Direct marketing includes. Direct marketing - what is it in examples. The goal is to retain regular customers

  • 06.02.2024

Introduction

The Growth and Benefits of Direct Marketing as a Sales Booster

Forms of direct marketing

Conclusion

List of used literature


Introduction


The last 50 years have significantly changed humanity's ideas about many things, which has also influenced modern marketing. During this time, there has been a rapid development of computer technology, new opportunities for communication with consumers have emerged, and non-cash payments have begun to play an important role in tourism and other areas as a way to quickly pay for purchases. A person today constantly suffers from a catastrophic lack of free time, lives in conditions of a continuous information flow, and strives to simplify all processes. All this led to the ineffectiveness of mass advertising. That is why this type of approach to the target audience, such as direct marketing (direct marketing), is now one of the most popular.

Every year, direct marketing occupies an increasing share in business communications of companies around the world. Direct exchange of information with carefully selected target consumers, carried out in order to obtain an immediate response, is becoming increasingly important. In contrast to the activities of sales representatives who communicate with consumers in the process of personal contact, this is the most “direct” sales system! - new methods of direct communication with consumers, usually called direct marketing, involve the use of mail, telephone, fax, e-mail and other non-personal channels that allow you to contact a certain category of consumers or receive an immediate response. New technologies have pushed many companies to move from mass dissemination of information to more targeted and even one-on-one communication with each individual consumer. All of the above confirms the relevance of this topic.

The purpose of this work is to study direct marketing as a marketing communication technology.

1. The essence of modern direct marketing (direct marketing)


The usual understanding of the term “direct marketing” as trade without intermediaries has undergone significant changes in recent years.

A distinction is made between direct marketing itself, i.e. various methods of direct sales and direct relationship marketing.

Krylova G.D. and Sokolova M.I. note that the Direct Marketing Association combines both of these concepts with the term “interactive marketing,” defining direct marketing as an interactive marketing system that uses one or more means of communication to obtain a specific response and/or to complete a transaction in any region .

According to F. Kohler, direct marketing is marketing that uses various means of communication for direct communication with customers, designed for certain reactions.

Direct marketing (DM) consists of establishing a long-term, mutually beneficial and developing partnership between the manufacturer and personally known consumers. The concept of PM provides for the active activity of the organization with the aim of involving real and potential consumers in communication, receiving from them information about needs and preferences through feedback channels, while focusing on long-term relationships. The advantages of PM are selectivity, confidentiality, variety of forms of communication, and the ability to control the reaction of customers.

Direct marketing consists of direct (interactive) communications with a selected specific buyer, often in the form of a personalized dialogue, to obtain an immediate response.

Let's consider the main forms of direct marketing:

personal (personal) selling - direct interaction with one or more potential buyers for the purpose of organizing presentations, answering questions and receiving orders;

direct mail marketing - includes mailing letters, advertising materials, booklets, etc. to potential buyers to addresses from mailing lists;

catalog sales - the use of catalogs of goods sent to customers by mail or sold in stores;

marketing by telephone (telemarketing) - using the telephone as a tool for directly selling goods to customers;

direct response television marketing - marketing of goods and services through advertising television (or radio) programs using feedback elements (usually a telephone number);

interactive (online) marketing - direct marketing carried out through interactive computer communication services in real time.

The key to success in direct marketing is detailed information about the individual consumer. Modern enterprises create special customer databases, which represent an array of detailed information about individual (potential) customers, including geographic, demographic, psychographic, as well as data on the characteristics of purchasing behavior. Such databases are used to find potential buyers, modify or develop products to suit their specific needs, and maintain relationships with them.

Although there are many forms of direct marketing - direct mail, telemarketing, email marketing, counter marketing, etc. - they all have the following in common.

Direct marketing is a channel of personal communication, since the advertising message is usually addressed to a specific person.

Direct marketing is time-sensitive and made to order, so messages are prepared immediately and tailored to the target consumer.

Direct marketing ensures a dialogue between the communicator and the consumer, and the message is adjusted depending on the reaction of buyers.

According to F. Kotler, direct marketing is very suitable for targeted efforts and creating personal relationships.

Once upon a time, marketing was characterized only by a direct approach: sellers were personally acquainted with all buyers. Gradually, this technique was replaced by mass marketing, where marketers disseminated standardized messages to millions of consumers using mass media, newspapers, magazines, radio, and later television. In other words, companies tended to appeal to all consumers the same way when promoting their products, hoping that millions across the country would listen and buy the brand. The companies did not need the names of their customers, nor any other information - nothing except one thing: the buyer has a need for something, which this product can satisfy. Marketing communications used one-way communication with the buyer, rather than two-way communication with him.

With the increase in the number of television channels and the emergence of new competitors such as the Internet, the target audience has become smaller, and firms have to prepare more carefully to communicate with potential buyers. Direct marketing involves communicating directly with carefully selected specific buyers, often in the form of a personalized dialogue, to obtain an immediate response. Companies are careful to ensure that their marketing offerings meet the needs of the narrowest segment of consumers or even an individual buyer. In addition to building a brand and image, they constantly strive to gain direct, quick and measurable customer response. For example, Dell Computer interacts directly with consumers over the phone or on the Web to create systems that meet their individual needs. Customers place orders directly from Dell Computer, then the ordered equipment is quickly and efficiently delivered to their home or office.

The first direct marketers (catalog companies using mail and telephone) collected names of buyers and sold products to them primarily through mail or telephone. Now, with the introduction of database technologies and new multimedia computers, modems, faxes, e-mail, Internet and interactive services, increasingly sophisticated methods of direct marketing are possible. The availability and reasonable cost of these methods have significantly increased the number of supporters of direct marketing.

Today, most specialists in this field believe that direct marketing plays even important role than just selling goods and services.

