For marketers, the rapid proliferation of mobile technology can be both a gift and a curse.
For years, companies have been focusing on compiling data that can tell them exactly where their customers are and how they are behaving. The advent of social media in the mid-2000s went a long way toward making this happen, but part of the problem in the early years of Facebook and Twitter was that the majority of user interaction was happening at a stationary computer. While businesses were obtaining valuable data, it was all coming from the same place for each user.
Mobile technology changed all of that. Today, companies know when their customers are checking into their place of business on Foursquare. If they are tweeting from down the street, that information becomes available. Because users keep their smartphones and tablets on them at all times, they can update their respective statuses and interact with companies all throughout the day. The mobile device unlocked a bevy of untapped marketing resources.
However, that amount of data has to be properly managed. For many professionals in the marketing industry, it's crucial to ensure that data can be properly collected, viewed and used to gain a competitive advantage. If organizations are acquiring location-specific information for each potential customer, data volumes could increase tenfold. Without a system in place to keep it all organized, a company's marketing efforts could be significantly damaged.
Building a custom database software system can help companies keep their data organized so that it can work to their advantage and not be a burden on a business' marketing efforts. FileMaker-based systems are flexible and scalable, so, as new technology spurs an increase in marketing data sets, organizations can stay on top of the influx of new information.