How to Use Third Party Data for Education Marketing
Every bit of prospect data your business collects feeds your current and future marketing campaigns.
But data your organization personally compiled (first party data) is only a sliver of what’s achievable.
Second and third party data also play key roles in focused, successful marketing efforts.
What is the difference between 1st, 2nd and 3rd party data?
What is 1st party data?
First party data can be simply defined as data your company collects, whether actively or passively, from potential and current customers. This may include:
- Form fills
- User behavior on your website and social media platforms
- Survey responses
- And many other situations
Data aggregated in this way is easily accessible and can be used to derive many insights. It helps your company do everything from improve customers’ online experience to make specific changes to your products and services. In a marketing context, it helps to re-target advertising and influences ad buys.
Where does 2nd party data come from?
Second party data comes from direct relationships with other businesses. This type of data sharing helps you hone in on your specific audience, but it isn’t collected directly by your company.
Google Ads is a well-known example.
The data points are shared with you and can be leveraged effectively in digital marketing efforts, but are collected by another entity.
How is 3rd party data collected?
Third party data is information purchased from an outside source. A data vendor gathers these data sets and provides them as part of a transaction.
In broad terms, the value of this information varies. It has a negative reputation in parts of the data-driven marketing world, in large part due to variable quality. But partnering with an experienced, highly skilled provider can lead to more effective results.
That’s especially important to keep in mind in a very specialized, highly staffed field like education.
How is 3rd party data used?
Third party data is used for many of the same purposes as first and second party data. It drives digital marketing efforts and more traditional outreach as well.
It can include email addresses, phone numbers, physical addresses and much more. And it can positively inform and influence people-based marketing just as easily as broader digital efforts.
The quality of third party data has a direct impact on its value to your business. Many marketers in the educational space understand the problems and pitfalls that come with outdated or inaccurate contact information for education professionals, schools and districts all too well.
Finding the right provider of third party data is simply crucial for making the investment worth it.
Clean and regularly-updated data can offer highly accurate:
- Contact information
- Insight into professional roles and responsibilities
- Reference points for school and district initiatives
- Guidance related to the departure and arrival of education professionals at schools and districts throughout the U.S.
There are 3.1 million teachers across the country, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. When private schools, colleges and universities, district staff, administrators and other professionals are included, that number increases substantially.
Managing this data and keeping it current is a major challenge for even the largest businesses that focus on education.
Partnering with a proven, dependable provider of high-quality third party education data is a winning strategy for focusing your marketing efforts on a relevant target audience. To learn how Agile can help you find the best possible audience for your products and services, get in touch with us today.