They see direct marketing as an effective mechanism for communicating with customers, helping to build long-term relationships with them. Direct marketing is evolving into direct relationship marketing.


2. The growth and benefits of direct marketing as a means of increasing sales


Direct marketing is the fastest growing form of marketing today. In this section, we will discuss the benefits of direct marketing for buyers and sellers and the reasons for its rapid growth.

Direct marketing is attractive to many buyers. Shopping at home is convenient and requires no legwork. They save time and give the buyer a choice of more trading companies. The buyer can compare products by browsing mail catalogs and using the online sales service, and then order the products he needs. Buyers of industrial goods can learn about available goods and services without wasting time waiting and meeting with sales agents.

Direct marketing also benefits marketers themselves. They can purchase an address list containing the addresses of virtually any group of consumers (from millionaires and young parents to left-handers and college graduates). Thanks to this, they can personalize their offers and design them according to the requirements of their customers. Using modern technology, a direct marketer can select a small group or even an individual buyer, tailor a marketing proposal tailored to their needs and desires, and send that proposal via personalized communications.

A direct marketer can maintain long-lasting relationships with each customer. Direct marketing also provides an opportunity to explore alternative means of advertising distribution and advertising message content. Finally, direct marketing ensures confidentiality of the offer, so that the direct marketer's strategy remains out of sight of competitors.

Recently, there has been a rapid increase in sales through traditional marketing channels (catalogues, direct mail orders, telephone sales). Recent studies of global marketing expenditures indicate that while direct marketing has remained a huge growing area of ​​capital investment over the past five years, the annual growth rate for conventional direct marketing channels (eg direct mail) over the next five years will be continue to outperform mass marketing channels.

The Internet attracts more and more representatives of the fair half of humanity and users aged 25-35 years. Although the Internet is still a little short of becoming the dominant advertising medium for businesses and organizations, the frequency of Internet use is steadily increasing.

What are the factors driving the growth of direct marketing? The incredible growth rates inherent in direct-to-consumer marketing are a response to the emergence of new marketing circumstances (which we have already discussed). The “fragmentation” of markets leads to the constant formation of market niches with completely different sets of preferences. Direct marketing allows sellers to effectively target these micro-markets with offerings that better meet specific buyer needs.

Another incentive is the further stratification of the television audience and the increase in the cost of mass consumer outreach events. The cost of “holes” for commercial advertising in television programs is growing catastrophically in inverse proportion to the number of programs that gather a large audience, so many advertisers, trying to “recoup” the money invested in advertising, are forced to turn to direct marketing methods.

There are other reasons stimulating the rapid development of direct marketing in the consumer market: increased costs of operating a car, increased traffic flow, headaches with parking, lack of time and advisory assistance in retail sales, endless lines at the checkout - all this contributes to shopping at home.

Direct marketing is also intensively developing in the market for industrial goods due to the increasing cost of entering business markets through sales personnel. If each phone call made to make an individual sale of a product costs several hundred pounds, then such calls should only be made as needed, and then only to the most solvent (and most likely) buyers. Less expensive marketing tools—telemarketing, direct mail, and more modern e-commerce options—are often more cost-effective and efficient ways to sell products to more customers and prospects.

A good customer database is essential to the success of direct marketing. A customer database is an organized array of detailed information about individual (potential) customers, including geographic, demographic, psychographic, and purchasing behavior data. Such a database can be used to find potential buyers, tailor products and services to the specific needs of target buyers, and maintain long-term relationships with the latter. Customer database marketing is the process of creating, maintaining, and using customer databases and other databases (products, suppliers, resellers) to reach customers and complete transactions.

Let's look at the forms of direct marketing in more detail.


3. Forms of direct marketing


Major forms of direct marketing include personal selling, direct mail, catalog selling, telephone marketing, direct response telemarketing, and online shopping. These forms of marketing can be used as tools to convey product messages to target customers (as well as channels for retail distribution of the product without stocking) to stimulate purchases.

Telephone sales offers are the most typical (and oldest) form of direct sales. To identify potential buyers, convert them into clients, create long-term relationships with buyers and grow business, most marketers at the company level rely heavily on professional sales personnel. They may also hire representatives or sales agents to make direct sales. Many consumer packaged goods companies also use personal sales specialists to reach end consumers. Door-to-door selling, which began centuries ago with traveling salesmen, has now become a huge industry.

Databases are the basis of modern direct marketing. A powerful impetus to the development of direct marketing has been given by the constant improvement of computer technology: thanks to it, companies can create large and complex databases containing significant amounts of information about customers. But collecting data is one thing, but using it effectively is another. That's why more and more retailers and manufacturers these days are learning to mine the gold from the information ore. And they do this in several ways.

Those marketers who work with databases observe individual buyers and, based on the information received, develop marketing incentives for the future. The purpose of this is to “build a relationship” with the target buyer.

A second way to use databases is to detect trends in the behavior of large groups of buyers. New computer technologies are used to process huge amounts of information about the most attractive buyers.

Determining which customers should be sent a special offer. In this case, companies define an ideal customer who is “worthy” of receiving a special offer; They then use their own databases to determine which registered customers best fit that category. By tracking individual customer reactions, the company improves the precision of its marketing focus over time.

Re-activation of made purchases. The database helps the company make attractive offers to replace or improve existing products, or purchase additional products, precisely at the moment when customers are most likely to take action.

A marketing customer database poses a distinct threat to customer privacy. Proponents of database marketing counter that the whole point of collecting such customer information is to know when not to call a person and what not to put in their mailbox! Regardless, most people don't mind sharing something about themselves as long as they get something in return, be it a product they want, a discount coupon - or even a small monetary compensation. Therefore, future marketers based on customer databases will obviously need to learn how to somehow compensate customers for the privilege of selling products to them.

