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"Destined to be the definitive guide to database marketing applications, analytical strategies and test design."

- Brian Kurtz, Executive Vice President, Boardroom Inc., 2000 DMA List Leader of the Year and DMA Circulation Hall of Fame Inductee

"This book is well written with interesting examples and case studies that both illustrate complex techniques and tie the chapters together. The level of detail and treatment of statistical tools and methods provides both understanding and enough detail to begin to use them immediately to target marketing efforts efficiently and effectively. It is perfect for a course in database marketing or as a handy reference for those in the industry. "

"This book should be studied by all who aspire to have a career in direct marketing. It provides a thorough overview of all essential aspects of using customer databases to improve direct marketing results. The material is presented in a style that renders even the technical subjects understandable to the novice direct marketer"

"Finally, practical information on database marketing that tackles this complex subject but makes it clear enough for the novice to understand. This book serves as more than a primer for any senior manager who needs to know the whole story. As one who has spent over 20 years of his career involved in publishing and database marketing, I have a real appreciation for how difficult it is to explain the finer points of this discipline, while keeping it understandable. This book does that admirably. Well done!"

"This book is especially effective in describing the breadth and impact of the database marketing field. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has anything to do with database marketing! -- works in or with this dynamic area."

"Ron Drozdenko and Perry Drake have written a guide to database marketing that is thorough and that covers the subject in considerable depth. It presents both the concepts underlying database marketing efforts and the all-important quantitative reasoning behind it. The material is accessible to students and practitioners alike and will be an important contribution to improved understanding of this important marketing discipline. "

"I think it is a terrific database marketing book, it’s got it all in clear and logical steps. The benefit to the marketing student and professional is that complex database concepts are carefully developed and thoroughly explained. This book is a must for all marketing managers in understanding database issues to successfully manage and structure marketing programs and achieve maximum results. "

"An excellent book on the principles of Direct Marketing and utilization of the customer database to maximize profits. It is one of the best direct marketing books I have seen in years in that it is broad with specific

examples. I am going to require new hires to read this (book) to get a better understanding of the techniques used in Database Marketing."

"This is an amazingly useful book for direct marketers on how to organize and analyze database information. It’s full of practical examples that make the technical material easy to understand and apply by yourself. I strongly recommend this book to direct and interactive marketers who want to be able to perform professional database analyses themselves, or be better equipped to review the work of analysts. "

- Pierre A. Passavant, Professor of Direct Marketing, Mercy College and Past Director, Center for Direct Marketing, New York University

"The most useful database marketing reference guide published today. The authors do an excellent job of laying out all the steps required to plan and implement an effective database marketing strategy in a clear and concise manner. A must have for academics, marketing managers and business executives."

- Dave Heneberry, Director, Direct Marketing Certificate programs, Western Connecticut State University and Past Chair, Direct Marketing Association

"This book is essential for all direct marketers. It serves as a great introduction to the technical and statistical side of database marketing. It provides the reader with enough information on database marketing and statistics to effectively apply the techniques discussed or manage others in the environment "

Ronald G. Drozdenko, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the Marketing Department, Ancell School of Business, Western Connecticut State University. He is also the founding Director of the Center for Business Research at the Ancell School. He has more than 25 years of teaching experience. The courses he teaches include Strategic Marketing Databases, Interactive/Direct Marketing Management, Product Management, Marketing Research, and Consumer Behavior. He is collaborating with the Direct Marketing Education foundation to develop a model curriculum for universities pursing the area of interactive or direct marketing. Working with an advisory board of industry experts, he co-developed the Marketing Database course in model curriculum.

Dr. Drozdenko has co-directed more than 100 proprietary research projects since 1978 for the marketing and research and development of several corporations, including major multinationals. These projects were in the areas of strategic planning, marketing research, product development, direct marketing, and marketing database analysis. He also has published several articles and book chapters. He holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Missouri and is a member of the American Marketing Association, the Society for Consumer Psychology, and the Academy of Marketing Sciences. He is also the co-inventor on three U.S. patents.

