To store the results of a SQL Query for a promotional email segment, what should Northern Trail Outfitters use?

Using a data extension is the correct approach to store the results of a SQL Query for a promotional email segment. Data extensions in Salesforce Marketing Cloud provide a flexible way to manage and store data, allowing for custom fields and various data types. When a SQL Query is executed, the results can be directly inserted into a data extension, making it easy to segment your audience based on specific criteria.

Data extensions are designed to handle larger datasets and are highly scalable, so they are the ideal choice for dynamic segmentation based on SQL query results, especially when sending targeted promotional emails. This allows marketers to segment customers more effectively and use advanced data manipulation capabilities offered by SQL within the Marketing Cloud platform.

Publication lists, CSV files, and filtered lists serve different purposes. Publication lists are typically used for managing subscribers who want to opt-in or opt-out of specific communications, while CSV files are not a suitable choice for storing results within Marketing Cloud as they are simply a format for data transfer. Filtered lists can be useful for creating dynamic segments based on existing lists but do not support SQL Query results in the same manner as data extensions do. Thus, data extensions are the most appropriate solution for this scenario.