This type of marketing, like others, requires special investments. In particular, companies have to shell out money to purchase computers, related software and data analytics programs, create communication channels and recruit qualified personnel.

Door-to-door sales provide customers with the benefits of convenience and attention. However, high costs of hiring staff, training, paying and stimulating their work often lead to an overall increase in prices. According to G.D. Krylova and M.I. Sokolova, direct mail, along with personal selling, belongs to the traditional form of direct marketing, which is also called “direct order marketing.” Mailing lists are created from customer lists or contracted from special mailing list companies that provide you with the names of any people you want: the super rich, mobile home owners, veterinarians, pet owners, catalog buyers, and etc.

The direct mail method is great for direct, one-on-one communication between the seller and the buyer. It allows you to achieve high selectivity in identifying the target market, can be personal in nature, is flexible and allows you to quickly evaluate performance (a company using the direct mail method can fully count on the reliability of the results obtained and their value for the further development of activities).

Until recently, direct mail materials were primarily printed products distributed by postal and telegraph departments and other organizations involved in the delivery of mail. However, recently three main forms of mail delivery have become most widespread.

New types allow direct mail to be sent at unprecedented speed (compared to the “snail pace” of regular mail); but be that as it may, even lightning-fast marketing messages delivered to recipients who are not interested in them will be indignantly sent back as “junk paper”. This is why marketers should always first identify their target audience to avoid wasting their own money and time.

Sale by catalogues. Retail stores are increasingly resorting to the use of catalogs, considering them an additional means of stimulating sales.

Retail stores are increasingly resorting to the use of catalogs, considering them an additional means of stimulating sales.

In addition, many buyers enjoy receiving catalogs; sometimes recipients are even willing to pay for them, so some catalog sales firms sell their catalogs in bookstores and newsstands.

In Russia, trade through catalogs has also gained some popularity, but it is held back by very expensive postal services.

According to M.N. Grigoriev, telemarketing is the use of telephone and telecommunication technologies in conjunction with database management systems to implement marketing functions such as advertising, selling goods and services, conducting marketing surveys, collecting and processing the necessary information.

This method has become one of the main tools of modern direct marketing. Marketers use outbound telemarketing as an active means of generating and refining sales offers and directly selling products directly to individual and business customers. Telephone calls are also used to conduct research, test surveys, create databases, set up meetings with buyers, evaluate the results of previous contact with the client, as part of the process of securing buyer interest (or a program to establish long-term relationships).

There are two types of immediate response television marketing: the first is the placement of advertising that provides the opportunity for immediate response. Advertising video clips, designed for immediate response, convincingly describe the properties of the product within 30-60 seconds and provide customers with a toll-free phone number, by calling which they can order the product. In essence, immediate response television marketing is a variant of mass marketing of a product or service, but with a feedback element - that same toll-free telephone number, which gives the buyer a certain independence and the right to independently decide whether to buy this product or not.

Interactive direct marketing - maxi-marketing is carried out using interactive computer services that provide online information services.

For operational marketing, systems are used that provide two-way electronic communication between the seller and the buyer. The connection between the buyer's computer (or TV-based Web machine) and various services is provided through a modem and telephone lines. There are two types of interactive marketing channels: commercial operational information services and the Internet.

Commercial information services provide their subscribers with real-time information and marketing services for a specified monthly fee. These commercial operational information services provide their subscribers with the necessary information (news, libraries, education, travel, sports, information), provide them with entertainment (games, etc.), trading services, organize dialogue between subscribers (electronic bulletin boards, forums, rooms for conversations) and provide email services. By clicking a few times on their home computer, subscribers of these services can order a wide variety of products and services from the appropriate catalogs.

The capabilities of the Internet raise marketing research to a new qualitative level. The presence of electronic versions of magazines and newspapers allows you to obtain the same amount of information as for other types of advertising, but concentrated in one place. In addition, using the search program, you can analyze competitors not only by advertisements, but also by price lists and catalogs. It is very important for this search that the company declares itself on the Internet by providing information about keywords and expressions. This provision is now of paramount importance.

The more companies are ready to recognize the wide possibilities of new electronic technologies, the more often we have to deal with the concept of “electronic commerce” in practice.

In general, Internet users represent something of an elite group. These are quite young, educated and wealthy people, the majority of whom are men. However, the more people become involved in using the Internet, the more their demographic composition approaches that which is typical for the population of our planet as a whole (at least for developed countries). As the Internet matures, it will provide product manufacturers with access to an ever-wider range of demographic segments.

Internet users represent almost all age groups of the population.

The new world of e-commerce requires new approaches to marketing.

The benefits of interactive marketing. Why have operational information services gained so much popularity? The widespread adoption of Internet marketing that we have seen recently can be attributed to a number of benefits derived from the use of this medium by both consumers and product manufacturers.

Internet shopping provides consumers with the same basic benefits as other forms of direct marketing. Most importantly, it is extremely convenient: customers do not need to travel anywhere (especially if the product they need can be purchased in another city or even in another country), look for a free space near the store to park their car, or walk through endless sales floors to find the product they need. , take a closer look and ask the price of it. They can compare different models of the same product, compare their prices and order the selected product 24 hours a day, without leaving home. Shopping on the Internet is made extremely easily and without unnecessary witnesses, nothing bothers or annoys the buyer, no one distracts him from the purchasing process (including sellers).

Online shopping also provides consumers with additional benefits. Commercial information services and the Internet provide consumers with access to a variety of comparative information: about companies, products and competitors. In addition, “electronic purchases” are carried out actively and take a minimum of time. Customers often have the ability to interact with a merchant's Web site and find exactly the information, product, or service they want, then order it (or even download it to their computer) without leaving their desk.

