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.
