Is direct marketing an effective way of advertising or not? Great guide to successful direct marketing Direct sales what

Direct marketing, or direct marketing, is a form of communication that uses various advertising influences on consumers in order to develop relationships with them and persuade them to place an order, as well as organizing the sale of goods directly to customers.

Every year it occupies an increasing share in business communications of companies around the world.

Direct marketing is about reaching out to customers directly to establish a dialogue.

Forms of appeal may be different.

In the book 3. Fsgele “Direct Marketing. 99 practical tips on how to find a consumer" direct marketing is defined as any activity aimed at obtaining a consumer response: either in the form of a direct order for a product or service, or in the form of a request for further information, or in the form of an application for a service (product) in office (shop). The most significant factor in direct marketing 3.

Fegele believes that the correct choice of the target group: the effectiveness of activities in this case increases five or more times.

According to the definition of F. Kotler, given in his book “Fundamentals of Marketing”, direct marketing is direct communication with a carefully selected buyer, often in the form of an individualized dialogue in order to obtain an immediate response.

The literature provides various definitions of direct marketing.

Direct marketing is a set of activities with the help of which companies successfully build direct marketing communications personally with each consumer of their goods and services and establish long-term mutually beneficial relationships with them. At the same time, communications are two-way in nature: using direct marketing tools, the company not only addresses customers directly, but also establishes effective feedback, receiving feedback on proposals from its consumers.

Direct marketing is a selective and personal approach to each client through telephone communication or letter (electronic or regular).

Direct marketing is at least one of the possible strategies for finding new customers. In addition, existing customers are informed through direct marketing about the launch of a new product, pricing and promotions, presentations, etc.

The essence of direct marketing activities can be formulated as “direct action marketing”, and all of them involve direct (and, as a rule, personal) contact with customers. Among them are such tools as direct mail, courier delivery, telemarketing, fax mailing, and e-mail mailing.

Professor E.P. Golubkov identifies the following five forms of direct marketing: 1)

direct mail marketing (direct mail) - direct marketing of postal items (letters, advertisements, samples, prospectuses, etc.) to potential customers. Mailing lists or databases are formed based on information about the most likely and existing buyers of certain product groups; 2)

catalog marketing - direct marketing through catalogs sent to selected customers or provided to them at points of sale of goods; 3)

telemarketing is the use of telephone networks to directly sell goods to consumers. Company employees provide free telephone numbers for clients to receive orders from them, information about which is delivered to customers on the basis of television and radio advertising, direct mail, and catalog sales; 4)

television marketing - direct marketing through television by displaying direct response advertising (consumers who respond first have preferential purchasing terms) or using special television commercial channels for door-to-door sales at competitive prices; 5)

e-commerce - direct marketing through a two-channel system that connects consumers by cable or telephone line to the seller's computerized catalogue. The consumer communicates with the seller using a special control panel connected to the TV or a personal computer.

To increase sales with the help of direct marketing, integrated direct marketing is used - a set of multimedia technologies or the orderly, consistent use of marketing media, for example: advertising, direct marketing by mail, telemarketing and personal contacts of salespeople with clients.

The direct marketing system within the marketing mix has two levels: communication and distribution. The communication level includes communications with individual clients and communications with groups of clients. The distribution level is based on production forms of sales of goods: direct distribution and mail order trade.

In this case, the use of marketing policy tools (sales, product and contractual marketing mix) plays an important role in direct marketing.

The target groups in direct marketing can be the consumer, trading enterprises, industrial and non-industrial consumers (organizations, schools, churches, etc.).

Direct marketing is typical for highly developed countries. This follows from the fact that it basically originated from catalog trade. At the same time, half of the turnover in catalog trade will go to the United States, a third to Western Europe (80% only to Germany, Great Britain and France) and about 8% to Japan. All other countries in the world account for less than 10%, including Russia and Central Europe.

A natural form of trade is stationary retail establishments, where the buyer can see the product, pick it up, test it in operation, etc. Distance trading is difficult and expensive. Advertising and logistics are several times more expensive than in stationary trade. In order to make a purchase remotely, there must be compelling reasons.

The higher the economic development of a country, the wider the range of consumer goods offered and the stronger the differentiation of consumers. The individual needs of the buyer are satisfied by a differentiated offer of goods. However, these specific preferences cannot be satisfied in any retail store. Direct marketing offers the possibility of a differentiated approach and meets any exotic wishes of the consumer.

Each consumer requires an individual approach. This luxury can only be offered by enterprises in highly developed economies.

Another important aspect: direct marketing is impossible without a well-functioning system of communications, delivery of goods and receipt of payments. In countries with inefficient postal systems, its presence is much weaker.

A well-developed database market with reliable providers of these services, the possibility of multi-channel promotion of advertising and goods, and much more are also needed. These prerequisites exist only in countries with highly developed economies.

With the help of direct marketing tools (letter, telephone, e-mail), not only goods, but also, increasingly, services are sold.

For example, travel, communications services (mobile telephony, Internet access, pay television) or financial services (banks and insurance companies). Media access has traditionally also been sold through direct marketing, such as print subscriptions. In these cases, the use of direct marketing tools suggests itself, since the seller must know each of his customers.