Benefits for marketers. Interactive marketing also provides many benefits to manufacturers and sellers of products. Due to the interactive nature of such marketing, which allows direct contact between seller and buyer, it is an excellent means of developing a very trusting relationship between seller and buyer. It brings companies and their clients closer together. When communicating with consumers, companies can study their specific needs and wishes more deeply and create appropriate databases. In turn, “electronic shoppers” can ask questions and receive immediate answers. Based on such continuous interaction, companies are able to more sensitively respond to the needs of their clients (ideally, to the individual needs of each individual client!), increasing the quality and improving the specific consumer properties of products and services provided.

Interactive marketing also allows you to reduce prices and increase the profitability of trade. E-merchants do not incur the costs associated with maintaining stores and the associated costs of rent, insurance and utilities. Because buyers communicate directly with sellers, interactive marketing often results in lower prices and increased efficiency in various stages of product distribution, such as order processing, inventory, customer delivery, and sales promotion. Finally, electronic communication between seller and buyer is often less expensive than communication by mail.

The Internet is a truly global environment, allowing buyers and sellers from around the world to find each other literally in a matter of seconds.

Interactive marketing channels. Merchants can engage in online marketing in four different ways: by creating an online store; placing advertisements on the Internet; taking part in Internet forums, news groups or newsgroups; or using e-mail and Web broadcasting (actively building your own clientele). Let's take a closer look at each of these channels.

A company creating an electronic store has two options: it can buy a “space” in some commercial online information service or open its own Web site. Purchasing a place in a commercial online information service involves either renting a certain disk memory in the computer of this service, or creating a communication line between the company’s own computer and the “shopping arcades” of the operational information service.

In addition to purchasing space on a commercial information service (or as an alternative to this option), thousands of companies have already created their own Web sites. These nodes vary greatly in their purpose and internal content. One of the main types of such sites is a corporate Web site. Such nodes provide interactive communication between the company and consumers, initiated by the consumers themselves. With the help of these nodes, companies strive to create a positive image of the company, its products and services among consumers, as well as provide alternative sales channels; however, this does not aim to directly sell goods and services to the consumer. Corporate Web sites typically provide a wide range of information and other tools designed to answer consumer questions and create a positive and attractive image of the company in the eyes of consumers.

Other companies choose to create marketing Web sites. Such a node is designed to involve consumers in a closer interaction with the company, which, in theory, should stimulate the purchase of goods and services of this company. When creating a marketing Web site, communication and interaction with consumers is initiated by the company itself. This site includes a catalog, customer advice, and sales promotions such as coupons, sales, and shopping contests. Companies advertise their marketing Web sites widely in print, radio, and television, as well as in pointer advertisements that appear on other Web sites.


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What's happened direct marketing? This term has been heard by all successful businessmen in the field of advertising for several decades. Previously, this concept was associated with the promotion of goods by mail. However, at the moment this sales tool has taken a strong place.

This increase in popularity and demand lies in the fact that the manufacturer or person marketing the goods can receive reliable information about the product directly from the buyer, which helps to evaluate the quality of the advertising campaign.

The American company HubSpot found out which first sentences do not inspire the reader, but, on the contrary, force them to delete the letter.

In our article we have collected 5 such phrases and ways to correct mistakes.

The essence and features of direct marketing

In the field of trade, there has always been an oral relationship between the selling and buying parties. In modern language, such establishment of contacts with consumers is called direct marketing.

This term came into Russian from English (from direct marketing or DM), which means the interaction between the consumer and the distributor or manufacturer of the product. Such contact is possible when selling any product or service. At the same time, the parties to the transaction actively participate in this trading process.

The main goal of direct marketing is to sell and, accordingly, purchase the product offered. Thus, direct methods are an advertising tool that includes both interaction with the consumer and one hundred percent implementation of all the requirements for successful service and product sales. In light of the above definition, we can talk about this activity as the sale of goods.

The use of direct technology today is widespread in various areas of product promotion and even in all marketing in general. Experts predict a great future for those businessmen who use DM methods in their business. Direct marketing will probably even take the place of advertising as the main driver from the producing entity to the purchasing entity. Such statements are not unfounded: direct sales technology has taken a strong place in the business market in a short time.

According to the European Direct Marketing Association, the cost of launching these methods in Western countries by the end of the last century amounted to 35% of the total costs required to start business sales. In the US, spending reached about $180 billion, accounting for 60% of the budget. For the Russian Federation, the amount of costs ranges from 5 to 10% of total costs.

It is the advantages of direct marketing that explain such a lightning-fast development of this tool in today's market. Now let's talk about this in more detail.

The variety of goals and expected results from the use of direct technology also increases the growth of their demand. The main objectives of this business idea are as follows:

  • gain the buyer's attention;
  • interest him and leave him within the zone of his control;
  • establish communicative cooperation within the “producer-consumer” framework for a long term;
  • encourage the completion of the transaction and create all the necessary conditions for subsequent acquisitions;
  • in exceptional cases, analyze consumer feedback on the purchase of various products.

If we consider direct marketing in more detail, we can highlight the following tasks and goals:

  • arouse buyer interest;
  • force him to remain in his zone of influence;
  • establish long-term contact with the consumer;
  • encourage a purchase;
  • create prerequisites for further wholesale transactions;
  • analyze the consumer’s opinion about the purchase;
  • increase sales turnover;
  • expand the range of products offered;
  • increase the number of purchases;
  • achieve increased consumer loyalty.

All types of direct marketing differ from each other in a number of features. Of course, some details are characteristic of each of its forms. Here are the common features common to all branches of direct marketing:

    • direct cooperation between seller and buyer;
    • concentration on the consumer and targeting in relation to the audience;
    • conducting a dialogue with the client;
    • easy control of the trading process through analysis of clear numbers;
    • flexibility, adaptation to consumer requests;
    • convenience for both parties;
    • small volume of the target audience and the ability to ensure its full coverage using a minimum of operations and time;
    • the value of every new interaction.