Perry D. Drake has been involved in the direct marketing industry for nearly 15 years. He is currently the Vice President of Drake Direct, a database marketing consulting firm specializing in response modeling, customer file segmentation, lifetime value analysis, customer profiling, database consulting, and market research. Prior to this, Perry worked for approximately 11 years in a variety of quantitative roles at The Reader’s Digest Association, most recently as the Director of Marketing Services.

In addition to consulting, Perry has taught at New York University in the Direct Marketing Master’s Degree program since Fall, 1998, currently teaching "Statistics for Direct Marketers" and "Database Modeling." Perry was the recipient of the NYU Center for Direct and Interactive Marketing’s "1998-1999" Outstanding Master’s Faculty Award. Perry also lectures on testing and marketing financials for Western Connecticut State University’s Interactive Direct Marketing Certificate Program. Along with Ron, he is collaborating with the Direct Marketing Education Foundation to develop a model curriculum for universities pursuing the area of interactive or direct marketing.

Perry earned a Masters of Science in Applied Statistics from the University of Iowa and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Missouri.

The book evolved from an outlined developed by an advisory board of industry experts that was established by the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation. Contemporary direct marketing and e-commerce could not exist without marketing databases. Databases allow marketers to reach customers and cultivate relationships more effectively and efficiently. While databases provide a means to establish and enhance relationships, they can also be used incorrectly, inefficiently, and unethically. This book looks beyond the temptation of the quick sale to consider the long-term impact of database marketing techniques on the organization, customers, prospective customers, and society in general. Ron Drozdenko and Perry Drake help the reader gain a thorough understanding of how to properly establish and use databases in order to build strong relationships with customers. There is not another book on the market today that reveals the level of detail regarding database marketing applications - the how's, why's and when's.

Features/Benefits:

Draws on numerous examples from real businesses

Includes applications to all direct marketing media including the Internet

Describes in step-by-step detail how databases are developed, maintained, and mined

Considers both business and social issues of marketing databases

Contains a sample database allowing the reader to apply the mining techniques

Offers access to comprehensive package of academic support materials

Confidence levels, 1-tailed, 2-tailed tests and the application of these concepts in real world marketing situations can be quite confusing. This book once again came through with clearly explained examples and scenarios.

A second critical factor to look for - once you've gotten through all the introductory books - is finding concrete info on how-to, best practices providing significant content and knowledge. This is the true value-add from the masters: learning is incremental and there must be true takeaways to get the 5 stars.

This said, the authors have made an extremely broad, detailed and well spun story out of a subject matter that can be to say the least, challenging... Moreover, the disciplines of customer analysis, database management & modeling, data mining, statistical analysis, marketing planning are all the focus of reengineering by many of today's major businesses.

Consequently, this book leads nicely and rather naturally into a major subject of the day for many IT & marketeers -- Analytical CRM. As such it is a must read for anyone interested in understanding how A-CRM works in many companies practicing DBM today.

A great next step would be to go from the marketing-IT function(-ing) to the broader enterprise, long-term (relational) infrastructure & practices preached by CRM. Show how the DBM process evolves in to and is transformed by meeting Customer Mgmt strategies. How would DBM work in a enterprise integration, near/real-time, customer interaction CRM initiative?

Finally, as an aside, in reviewing MANY course syllabi across the world in DM/DBM, I've OFTEN found this book as the course text if not mandatory-suggested reading.

I agree -- for all & anyone wanting a good complement to Shepard's seminal work - you can't do any better.

Buy it ! Good reading...

In OPTIMAL DATABASE MARKETING, you get a wealth of material on two aspects of the process - for the price of one. Co-author Ron Drozdenko does a great job defining concepts and detailing potential objectives when building files. His coverage of technical specifications and issues is particularly useful.

As for the subsequent chapters: I don't think there has ever been a book written which covers database modeling, and statistical techniques germane to direct marketing, as comprehensively and clearly. Co-author Perry Drake manages to leave no stone unturned and yet convey knowledge in a style that's both understandable and easy to follow. This part of the book is worth the cost alone.