Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999 12:47:17 GMT
Reply-To: editor@DATA-BASED-RESULTS.COM
Sender: "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From: editor@DATA-BASED-RESULTS.COM
Subject: Newsletter: direct, database, and web marketing (1.0)
Data-based-results.com: An on-line community
of direct, database, and web marketing professionals
Newsletter 1.0 (Sept99)
===EDITORIAL
Why a newsletter about quantitative direct marketing?
===FEATURES
Learn more about your customers, quickly and easily
===TECH
In praise of Perl
===SOAPBOX
The marketing database: in-house or outsource?
===BOOKSHELF
Marketing the invisible (Beckwith)
How to model it (Starfield et. al.)
Database backed websites (Greenspun)
The new direct marketing (Shepard et. al.)
===LINKS
cpulse.com
directmarketingcareers.com
thirdvoice.com
kddnuggets.com
===
Spread the word! Forward this email to your colleagues.
Sign up for this newsletter:
http://www.data-based-results.com
To remove yourself from this mailing list:
http://www.greenspun.com/spam/home.tcl?domain=dbrc
Buy the books mentioned in this newsletter from Amazon.com
by clicking though on the links. All referral fees from
Amazon purchases are donated to the American Cancer
Society.
Comments, suggestions, and announcements:
mailto:editor@data-based-results.com
(C) 1999 Data-based-results.com, all rights reserved.
===EDITORIAL
Why a newsletter about quantitative direct marketing?
Welcome. Why this newsletter? I wanted a forum to network
and share ideas with other folks working in quantitative
direct marketing, so I've put up a website and started this
intermittent newsletter. The success of this experiment
depends on you. Visit the website to ask a question or
post an answer. I hope this on-line community grows into a
helpful resource.
Alan Rimm-Kaufman
Editor, Data-based-results.com
===FEATURE
Learn more about your customers, quickly and easily
You are in a marketing meeting discussing some segment of
your customer base -- most valuable buyers, internet
prospects, chronic returners, etc. -- when someone turns
to you and says, "What do we know about these folks? What
does the database tell us? What if we learned that..."
Sound familiar? Sound like another set of custom queries
you'll have to write, probably with no result? Consider
building a general tool to handle these requests. Read the
full article at
http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001MTp
===TECH
===In praise of Perl
Perl is a powerful open-source computer language. Written
by linguist Larry Wall, the language is flexible and
intuitive. Perl's great for writing quick scripts to
manipulate large data files. The language simplifies
regular expressions, web scripting, and system management.
Perl scripts often work unchanged across Unix and NT
platforms, and there are libraries of free scripts
available on-line for common tasks. Critics slight Perl
notation, dismissing it as a "write-only" language, but one
can write powerful short Perl scripts that are easy to
maintain. Comment on this review at
http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001MU4
A good introduction:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1565922840/databasedresults
A good solutions book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1565922433/databasedresults
Get the software for Unix, free:
http://www.perl.com
Get the software for Win98 and NT, free:
http://www.activestate.com
===SOAPBOX
The marketing database: in-house or outsource?
Does your company now maintain its marketing database
in-house, or is it outsourced? If you could start again
fresh, which path would you take? Present your opinion at
http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001MTv
===BOOKSHELF
Marketing the invisible (Beckwith)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446520942/databasedresults
A highly recommended book on marketing tactics and
strategies. "Invisible" in the title refers to services;
even so, unless you sell a commodity good, this book is
relevant to your business. Presented in short one-page
chapters, Beckwith covers value vs. price positioning,
branding, research, advertising, and retention. You will
come away from this book with at least a dozen good ideas.
Comment on this book at
http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001MTx
===BOOKSHELF
How to model it (Starfield et al)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0808779702/databasedresults
The finest book on constructing quantitative models to
solve problems. Cases presented in a workbook form, with
lucid comments explaining the general principles. Topics
include quick modeling, heuristics, presenting results,
stochastic modeling, optimization, dynamics, simulation,
trade-offs, and expert systems.
Comment on this book at
http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001MTz
===BOOKSHELF
Database backed web sites (Greenspun)---
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1562765302/databasedresults
Great web sites are often databases, and Greenspun explains
how to build database backed sites. His strong opinions
are right on target. Topics include choosing the right
RDMS, architecture, tracking users, growing traffic,
effective design, and making money. An excellent book to
understand the backside of the web.
Comment on this book at
http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001MU0
===BOOKSHELF
The new direct marketing (Shepard et al)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1556238096/databasedresults
A solid introduction to modern direct marketing. The
chapters devoted to hardware and data vendors are sadly out
of date; ignore them. Focus on the explanations of
exploratory data analysis, predictive modeling, and direct
marketing economics. Recommended most to newcomers.
Comment on this book at
http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001MU2
===LINKS
http://www.cpulse.com
Customer Pulse randomly intercepts several hundred visitors
to your company's website each day and presents a 60-second
pop-up survey. You write the questions. You get vital
information to improve your site. Your respondents get
"FreePoints" for their cooperation. The basic service is
free for early adopters.
===LINKS
http://www.directmarketingcareers.com/search.php3
Bernhart Associates, a direct marketing executive search
firm, recently put up this site. The site is small, but
growing. For job seekers, the best feature is the position
listing. Business model: employers pay to post.
===LINKS
http://thirdvoice.com
Inspired genius, or total annoyance? You decide. Third
Voice uses redirects to allow web visitors to post notes on
your site. That's right -- your web visitors can splash
praise or invectives across your homepage, forever visible
to anyone with the Third Voice add-in -- and there's
nothing you can do about it. Unbeknownst to you, your site
may already by littered with user graffiti. Worth checking
out.
===LINKS
http://www.kdnuggets.com
KD stands for Knowledge Discovery, a diverse field covering
data mining, data warehousing, pattern detection, and
artificial intelligence. This website archives a biweekly
newsletter composed of community announcements. The focus
is on algorithms more than on applications. Great list of
related links.
===LINKS
http://www.greenspun.com/boohoo/related.tcl?page_id=dbrc
The data-based-results.com link page gathers interesting
links relevant to quantitative direct marketing. Submit
your own favorites.
===
Spread the word! Forward this email to your colleagues.
Sign up for this newsletter:
http://www.data-based-results.com
Comments, suggestions, and announcements:
mailto:editor@data-based-results.com
(C) 1999 Data-based-results.com, all rights reserved.
-----------------------
If you don't want to see any more of these messages,
simply remove yourself from the list by visiting
http://www.data-based-results.com (Data-Based-Results)
or by typing the following URL into a Web browser:
http://www.greenspun.com/spam/remove.tcl?domain=dbrc&email=sas%2dl%40listserv%2euga%2eedu
