Marketing data management · Marketing
Your campaign reports should agree with your contact lists.
The exhibition sheet says "Trade show", the website form says "Website", and the agency's links say "Facebook", "facebook" and "FB". Your report shows three social channels and one is a typo. Nobody lied. Nobody agreed a spelling either.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Marketing data management keeps the data your marketing runs on usable: contact lists with recorded sources, agreed field definitions, one naming scheme for campaign links, duplicate rules and opt-out flags. GullySales audits what you hold, writes the rules down in a short data dictionary, and sets up the sheets or tool settings so your team applies them the same way.
Marketing data is every list, field and link tag marketing creates or depends on. Where a contact came from, what a field means, which duplicate wins and who asked to stop each need one written answer.
Prospect lists for calling sit under lead database management, consent evidence under marketing data consent and compliance, and live records under CRM data cleansing. GullySales sets the shared rules across all three.
Who it is for
This is written for you if these sound familiar.
- Clinics and hospitals with appointment forms, camp registrations and campaign exports in separate files
- Manufacturers and dealers collecting contacts at exhibitions, on WhatsApp and through IndiaMART
- D2C and online shops with customer data split between the store, an email tool and an ad account
- Schools and coaching centres running admission campaigns from several staff phones
- Software firms whose agency, in-house team and sales team tag campaigns differently
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- You hold a few hundred contacts in one sheet that one person maintains. A column for source and a date may be all you need.
- You want a legal opinion on what the Digital Personal Data Protection Act requires of you. That is for your own lawyer or adviser.
- You want a new marketing tool chosen and installed. That is technology work, and it is scoped separately.
The problem
Does this sound like your business?
Common situations this work addresses.
“Our report shows channels we never ran”
Links were tagged by hand with different spellings and capitals. Analytics treats each variant as a separate source, so one campaign appears under several names.
“The same patient or buyer is on four lists”
One person registered at a camp, enquired on the website and messaged on WhatsApp. Each tool holds a copy with a different name spelling and phone format.
“Nobody can say what "lead" means in this sheet”
Marketing counts every form fill, sales counts only people who answered a call. The column is the same and the numbers never match.
“We removed someone and they came back”
The opt-out went into one export. A later import from an older file restored the contact, and the next message went out.
What we do
The work we can include.
Each deliverable and the purpose it serves. Your written scope confirms what is included, who is responsible, and what it costs.
Data inventory
A sheet listing every place marketing data lives: CRM, email tool, ad accounts, form tools, WhatsApp exports, exhibition sheets. Each row names its owner.
Data dictionary
Each field marketing uses, with its meaning, allowed values and who fills it. "Lead", "enquiry" and "source" each get one definition your team signs off.
Source and medium list
A fixed list of lowercase source and medium values used for every import, form and campaign link. New values need the named owner's approval.
Campaign link naming sheet
A UTM builder sheet for source, medium, campaign name and content. Analytics reads values case-sensitively, so spelling is fixed before links go live.
Duplicate and merge rules
Which fields match two records, which record survives a merge, and which values carry over. Doubtful pairs go to a named reviewer, not a bulk merge.
Opt-out and suppression flags
A flag on each contact for unsubscribed, do not call and do not message, plus a suppression sheet every export is checked against before sending.
Retention and deletion schedule
A draft table of each data type, why it is held and when it is reviewed for removal. Your adviser sets the periods; GullySales records them.
How the result is measured
- Contacts with a recorded source and date added
- Source and campaign values outside the agreed list
- Duplicate pairs awaiting a reviewer's decision
- Fields in use that have a dictionary definition
- Opted-out contacts found in a proposed export
- Enquiries by source, once source capture is consistent
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
Before you decide
Agree the work. Know how to judge it.
Marketing data management: use these checks to prepare, choose the scope, and review what changes.
Bring the right evidence
Bring the current target, pipeline, and review format. Mark which decisions the manager can make and which still require the owner's approval.
Make the scope clear
Agree decision rights and the management routine, including who runs it after the engagement. Separate advice to your sales head from taking responsibility for an agreed part of the operation.
Check the work in use
A useful review ends with an owner and next action for the deals or constraints discussed. Revisit those actions before adding more dashboard measures.
Know when to change course
If a review only collects updates already available in the CRM, shorten it. Use the time to resolve a blocked decision or coach a specific piece of selling work.
These are discussion points, not a fixed package. GullySales confirms the deliverables, responsibilities, fee, and term in writing after reading your brief and speaking with you.
How it works
How the marketing data management work runs
The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.
- 1
Inventory what you hold
You list the tools, sheets and accounts in use and share samples. We map which fields exist in each and who edits them.
- 2
Agree definitions
We draft the dictionary and source list from what your team already calls things. Marketing and sales approve the wording before anything is renamed.
- 3
Standardise and de-duplicate
Formats are made consistent, sources are mapped to the agreed list and confident duplicates merged. Doubtful pairs go to your reviewer. Unknown sources stay unknown.
- 4
Set the intake rules
Forms, imports and the UTM builder are set to the new fields. Each person who adds contacts gets one page showing what to fill in.
- 5
Check opt-outs end to end
We trace a sample opt-out from the person who received it to the suppression sheet and the next export, and fix or assign any gap.
- 6
Hand over the maintenance routine
Your nominated owner takes the dictionary, lists and review routine. Any maintenance GullySales keeps is agreed in writing.
Before you hire anyone
Do this first yourself.
Spend one afternoon listing where your marketing data lives and what each column means.
- List every tool, sheet and account that holds contacts or campaign data, and write the name of the person who edits each.
- Open your last campaign report and write down every distinct source and medium value it shows. Note the spelling variants.
- Pick one sheet and count how many contacts have no source and no date added.
- Write one sentence each for "lead" and "enquiry", and ask sales whether they agree.
- Search two of your lists for the same phone number and see how many records come up.
- Find where an unsubscribe request goes in your business and follow it to the next send.
Judge any provider
What to ask any provider of this service.
Useful whoever you choose, including us.
- Which fields will you define in the data dictionary, and who signs off the wording?
- How do you decide which record survives a merge, and who reviews doubtful pairs?
- What happens to contacts whose source cannot be traced?
- Will the naming scheme work in the tools we already use, or does it need new software?
- Who owns the dictionary and the suppression sheet after handover?
- Which legal questions do you leave to our own adviser?
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
This work sits inside sales process design. One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Step 1
Sales audit
Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.
Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.
Step 2 · you are here
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
Step 3
Sales management
A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Start here if the team has targets and no routine.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Is this the same as cleaning our CRM?
Can you tell us what the DPDP Act requires?
Do we need to change our tools?
What happens to contacts with no known source?
Who maintains the dictionary afterwards?
How do we get a scope and a fee?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
By industry
Marketing data management, written for your industry.
Related services
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Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.