When is direct marketing needed?

Completing a specific transaction is one of the reasons why many business communities turn to direct marketing, but it is far from the only reason. The most preferable of all the advantages of this method for companies is the opportunity to establish direct and long-term contact aimed at each buyer, the so-called market interaction. The transition from mass production and individualization of trade relations is associated with many aspects of our daily life: the technological complexity of goods, the emergence of new opportunities for purchasing items and paying for purchases, close competition, the creation of adjacent channels and the use of the latest computer technologies.

In industry terms, direct marketing is most widely used by banks, in the insurance system, in electrical engineering, instrument making, and mechanical engineering; several in smaller steppes - energy, chemistry, construction, food industry, transport and in the service sector.

Direct marketing of a company is successful if the following criteria are met:

      • narrow specialization of a product or service, requiring constant contact between the seller and the buyer;
      • frequent price changes;
      • large sales turnover, which more than doubles all direct marketing costs;
      • all buyers are distributed in small areas close to shopping centers;
      • all shopping centers have equipped places for storing goods;
      • small target audience;
      • The quantity of each product supplied is a multiple of the container used.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Direct Marketing

Why are sales using direct methods so popular? Here are the main benefits of direct marketing.

  1. Targeting the audience and its selection. To best accomplish this task, they use direct mail and so-called telemarketing, which surpasses even television advertising in the quality of its results. Radio is also not very effective in selecting a target audience, unless we are talking about winning fans of a certain musical genre. Billboards also cope poorly with this task, and therefore are not a direct marketing tool. Of all the media, the most useful in terms of direct technology is printed materials, namely magazines.
  2. Geographical selectivity. What does it mean? When using telemarketing, direct mail and magazine advertising, it is important to understand where your target audience lives, so as not to throw away large sums of money on advertisements in print publications distributed throughout Russia. After all, your clients are not the whole country, but a certain region on which you should focus your financial efforts.
  3. Selectivity based on demographic principles (age, gender, marital status, nationality, etc.). From the point of view of these characteristics of the population, the most useful in terms of direct promotion of goods is telemarketing, although radio and television channels can in their own way positively influence the process of demographic selection.
  4. Selectivity based on psychological principles. Thanks to telemarketing, a target audience is selected, which is characterized by certain psychological habits: the same lifestyle, hobbies, style, etc. Magazines also do an excellent job of this function, since they are created to satisfy the interests of a certain group of the population (sports publications, handicrafts, fashion, etc.).
  5. Elimination of meaningless dissemination of information. It is obvious that people very rarely pay attention to advertisements in newspapers, radio or television, no matter how flashy their headlines may be. Telemarketing, on the other hand, delivers information to consumers in a more targeted manner without giving them the choice to refuse it.
  6. Fast buyer response. If you want to check how customers react to your offer and you need to do this quickly, then use telemarketing. If you have more time, then radio and television are suitable for this purpose. Advertising on television bears fruit, but requires too much time and material costs.
  7. Measurable response. If you can quickly gauge how customers feel about your product, you can immediately begin expanding your product into other markets. The most rapid consumer response is provided by telemarketing, which provides you with data on consumer activity within the first hours after the start of the advertising campaign.
  8. Various response options. When ordering a product, it is very important to provide people with a sufficient number of ways to complete it. If customers want to place an order by phone, fax or mail, then telemarketing is ideal for this purpose, since, for example, television does not provide consumers with such opportunities. In the case of television advertising, the buyer is limited in the choice of ordering options. In addition, if the TV viewer does not have time to remember the number by which a purchase can be made, he is unable to rewind, and a pencil or pen is not always at hand at the right time. In such situations, the reaction of buyers to your advertising is reduced to zero. The same story is typical for radio advertising: while on the road and hearing a number on the radio where you can order a product, you cannot remember the numbers by ear, and if you reach for the handle, you risk getting into an unpleasant situation on the road.
  9. Full control of demand and a huge variety of possibilities. Telemarketing allows you to make some changes to the advertising script and immediately monitor consumer demand for certain innovations. Magazines do not provide this opportunity due to their print nature, and television and radio advertising are usually short-lived and too expensive to test different offers and control demand for them.
  10. Large volume of messages. Other media, with the exception of marketing, offer only short advertising time. Telemarketing involves advertising at a speed of 150 words per minute, which is more than half the standard A4 size.
  11. Ability to change the advertising script. The high cost of television advertising makes making adjustments to it almost impossible. In the case of telemarketing, edits are made in a matter of minutes. Periodicals involve a long process of getting in and out of print, which also makes changes difficult. Even local radio is more suitable for this role due to its fast input time.
  12. High percentage of consumer participation. Telemarketing engages the listener in a conversation, which also happens when watching long-running television shows, especially when various polls and other interactive techniques are used to work with viewers.
  13. Intrusive adware. If the viewer has no other choice but to watch your advertisement, then it is very annoying. For a long time, TV advertising was considered as such, but today the opinion has changed: after all, you can simply switch to another channel. Will you be able to avoid answering calls that keep ringing your phone? No! This means that telemarketing advertising is very intrusive. Ads in magazines are often simply ignored, and on the radio the listener may ignore the offer.
  14. Reaching your audience wherever they are. If the object of interest to you, namely the consumer, is at home, then you can reach him using standard television advertising. If a buyer is traveling in a car or on the subway while reading a newspaper, then radio and printed forms of delivering information can also be useful. Telemarketing is an even more reliable means of reaching the target audience, no matter where the person happens to be when the call is made.
  15. Quickly enter and collapse an information message. The practicality of the time structure influences how often your offer is tested and how quickly your advertising campaign is terminated in a given situation. Flexible timing is a characteristic feature of telemarketing, as well as newspapers and radio. The magazine cannot be produced in a short time, which means that the speed of entering information leaves much to be desired.

