportunity that brands need to take advantage of, but how? Technological infrastructure that leverages trusted partners with complementary data should allow a retailer to better connect with their customers and better serve them a real-time coupon or offer that encourages the already loyal, affluent customer to spend more.

Building this kind of chain may appear complicated on the surface, but can be built by taking your transactional data and forging closer relationships with partners. This is the kind of nimble, real-time marketing that makes a difference in 2017. Marketers across all verticals can examine their data processes and their partners to determine how they can be more nimble in this modern era of consumer outreach. By identifying trusted partners who deal with data securely, marketers can ensure that they are using all available resources to fuel their audience-centric marketing plans.