At the Sterling Woods Group, we’re hereby declaring September Customer Data Platform month! All month long, we’ll be sharing our insight into this exciting new technology that’s been a hot topic in the marketing community.

We’re here to say that CDPs are more than just a flash in the pan; when used correctly, they can be a means of driving significant revenue growth for your business in the long term.

By the way, if you have a membership program or are considering launching one, CDPs are perfect for turbocharging your enrollment and retention rates.

Over the next four weeks, we’ll show you how.

Even if you’re not in the market for a CDP, you’ll learn valuable lessons on the power of first party data and how it can help you take on the goliaths in your industry.

Did you know that:

• The CDP market has been exhibiting tremendous growth. According to the Customer Data Platform Institute, the industry’s revenues are on track to hit $640 million in 2018 and $1 billion in 2019.
• According to one of Gartner’s recent reports on CDPs, over 80 vendors now call themselves Customer Data Platforms, doubling the size of the category over the last year. Inquiries into CDPs have quadrupled since Gartner first published their initial research on the topic.
• At the beginning of 2018, Martin Kihn, Research Vice President at Gartner said, “No marketing tech in recent memory has shot up the hype curve so far, so fast, as the Customer Data Platform.”

So it seems the word about CDPs is out. But is this all news to you? If you’re not already familiar, check out this article from our archives to get you up to speed.

Once you have a handle on the basics, we’ll be going more in-depth in the coming weeks:

• How exactly does a CDP help me drive revenue?
• What makes or breaks a successful CDP implementation?
• What are the three types of CDPs and how do I make my technology selection?
• What does the future of CDPs hold?

I want to lean more. Send me all these articles!

About the Author

Rob Ristagno, Founder and CEO of Sterling Woods, previously served as a senior executive at several digital media and e-commerce businesses, including as COO of America’s Test Kitchen. He started his career as a consultant at McKinsey. Ristagno holds degrees from the Harvard Business School and Dartmouth College and has taught at both Harvard and Boston College.

Rob is the author of A Member is Worth a Thousand Visitors: A Proven Method for Making More Money Online. He regularly speaks at key media conferences, including at Niche Media events, Specialized Information Publishers Association meetings, and the Business Information and Media Summit.