Disadvantages of Direct Marketing

  • minor flaws can become fatal to the prestige and reputation of your company, so if you are not sure that you can handle it, do not skimp on hiring a competent marketing specialist;
  • the direct method of promotion will bear fruit only in the long term;
  • when implementing direct marketing in some economic areas, significant capital investments are required;
  • sometimes situations occur when the consumer is not in the mood to conduct a dialogue with the manufacturer, which can cause a conflict (this is especially typical for the post-Soviet space);
  • If the company does not have a clear distribution of responsibilities, confusion may occur: an advertising campaign sells one declared product, while the agent, when communicating with the buyer, tries to sell him another product.

Needless to say, the buyer will think that he has fallen into a scam, and then you can forget about the prospect of closing the deal.

Direct marketing is possible only if there is a clear division of responsibilities in the company, and each employee of the company acts according to one common goal. Success is guaranteed to a team in which each member stands up for a common cause and clearly understands his tasks.

  • Direct marketing: complete algorithm preparation and conduct

Traditional direct marketing channels

Individual approach to sales. The sales specialist aims to carry out individual sales, which involves identifying potential customers, establishing contact with them and turning such interaction into long-term cooperation.

Marketing through direct mail. Thanks to direct mail, every customer is aware of all the innovations in your products, because he regularly receives brochures, samples of offered products and information about promotions.

There are three main forms of mail communication with clients.

  1. Fax message – modern technology makes it possible to transfer paper versions of proposals via fax to other telephones, and this happens in a matter of minutes.
  2. Electronic message – via e-mail mailing is carried out from one PC to another.
  3. Voice message – this type of mailing is relevant when sending information to other phones.
  4. Marketing using a catalogue.

This element of direct marketing allows you to keep consumers informed of all innovations and additions to your product range. You can mail, sell, or distribute catalogs for free, and experiment with design and presentation using videos, online catalogs, disk drives, and more.

Telephone marketing. With this method, the main tool of communication between the seller and the buyer is the telephone. There are two types of product promotion by phone.

Outbound telephone marketing means that the operator himself contacts customers and informs them about existing offers, establishes contacts, and also conducts various social surveys, evaluates the results of his work with consumers, and creates customer databases.

Inbound telephone marketing involves creating customer hotlines where people direct their orders. As a rule, this is the reaction of buyers to advertising messages on radio, television or in newspapers. In addition, there is a hotline, by contacting operators, users can leave their suggestions or express dissatisfaction.

  • How to make direct mail an effective online marketing channel

Modern forms of direct marketing

Direct response telemarketing

This type of promotion involves the use of television commercials that have feedback programs - this is a contact phone number for a toll-free call, which allows customers to find out product details or place an order. There are two types of such telemarketing:

  • direct response advertising messages - the video itself informs the buyer about the characteristics of the product and invites you to contact the company for further details. The telephone number for contact is provided in the video;
  • television channels with a narrow focus, engaged only in product advertising.

Interactive Marketing

Direct marketing also includes the online purchase of goods, which is carried out using a computer online. There are two forms of this type of direct technology:

  • commercial online shopping services that inform about possible products, promotions, bonus offers and other marketing services only to those customers who have signed up for a monthly subscription by paying a certain amount. Such commercial organizations have their own local networks, which is a guarantee of their reliability;
  • interactive platform - the Internet allows customers to exchange opinions about a product and communicate with each other.

Direct marketing on the Internet is no less powerful a tool for promoting products than television or telemarketing. But we should also note the problems that exist with its use.

  1. Interactive marketing does not cover the entire market segment, thereby creating difficulties of limited consumer access and, as a consequence, insufficient volume of purchases made by them.
  2. Incomplete demographic and psychographic information about customers.
  3. Clutter and too much information.
  4. Incomplete guarantee of safe shopping. The customer runs the risk of handing over his data to fraudsters who interfere with the online transaction process. Credit card numbers are not safe, and therefore the funds on them are not safe.
  5. Consumers become vulnerable, unable to prevent businesses from exploiting their personal data. There is discrimination against customers and a lack of ethical considerations among seller representatives.

Not long ago, integrated direct marketing became another popular type of promotion, which provides a variety of options for delivering sales notifications and multi-stage advertising campaigns.

  • Internet Marketing Tools: 9 Most Effective Promotion Methods

Stage-by-stage organization of direct marketing in the company

Individual promotion of goods and services is possible in almost any business idea. But the success of this tool depends on the skill and experience of a marketing specialist.

Clear control and detailed preparation for this type of activity are required. At the moment, this niche is not occupied in Russia, so there are great opportunities for companies and advertisers to develop this area. Residents of Europe receive daily mailings with similar messages and offers; Russians, on the contrary, are not yet so integrated into this process. When using direct marketing, invested funds tend to quickly return in multiplied quantities, which makes this advertising tool a leader compared to promotion in the media and its other types.

The individual focus of direct methods allows you to expand your customer base, as well as increase the number of leads coming from the same consumer. Also, this advertising tool makes the brand recognizable and creates conditions for successful research of your niche in the market.

Stage 1. Preparatory stage of direct marketing.

This preliminary stage involves defining goals and objectives, selecting advertising tools, developing a portrait of the future consumer and describing the target audience.

At this stage you need to achieve the following:

  • ensure an increase in personal client base;
  • carry out personal sales and an individual approach to each consumer;
  • establish a continuous flow of clients and build a lead generation system;
  • bring back lost customers.

