Database Marketing: Strategy or Tactical Tool?

Outlines two distinct views of database marketing – as a total marketing strategy and as a tactical tool. Argues that a database marketing strategy can be realized only in companies with a genuine customer focus. As a result the tactical choice is more appropriate to most companies. Suggests that the problems of database saturation, where further cross‐selling using a database is not cost‐effective, can be overcome through widening the company′s credibility as a supplier as well as by increasing the size of the database. A database marketing strategy uses the tools of image and brand building to establish this credibility.