Direct Marketing

Direct marketing

(Also called direct response marketing)

DESCRIPTION

Marketing that is aimed directly at a consumer at any location and which intends to elicit and obtain a measurable response from the consumer.

KEY INSIGHTS

As a result of the increasing use of specialized databases by marketers in the direct marketing industry, direct marketing applications involving brochures, letters, coupons, print ads, and the like continue to expand.

Yet, direct marketing can involve virtually any medium provided it includes an element of communication asking the consumer to take some specific action (e.g. visit a website, call a telephone number, etc.).

As such, in contrast to many other marketing efforts, a major appeal of direct marketing to a firm is the relatively greater ease by which the firm can measure directly the consumer response to any given direct marketing campaign.

Firms can be said to use an integrated direct marketing approach when they explicitly coordinate the use of multiple direct marketing methods to increase response rates in an effort to achieve even greater marketing effectiveness and firm profitability. Such methods may include: e-mail marketing—sending electronic messages containing marketing material from one computer to one or more consumer computers on a network; fax marketing—using facsimile equipment to electronically transfer written or graphic marketing material over telephone lines to consumer locations; direct mail marketing, mail marketing, or postal marketing—using the mail or postal system to send marketing material directly to one or more consumers; telemarketing—using the telephone as an interactive medium for communicating directly with consumers; voice mail marketing—using telecommunications equipment

And telephone networks as a one-way medium for communicating indirectly

 with consumers by leaving voice messages on centralized voice 161 direct-to-consumer marketing mail systems or individual telephone answering machines; and door-to door marketing—using marketing personnel to make in-person visits at consumers’ residences.

KEY WORDS Consumer response, information

IMPLICATIONS

Marketers seeking greater measurability of the effectiveness of their marketing efforts may benefit from greater use of direct marketing approaches. While the use of direct marketing by a firm depends in part on the characteristics of the firms’ offerings, marketers must also be sensitive to consumer preferences and attitudes to the approach, which may include negative attitudes if consumers perceive the approach as being both intrusive and wasteful as with some firms’ large-scale direct

Mail campaigns.

Direct Marketing is

Marketing is: the wide range of activities involved in making sure that a company continues to meet the needs of its customers and getting value in return. These activities include market research to find out, for example, what groups of potential customers exist, what their needs are, which of those needs can be met, how to meet there, etc. needs Marketing also includes analyzing the competition, positioning your new product or Service (finding your market niche), pricing your products and services, and promoting them through continued advertising, promotions, public relations and sales.

Direct marketing: it involves

• Direct Marketing is: a measurable tested Marketing method whereby products or services are offered to a targeted audience and a direct response is solicited. 

• Direct marketing is: the most effective method of targeting a large number of people who, because they meet a certain set of criteria, are likely to buy your product.

• Direct Marketing is: process of introduction yourself, your service or your product, and forming a continuing relationship with a specially chosen group of potential customers.

• Advertising that involves a: "direct response" (which is an equivalent term) from a consumer - for instance an order form or coupon in a book-review section or in the back of a book, or mailings (direct-mail advertising) to a group presumed to hold a special interest in a particular book.

• Sales and promotion technique in which the promotional materials are delivered individually to potential customers via direct mail, telemarketing, door-to-door selling or other direct means.

• Marketing via leaflets, brochures, letters, catalogs, or print ads mailed or distributed directly to current and potential consumers. The direct marketing industry has grown enormously as a result of increasingly specialized mailing lists.

• A direct communication to a customer or business that is designed to generate a response in the form of an order, a request for further information, or a visit to a store or other place of business. (Also called Direct Response Advertising)

• Promotions targeted to customers whose personal information suggests that a certain product may be of interest to them. This includes mail, telemarketing or electronic mail initiatives. This does not include statements, statement stuffers, and messages on banking machines, announcements on electronic bulletin boards or web-sites, through personal bankers or customer relationship management.

• Any method of distribution that gives the customer access to an organization’s products and services without the need for an intermediary.

• A transaction category for providing customized services and procedures for merchants which offer merchandise or services via catalogs, telephone calls, mailings, and/or advertisements.

• Techniques such as direct mail, catalogs or telemarketing that encourage the customer to order from home. Direct retailing form of nonstory retailing that occurs in a home setting, such as door-to-door sales, party plan selling, and electronic sales over the Web. Traditional forms of direct retailing have waned over the past decade or so, but Internet retailing stands to grow rapidly.

• Direct marketing differs from general marketing in that the result of a promotion is measurable in terms of response. Direct marketing is also largely dependent upon the use of customer files and lists. Direct marketing is utilized by virtually every type of business and organization. However, the primary users are magazine publishers, catalog houses, political campaign organizations and financial institutions.

• An interactive system of marketing that uses one or more advertising media to affect a measurable response at any location, forming a basis for further developing an ongoing relationship between an organization and its customers.

Globalization

Globalization (or globalisation) is a term used to describe the changes in societies and the world economy that are the result of dramatically increased trade and cultural exchange. In specifically economic contexts, it is often understood to refer almost exclusively to the effects of trade, particularly trade liberalization or free trade,

Globalization refers to increasing global connectivity, integration and interdependence in the economic, social, technological, cultural, political, and ecological spheres. Globalization is an umbrella term and is perhaps best understood as a unitary process inclusive of many sub-processes (such as enhanced economic interdependence, increased cultural influence, rapid advances of information technology, and novel governance and geopolitical challenges) that are increasingly binding people and the biosphere more tightly into one global system.There are several definitions and all usually mention the increasing connectivity of economies and ways of life across the world. The Encyclopedia Britannica says that globalization is the "process by which the experience of everyday life ... is becoming standardized around the world." While some scholars and observers of globalization stress convergence of patterns of production and consumption and a resulting homogenization of culture, others stress that globalization has the potential to take many diverse forms.[1]In economics, globalization is the convergence of prices, products, wages, rates of interest and profits towards developed country norms.[2] Globalization of the economy depends on the role of human migration, international trade, movement of capital, and integration of financial markets. The International Monetary Fund notes the growing economic interdependence of countries worldwide through increasing volume and variety of cross-border transactions, free international capital flows, and more rapid and widespread diffusion of technology. Theodore Levitt is usually credited with globalization's first use in an economic context.

As a global provider of integrated marketing and advertising solutions, Vertis conducted its consumer survey data to empower retailers, direct marketers, and advertising agencies and to help them better understand consumer behavior and direct mail usage in the insurance, financial, credit card, and non-profit industries.

GLOBAL MARKETING IS marketing on a worldwide scale reconciling or taking commercial advantage of global operational differences, similarities and opportunities in order to meet global objectives, a total commitment to international marketing, in which a company applies its assets, experience and products to develop and maintain marketing strategies on a global scale.