At this stage, it is important to determine what percentage of consumer response and conversion you expect to receive from the campaign. If you planned for 30% of reviews, then, naturally, the result in the form of half of this amount is a failure. But a conversion of 1% under such conditions is a success.

In order to correctly set your goals and define your tasks, you must conduct a detailed study of the market: analyze the industry, competitors, average bill and percentage of leads who become buyers, as well as dozens of other criteria. Next, you need to test the campaign and adjust it if necessary.

There is an opinion that due to the underdevelopment of individual marketing in the Russian Federation, if a company manages to overcome the threshold of 2-4% conversion, which is the average level in the West, then the advertising event can be considered successful.

The essence of direct marketing is direct contact with the client. The most important thing is to determine the target audience. For example, to find persons in whose interests it would be to purchase programs for planning routes for the delivery of goods. This can be a manufacturer, a wholesaler, or a retailer. It is also important to find out who exactly should you send your proposal to: the general director, his deputy, a commercial representative or the company’s chief logistics officer?

The main task is to describe the portrait of the future client - the consumer of a product or service. If you doubt that you can handle this matter, a consulting company will come to your aid.

The direct marketing tools used depend on the goals and objectives of the advertising campaign, as well as on the characteristics of the target audience that you have previously selected as your clients. For example, if you are distributing handicraft products, then advertising will work more effectively on Odnoklassniki than on Instagram, since, you see, more clients use the first social network.

Stage 3. Conducting a direct marketing campaign.

Goal: increasing the customer base. Having a large target audience, you must select only those who would be interested in your specific offer. This can be achieved through coupons or printed media add-ons. All interested parties are your target audience. Feedback advertising on radio and television can also be helpful.

Converting merely interested parties into potential clients. At this stage, you must conduct in-depth work with the audience who responded to your advertising offer. Contact can be established via SMS or email.

Goal: encouraging customers to buy. In this case, the direct marketing process involves informing people about all the possible nuances of your offer. You can simply remind consumers about your organization, or you can offer a discount, gift, lottery ticket, or other marketing service.

Goal: maintaining contact with established clients. It is much cheaper for a manufacturer to try to retain a regular consumer than to find a new one. You may face the problem of a decrease in turnover if you lose even a few of your customers. That is why we should never forget about established client relationships. For your part, you must constantly maintain contact with customers, inform them about discounts, promotions, sales and new arrivals of goods.

Goal: returning lost customers. If some customers no longer use your services, this does not mean that all is lost. You must find out the reason why customers refuse your service or products. Thanks to this, you can identify your weaknesses and study the advantages of your competitors. Carefully reaching out to lost customers can be beneficial for improving your company.

Stage 4. Analysis of the implemented direct marketing campaign.

At the end of the campaign, careful evaluation is required. If the activity was unsuccessful, its analysis is still necessary, because thanks to this you can understand the shortcomings of the promotional event and prevent them next time. Major errors include:

  • incorrectly formed target audience;
  • a message written incorrectly and addressed to the wrong people;
  • Wrong timing for the DM campaign.

If everything went well, you must also conduct an analysis and find out what exactly served as a prerequisite for a successful completion, and what could jeopardize the success of the event.

It is necessary to take into account all consumer reviews, be it general information requests, interest in the company’s activities, or the purchase of goods and ordering services. Clients who ignored your offer should also be kept in view - this will help further planning of advertising campaigns.

According to most Western experts, direct marketing (direct marketing) or DM will acquire a dominant role in the advertising market and will displace all other types of promotion. On the world stage, the progress of this technology is constantly on the rise, its development does not stop, and the profit it brings is twice as much as the income from advertising in the media.

  • 4 examples of successful Internet marketing of an enterprise in Russia

How to evaluate how effective direct marketing tools are

There are certain criteria by which the effectiveness of direct marketing can be judged.

  1. The percentage of increase in the audience of clients who contact the organization after the implementation of a specific advertising campaign (this data can be obtained from the company registered after the event).
  2. The percentage of sales increase that occurred after specific direct marketing actions (such information can be obtained by analyzing sales volumes after an advertising campaign). Evaluation capabilities allow us to judge the effectiveness of direct marketing by monitoring data from communication systems, types of frequency and duration of direct marketing (mailing, print publications, online advertising).

The success of the direct method, according to popular opinion, depends approximately 40% on the quality of the product offered, its distinctive characteristics, brand, and specific market conditions. The other 40% is determined by the impact of the product on the client audience and the level of this impact. The last 20% of success comes from direct contact with the consumer. Experts believe that several elements make direct marketing effective. Personal selling is one of the main criteria, when used, the consumer feels like a truly important part of the trading process.

The significant contact budget is another important metric in determining the success of direct marketing. To determine the cost of interaction with a client, it is necessary to take into account several parameters, without which it will be impossible to make correct calculations. The first criterion includes the maximum value of the total cost of contact with the consumer. The second element identifies the proportion of effective interactions that result in a purchase at the end of a direct marketing campaign. The third criterion indicates the planned approximate results at each specific stage.

The success of any direct marketing campaign is measured by the number of people who respond to the promotion and the results obtained.

These parameters can be assessed through testing. At the same time, it must be complete, covering all aspects of direct marketing - this is the basic rule for analyzing the results.

Solid data can also be obtained by conducting interviews with a certain number of consumers pre-selected from a general list of the target audience.

Due to the fact that there are different groups of buyers, it is necessary to analyze each of them separately.

For example, if you want to choose packaging for your product, then it is best to ask customers for their opinions and conduct testing. Of course, such measures cost money, but the losses in case of choosing packaging that is unattractive to the consumer will exceed your expenses for organizing trial promotions.

The test results will help you anticipate sales volume across your entire group of potential customers, as well as evaluate your customers' needs and test your financial competency during the development and production process.