The new communications infrastructure (significant reduction in the cost of landline and mobile telephone communications, the Internet), which has completely changed the world in Eastern and Western Europe, offers not only new areas of application of direct marketing. Direct communication with consumers via telephone (including SMS, MMS, etc.) and the Internet is paving the way for direct advertising. New methods of communication reduce the cost of using direct marketing tools and make them more effective.

And finally, the sharp drop in database prices, customer information accumulated over many years, as well as highly efficient methods of data bank management and data mining, open up completely new opportunities for direct marketing for direct contact with the target group without unnecessary additional costs. .

The path to the development of direct marketing in Russia is only ten years. During this time, in conditions of fierce competition and oversaturation of the market, the buyer has become a kind of “scarce commodity”. Every year, large manufacturing companies increasingly resort to fresh and innovative solutions offered by direct marketing tools.

In Russia, the growth of activity in the field of direct marketing is measured in tens of percent. Every year there is an impressive increase in the investment of companies in the field of direct relationships with consumers. Let's turn to the new millennium data provided by AKAR: costs of direct marketing (including direct mail and e-mail advertising, catalogues, telemarketing, Internet, teleshopping, SMS and other means of communication designed for response or direct sales, cost of developing direct creative -marketing, printing and production of advertising materials, cost of databases, postal and production costs, direct marketing agency fees) amounted to: in 2000 - $95 million, 2002 - 170 million, 2004 - 280 million.

The development trend of Russian direct marketing is such that within a few years the share of personal communications in advertising budgets will reach a level similar to the Western one, that is, 50%.

This increase in capital investment is caused by competition in all product groups and price categories, the development of new information technologies that provide the opportunity for feedback and dialogue with consumers, and global trends. As a result, there is a shift in emphasis and a redistribution of budgets for communications that are not related to traditional advertising, but are designed to provide feedback, develop relationships, and measure consumer reactions.

The direct marketing market in Russia, compared to European countries, the USA, and Japan, is still very young. In addition, the geographical size of the country hinders the rapid dissemination of professional experience, information exchange and the development of direct marketing in the regions.

Recently, many steps have been taken to disseminate knowledge and advanced technologies of direct marketing. Thus, seminars and master classes of specialized agencies and leading specialists, which are attended by students from many cities of the country, have become commonplace. The Russian Academy of National Economy offers a special course on the fundamentals of direct marketing. Representatives of the Russian advertising market annually gather at major events dedicated to the problems of direct marketing. The Russian Direct Marketing Association annually holds the international congress “Direct Marketing. XXI century." In 2006, the first business forum “Direct Marketing. A New Look”, organized by the editors of the “Marketing PRO” magazine. Issues of direct marketing and BTL are covered in many print media, in professional specialized magazines on direct marketing (“Marketing PRO”, “Marketing Communications”, “Direct Marketing Technologies”).

The Direct Marketing Association has been created in Russia, the main task of which is to popularize direct marketing, develop a concept for its development in Russia, generalize Russian and international experience and create information databases, and develop new technologies. A direct marketing section has also been created at the Association of Communication Agencies of Russia.

Any marketer planning a direct mail campaign will ask the following questions.

S How to properly prepare a client base for mailing?

S What is the reliability (relevance) of the direct marketing agency's address database?

S How many responses will there be and how to work with them?

The initiator of a marketing campaign must know the answer to all these questions - only then will he be sure that the mailing will be effective. Let's look at how to properly structure these processes in practice.

The main disadvantages are the following: a lot of unnecessary mail, only one contact with an advertising message, high costs for developing and sending messages to 1000 contacts.

The lack of a clearly defined target market, as well as the “shotgun” approach to mailing, turns out to be very

expensive. As a result, the majority of organizations engaged in the service sector consider mailing to be ineffective in marketing terms; the level of serious requests is 0.4% of the total number of recipients.

The effectiveness of direct mail marketing is determined by the accuracy of targeted mailings, so the trend now is to send to existing customers and potential customers who have previously expressed interest in it or who have already attended presentations or participated in promotions. Thus, communication contacts began to be carried out with a much higher degree of concentration.

With the help of direct marketing, the company's image is built in society, relationships with clients are maintained: their needs, attitudes towards the company's goods, services, and towards itself are recognized. After analyzing this data, the company can modify its offer to the market in a timely manner. However, the most important thing is that direct marketing provides maximum efficiency and selectivity of impact.

V.V. Saliy A.V. Naumova Fragment from the monograph “Relationship Marketing”

Direct marketing in the complex of marketing communications

Direct marketing is an integral part of relationship marketing and is not a form of mass advertising for consumer products. It differs significantly from other marketing tools: communications.

First, those organizations that use direct marketing go directly to customers to distribute products rather than to resellers and retailers. Some direct marketing companies have retail stores, but these retail outlets make up only a small part of their business.

