Your core data sets of target accounts and contacts alone require a data management platform (DMP).  The increasingly digitized economy today demands more: Data management will be the backbone for steering your marketing campaigns.

Sources are eclectic:

• Existing contacts from your customer relationship management system [cm_tooltip_parse]CRM[/cm_tooltip_parse]
• Researched data
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems containing shipment and other financial transactions
• Lists for mailings and other nurturing activities
• Members of previous marketing campaigns such as door openers or telemarketing activities
• Agency data supplied including participants of events or webinars
• Important: feedback and results gained from campaigns

There are different levels of data management:

1. Entire Universe: creation of a complete eco-system including dynamic data of all contacts, engagement and purchase histories, buying potential and intent data, plus more. For enterprises this demands platforms like Oracle Cloud or Tableau.  Typical development cycles start at 1.5 years.  It might take even longer before Marketing will be able to retrieve data for campaigns.
2. Campaign-data specific: Relevant data for campaign members. The database will become more complex over time as result data (leads, intent data, KPIs, more enrichments) feed into it. Yet, the starting point are sufficient data to start the marketing campaign.  Timing: should always be the current or next quarter.
3. Support for Ad-hoc activities: this could include activities such as purchasing a certain number of leads in a specified quality from a third party, providing very few pieces of content and exclude customer selections

Databases can materialize as EXCEL, static SQL, cloud-based SQL or application-specific based on CRMs such as salesforce.com.