  • How to launch effective contextual advertising for 5,000 rubles

What mistakes make direct marketing efforts ineffective?

Every year, experts make unforgivable mistakes when running direct marketing campaigns. Here are the main ones.

Error 1. Inexperience in sales. Many organizations initially present their product to the wrong group of customers. The fault here lies with the specialist who incorrectly drew up the portrait of the future consumer and carelessly approached the development of the text of the advertising message. To avoid such mistakes, it is necessary to create individual advertising messages for each target audience. Moreover, maximum attention should be focused not on the merits of your company, but on the benefits and advantages of cooperation with you.

Error 2. Reluctance to spend money on building a high-quality customer base. The database must be actionable, real, and not misleading.

Error 3. Saving on specialists. To achieve success you need a highly qualified employee. You should not reduce your expenses by saving on this. The profit that such a professional can bring to the company will cover all costs.

Error 4. Using the experience of other, more advanced agencies.

Error 5. Competent copywriting plays a huge role. The text of your messages should be unique, bright and catchy.

Error 6. You shouldn't try to save money everywhere. The desire to minimize costs is not always the key to a profitable business.

Error 7. Test your business niche before investing big money in it. Thanks to this, you will find out whether your product is in demand and what to do next.

Direct Marketing: Examples of Successful Campaigns

A direct marketing campaign must be unusual in its concept and clearly aimed at the target audience. Here are some examples of the activities of Western enterprises in the field of direct marketing.

The well-known company “Haggis” is organizing the event. All new mothers leaving the maternity hospital are presented with free diapers. Women, in turn, send the barcode of their packaging and fill out a form, after which they proceed to communicate with the company that sells the goods, receiving discounts, promotional codes, prizes and gifts. This campaign is a big spend of $10-20 million but hits the target audience perfectly. Naturally, the expenses for gifts were paid off with funds received from further sales, because several hundred US dollars are spent on purchasing diapers annually. Such promotions can only be carried out with a preliminary analysis, comparing costs and profits. In the Russian Federation, experts consider the acceptable spending threshold to be 2-3% of total cash turnover.

In this example we see a 100% hit on target, but such cases are not frequent. The success of direct marketing in the Russian Federation is small when compared with foreign countries.

Another element of direct technology are events aimed at encouraging fans of a particular brand (Brand Loyalty). Similar methods are used by automobile production owners. It is extremely important for them that the consumer returns to the same brand during subsequent purchases. In Europe, car owners change cars approximately once every 3-4 years. We also see this trend: clubs of fans of a certain brand of car are being created, for example RENAULT, BMW, 4x4, etc. Fans of these cars organize their own parties, meetings, and racing competitions.

The Audi Car Concert held a customer loyalty event in Spain, where they provided free servicing, replaced an old car with a new one, and also organized a travel club. Obviously, every Audi driver was aware of the company's plans in advance.

The goal of direct marketing is individual selling through interaction with the consumer, which customer loyalty programs greatly help with. Organizations establish close contacts with customers, which means they invest money in ongoing cooperation.

The condition for the effectiveness of direct marketing programs is frequent interaction with the consumer, at least 2-10 times a year. For example, the network company "KS", which sells shoes, informs its customers about monthly sales, promotions, lotteries, new products?

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Marketing: lecture notes Loginova Elena Yurievna

5. Marketing goals and objectives

5. Marketing goals and objectives

Marketing is a social science, so it affects a great many people. For a number of reasons (education, social status, religious beliefs and much more), the attitude towards this discipline is ambiguous, giving rise to contradictions. On the one hand, marketing is an integral part of the life of a product, on the other hand, it carries a negative perception: it creates unnecessary needs, develops greed in a person, and “attacks” with advertising from all sides.

What are the true goals of marketing?

Many believe that the main goal of this science is sales and its promotion.

P. Drucker (management theorist) writes: “The goal of marketing is to make sales efforts unnecessary. His goal is to know and understand the client so well that the product or service will exactly suit the latter and sell itself.”

This does not mean that sales and promotion efforts are no longer important. Most likely, they become part of the enterprise’s marketing activities to achieve the main goal - maximizing sales and profits. From the above we can conclude that marketing is a type of human activity that is aimed at satisfying human needs and wants through exchange.

So, the main goals of marketing are the following.

1. Maximization possible high level of consumption - firms are trying to increase their sales, maximize profits using various methods and techniques (introduce fashion for their products, outline a sales growth strategy, etc.).

2. Maximization consumer satisfaction, i.e. the goal of marketing is to identify existing needs and offer the largest possible range of homogeneous goods. But since the level of consumer satisfaction is very difficult to measure, it is difficult to evaluate marketing activities in this area.

3. Maximize choice. This goal follows and is, as it were, a continuation of the previous one. The difficulty in realizing this goal is not to create branded abundance and imaginary choice in the market. And some consumers, when there is an excess of certain product categories, experience a feeling of anxiety and confusion.

4. Maximizing quality of life. Many are inclined to believe that the presence of an assortment of goods has a beneficial effect on its quality, quantity, availability, cost, that is, the product is “improved”, and therefore, the consumer can satisfy his needs as much as possible and improve the quality of life. Supporters of this view recognize that improving the quality of life is a noble goal, but at the same time, this quality is difficult to measure, which is why sometimes contradictions arise.

Marketing tasks:

1) research, analysis, assessment of the needs of real and potential buyers;

2) marketing assistance in developing a new product (service);

3) provision of service;

4) marketing communications;

5) research, analysis, assessment and forecasting of the state of real and potential markets;

6) research of competitors’ activities;

7) sales of goods (services);

8) formation of assortment policy;

9) formation and implementation of the company’s pricing policy;

10) formation of a company's behavior strategy.

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