Direct+Marketing



** Direct Marketing **: A form of marketing that sends a message directly to the consumer, using media forms such as mail, email, telephone sales, catalogues, brochures etc. It is a direct way for the advertiser to establish an individual relationship with the customer in order to sell a service or product.

Characteristics that distinguish direct marketing are:
 * 1) Marketing messages are addressed directly to customers. With the evolution into digital marketing channels, this addressability comes in a variety of forms including email addresses, mobile phone numbers, and Web browser cookies.
 * 2) Direct marketing seeks to drive a specific "call to action." For example, an advertisement may ask the prospect to call a free phone number or click on a link to a website.
 * 3) Direct marketing emphasizes trackable, measurable responses from customers — regardless of medium.

**Direct Marketing Process** media type="youtube" key="Kk3VO-yb_r8" height="315" width="420" the Marketing Process **Step One:** //Set Marketing Objectives:// In order to have a successful marketing process, marketers and advertisers must come up with marketing objectives that cover every aspect or their marketing campaign, both long and short term. Some examples of a marketing process objective might be: This helps ensure that all the other steps work together to meet these objectives. **Step Two:**  //Identify Target Market:// Advertisers and marketers must do research in order to target certain markets. They must identify their demographics, geographic location and the marketing method that will work best in that location. **Step Three:**  //Communicate the Offer:// In order to communicate the product or business the marketer is trying to offer they first have to identify an effective offer strategy that interests their target markets. The first communication offer must be strong, let the customer know what is being offered to them. Then follow up with the customer via email, flyer, postcard, etc.
 * 1) //Increase product awareness among the target audience by 30 percent in one year.//
 * 2) //Inform target audience about features and benefits of our product and its competitive advantage, leading to a 10 percent increase in sales in one year. //
 * Create a multi-stage direct mail campaign (different direct mail pieces on different dates)
 * Associate multiple stages to the campaign for example, a stage 1 might be an initial post card offer and stage 2 a follow up letter depending on the response
 * Produce creative for association with each DM stage
 * Personalization of the creative
 * Response tracking and data capture

**Step Four:** //Test Response:// Test response is when marketers or advertisers send out advertisements to certain groups and collect the feedback received to find out how successful the product or service is.


 * Step Five:** //Measure Success and Evaluate:// From all the feedback and data collected from the promotional methods they are able to determine the success rate of the product or service for that demographics.
 * Measure campaign performance
 * Refine the next campaign performance based on figures from the earlier campaigns
 * Measure the amount of sales generated by the customer over time
 * Measure increase in sales and efforts
 * Achieve greater operational efficiency by having all processes under one roof and minimizing administrative costs

**Is it relevant?** Organizations may use several ways to leverage direct marketing as they communicate with and deliver products to their customers. This may include using a direct sales force, catalogs, websites, email, direct mail, telemarketing, seminars, trade shows, and other “one-to-one” techniques to communicate and sell to their customers and clients. **Where?** Some of these direct marketing methods have grown dramatically, especially with the growth of marketing over the Internet. Companies may choose to leverage direct marketing exclusively:
 * How?**
 * Lands’ End
 * Mary Kay Cosmetics
 * Prepaid Legal Services [[image:http://www.livinggreenwithbean.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/stack-of-magazines.jpg width="368" height="288" align="right"]]

Examples of organizations that use face-to-face selling include: > Examples of general merchandise catalogs are: > Examples of specialty goods catalogs are:
 * Mary Kay
 * Avon
 * Amway
 * Spiegel
 * J.C. Penny
 * Pottery Barn
 * PC Connection

The telecommunications industry, for example, has used telemarketing extensively to attempt to increase their market share. This includes:
 * AT&T
 * MCI WorldCom
 * Sprint

**What makes it Relevant Today?** Direct marketing is relevant today. Only direct marketing provides marketers with the information they need to target certain markets and to better understand they’re cliental.These methods include using catalogues, websites, email, direct mails, telemarketing, trade shows, etc. With this information they can predict what the future market will be like and what the response rates will be for a certain product or service. A recent study [1] by the Direct Marketing Association reports that in 2010, marketers – commercial and nonprofit – spent $153.3 billion on direct marketing, which accounted for 54.2% of all ad expenditures in the United States. Measured against total US sales, these advertising expenditures generated approximately $1.798 trillion in incremental sales. In 2010, direct marketing accounted for 8.3% of total US gross domestic product. Also in 2010, there were 1.4 million direct marketing employees in the US. Their collective sales efforts directly supported 8.4 million other jobs, accounting for a total of 9.8 million US jobs.

**Who Uses Direct Marketing and how is it used?** Direct Marketing is an easy way to communicate with one specific target audience. This makes it very useful for small businesses and business-to-business selling becuase it allows them to: Other bigger companies will sometimes use direct marketing to market to other companies or investors.
 * 1) Focus their resources
 * 2) Communicate directly to their target audiences and potential buyers
 * 3) Track and measure their campaign success
 * 4) Test every campaign to see which one is most effective

There are many different methods of direct marketing used by these businesses, this allows advertisers to target each group specifically. For example: Advertisers targeting teenagers would most likely make an ad on the internet or send an email becuase the internet is constantly being used by that demographics. The different types of direct marketing are:
 * Direct Mail: This is used to refer to communications sent to potential customers or donors via the postal service and other delivery services.


 * Telemarketing: marketers contact customers by phone.


 * Email: With the expansion of digital technology and tools, direct marketing is increasingly taking place through online channels. Most online advertising is delivered to a focused group of customers and has a trackable response.


 * Print Ads: Couponing is used in print and digital media to elicit a response from the reader.


 * Catalogues, brochures and pamphlets: A good way to call the costumer's attention with short but efficient information.


 * News paper ads: Magazine and newspaper ads often include a direct response call-to-action, such as a toll-free number, a coupon redeemable at a brick-and-mortal store, or a QR code that can be scanned by a mobile device.

> All these methods and more allow the businesses to direct their sales to the right target market.
 * Direct Selling: Is the sale of products by face-to-face contact with the customer, either by having salespeople approach potential customers in person.

**The PROS and CONS of Direct Marketing** Direct marketing has its advantages that both benefit the company and the customer. **Personalization and Precision targeting** gives the company the ability to personalize the message which will allow them to target potential buyers. Different demographics and geographic locations can be reached by the advertiser to better market their product or service. **Flexibility** is another advantage. It gives advertisers the freedom to change the message to better suit the specific requirements of the consumer. **Privacy** is a big advantage when using direct marketing, it allows any marketing method being used to go straight to the consumer. The methods are not readily visible to the competitors. **Cost** is always an issue when marketing a product or service and with direct marketing the cost is lower compared to other types of promotional methods. And lastly **Consumer information** is easier to collect such as names, address, lifestyles, etc, this helps advertisers to better target their product or service to one or a group of people.

Along with the advantages, direct marketing also has its disadvantages. Most individuals do not like to receive **"junk mail"** or **flyers** from marketing companies. Some places ban flyers and junk folders have been set up to weed out the unwanted or unknown emails. This puts a restriction on the reach of direct marketing companies. Other feel this is an invasion of their **Privacy** and refuse to give out their information or answer surveys to help advertisers collect consumer information. Instead of winning consumers over they risk **alienating** these same consumers.