Direct marketing includes direct communications with cautiously targeted single consumers to get a quick response. This process must contain interactivity.
It must be remembered by the marketing manager that direct marketing is not new concept. This approach has been used by direct mailers, catalog business organizations and telemarketers for years.
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However the nature & direction of direct marketing have changed through improved database technologies and new media.
Most direct marketers view direct marketing as acting an even wider function than just selling products & services.
Recently, there is trend towards one-to-one marketing or more narrowly targeted marketing called direct marketing. This approach is accepted as both supplemental and primary approach.
New Direct Marketing Model
Customer names are gathered in past by direct mailers, catalog business organizations and telemarketers and goods are sold mainly through telephone or by mail, which is known as new direct marketing model.
Recently direct marketing has undergone a dramatic transformation, with the advancement in database technologies and new marketing media.
Direct marketing may be viewed as a communication function and a distribution function. Direct marketing is used as supplemental medium by some business organizations.
However, direct marketing is simply more than supplemental medium or channel recently, for many business organizations and a complete and new model of doing business now constituted by Internet and electronic commerce.
For a new industrial order, Internet is the basis which is said by some. The new direct model is used by some business organizations as their only approach.
It is seen by the experts that one day all the selling and purchasing will contain direct links between business organizations and their customers. The customer expectations will change by new model about speed, convenience, price, comparability and service.
Benefits of Direct Marketing
Both sellers and buyers are benefited from direct marketing, which result in quick growth of direct marketing. Let’s check below the benefits of direct marketing.
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Benefits to Buyers: Purchasers are benefited in various ways by direct marketing.
- Purchasing is private & easy.
- It is convenient.
- Gives a wealth of comparative information
- Increased access of product & selection
- Online purchasing is immediate & interactive.
Benefits to Seller: Sellers are benefited in the following ways.
- For customer relationship building, direct marketing is potential tool.
- Increase speed & efficiency and reduce costs.
- Due to its interactive, one-to-one nature, the Internet is particularly powerful marketing instrument. Continuous relationships can be built.
- Greater flexibility is offered by online marketing.
- At just right moment, direct marketing can also be timed to reach prospects.
- The Internet is really global medium.
Growth of Direct Marketing
Sales have been growing quickly by traditional direct marketing channels. This growth rate is about 8% annually. Online marketing is growing very rapidly. For last five years, sales on the Internet have been increasing at about 60% per year.
Forms of Direct Marketing
Main forms of direct marketing are as follow.
- Face-to-Face Selling
- Telemarketing
- Direct Mail Marketing
- Catalog Marketing
- Direct Response Television Marketing
- Kiosk Marketing
- Online Marketing and Electronic Commerce
Customer Databases and Direct Marketing
There are difference between so-called one-to-one marketing and mass marketing. An organized gathering of comprehensive information about single customers or prospects, is known as customer database and it includes demographic, geographic, behavioral and psychographics data.
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For the purposes of contacting & transacting with the customers, database marketing is the process of developing, keeping and using customer database and other databases.
A customer database contains more than just lists of names. Database marketing is frequently used by service retailers and business-to-business marketers.
Business organizations utilize their database in four manners which are as follow.
- Identifying prospects.
- Deepening customer loyalty
- Making decision about which customer should receive a certain offer.
- Reactivating customer purchases.
Database marketing requires a special investment, like many other marketing tools.
Integrated Direct Marketing
Mostly, the business organization’s individual direct marketing struggle is not properly integrated with one another or with other components in its promotional or marketing mixes.
Integrated direct marketing is more powerful approach which includes using multiple-stage campaigns, and multiple-vehicle.
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