Want to use data for marketing campaigns, but not quite sure which is the best data to use? Data can be obtained and applied to a marketing campaign in many different ways, so it is important to understand the different types of data, how they could be used, and any risks associated with each type.

First Party Data

The most powerful and relevant data to your business is first party data. This is data that your organization has collected from individuals, either through marketing lead gen forms, sales transactions, customer service, website usage or other data collection processes. First party data is commonly used for personalization purposes – for instance, you know names, home addresses, past purchase habits, possibly gender or birthday. First party data collected on websites could include cookies and will allow for digital retargeting campaign opportunities. All of this data is sacred to your business. 

Because first party data was collected by your organization, this data is generally clean and accurate. Errors typically come about when someone purposefully provides misinformation on a form, or includes a typo when entered. Consider the data your organization is collecting on a regular basis. Are there additional data points that could also be collected to help focus segmentation efforts or build future products or services? Your organization can make enhancements to your own data collection processes and have great control over first party data.

What is Second Party Data?

Second party data is data collected by a partner company or company your organization has a data sharing agreement with. Similar to first party data, this data is provided directly by the individual users, so it should be fairly clean to use. The benefit of second party data is that it enhances the marketing universe. There are opportunities to create “look alike” audiences, or audiences similar to your current customers, which could be beneficial in growing business. 

A good example of how two industries can partner with second party data are the airline and hotel industries. You may notice that after you book a flight somewhere or even in looking at flights, you may begin to see more ads related to hotels as well. This is because the two industries have partnered to share second party data with the understanding that someone looking for a flight, is likely to also need a hotel room.

If you’re going to share your first party data with another organization, as noted above, be sure that your privacy policy states that you share data. As part of this, you must also have a process for allowing individuals to opt-out of the sharing for marketing purposes; consult local privacy laws and a legal expert regarding this.

What is Third Party Data?

Sometimes third party data gets a bad rap, because it is purchased data gathered from a variety of different sources. Depending on the source, the data may be rough and not always easy to use or match back to first party data. But, if purchased from a trustworthy source and used correctly, third party data can enhance first and second party data with information that could help better target or personalize marketing campaigns.

Third party data can be publicly available information, such as land records, or it can be gathered from other information databases, such as surveys, baby registries or driving records. However you choose to use third party data, make sure you consult with the distributor about how the data was collected and the terms of usage.

If you’re considering using data in a marketing campaign and not sure where to start, let the data experts at B2E guide you. We also have access to reputable third party data sources!