Secondly, communications in the form of direct marketing are intended to provoke a response, and not simply to inform about a product or strengthen the company's image. Advertising of Kirieshki crackers or computers is not intended to cause immediate changes in consumer behavior. In contrast, communication in the form of direct marketing usually uses direct response advertising (direct advertising), i.e. advertising designed to motivate consumers to respond quickly—by placing an order or requesting more information.

In addition, direct response advertising directly communicates with the consumer through special means of communication rather than through the mass media. Examples of such media include: direct mail advertising, catalog advertising, telephone advertising, direct response television advertising, e-mail, and the use of computer communications as a communication channel.

Direct marketing ideas are not new. It is believed that the first American direct trade catalog was created by Benjamin Franklin. The catalog was published in 1744 and offered scientific books and textbooks. The era of direct selling began with the publication of the Montgomery Word Company catalog in 1872. The industry has grown steadily over the past 50 years, yet the 21st century is destined to be the century of direct marketing and direct response advertising.

This is facilitated not only by new technologies, the Internet and interactive television, but also by traditional media, which are increasingly using direct response methods. Many national companies use toll-free telephone lines (starting with the federal 800 code) not only to take orders, but also to provide customers with information about the location of nearby retail stores or product details. Teleshopping, for which entire channels are dedicated on cable television, and video recordings allow consumers to see the product “live” and, if desired, order it immediately. In the future, we can expect to see the emergence of diverse, innovative forms of interactive communications with potential customers.

One of the reasons for such popularity is the high flexibility of this method of promotion and trade, the opportunity not only to send a message about yourself and your products, but also to enter into communication and receive feedback, which is decisive in relationship marketing. For example, direct marketing can be used to generate orders from a catalog or mail order, can create future groundwork for sales representatives or promotional events, and can attract people to offices and retail stores where the deal will be concluded - for example, car dealerships. This type of interaction is especially relevant for manufacturing enterprises for which the target market is not mass, but represents several non-overlapping segments that have different characteristics and make purchasing decisions differently.

Direct marketing gravitates towards certain channels of information transmission. In first place in the world in terms of direct marketing costs is interactive marketing (or email marketing based on databases), then telephone marketing (offering products over the phone), followed by direct mail, television (telemarketing) and only in last place - mass media. Experts estimate that the total volume of direct sales through direct channels will increase by more than 25-30% over the next decade.

The first place to start is to consider the substance of the issue regarding the definitions of direct marketing and direct response advertising. Direct marketing is an interactive marketing communications tool that uses one or more means of disseminating information about a company to obtain a measurable response and/or close a transaction, regardless of the location of the message source and recipient. Direct response advertising is one of the direct marketing tools aimed at a group of people making purchasing decisions.

The basis of direct marketing is a database - a consumer card index. The intended response of direct marketing communication is an immediate response or purchase of a product. If the addressee of mass advertising is impersonal, then the addressee of direct marketing is always a specific person or group of persons making a purchasing decision.

We will adhere to the following position: for mass marketing we will use the term “mass advertising”, and for direct marketing we will use the term “direct response advertising”.

The intended response of direct response advertising communication is the possibility of feedback: a request for additional information, a response in the form of an order for a catalog or technical description, and a purchase order. But the direct purchase of the product itself is made with the help of sales specialists, and not with the help of an advertising specialist. In other words, direct marketing as a process involves selling a product, but direct response advertising does not.

The main promotion tool in direct marketing is all types of direct sales and direct response advertising, publications in specialized industry publications; however, personal selling, telemarketing, and the Internet play a much more important role here than in consumer product marketing. This situation is associated with the concept of relationship marketing, in which communications are viewed not from the perspective of promoting goods and services, but from the perspective of interaction with consumers in order to sell their goods and services. This approach is focused on communication with feedback, which is why in relationship marketing such a significant role is given not to advertising and public relations, but to sales promotion and direct marketing.

Companies using direct marketing closely monitor the relevance of the marketing offer to the needs of a narrow segment of consumers or an individual buyer. Many companies, when using direct marketing, focus primarily on concluding individual transactions. However, recently, more and more companies are turning to direct marketing in order to achieve not only more effective access to target consumers, but also to create stronger, long-term and individualized relationships with them.

According to most experts, the transition from mass marketing to individual marketing is associated with changes taking place in the household, with the advent of technologically complex products, new ways of making purchases and paying for them, with intense competition, with the development of additional distribution channels and new information technologies.

D. Peppers and M. Rogers identify the following main differences between mass marketing and what they call “one-to-one” marketing, table. 1.

Table 1. Differences between mass and individual marketing

Mass Marketing	Individual Marketing
Average buyer	Individual buyer
Anonymity of buyers	Focus on a specific buyer
Standardized product	Individual market offer
Mass production	Customized production
Mass distribution of goods	Individual distribution
Mass product promotion	Creating personalized purchase incentives
Unidirectionality of the product message	Possibility of establishing feedback
Emphasis on scale	Focus on depth of coverage
Coverage of all buyers	Reaching profitable customers
Market share	Share among buyers
Attracting buyers	Customer Retention

Today, direct marketing has reached the peak of its popularity abroad. And no one doubts that he will remain at this peak for quite a long time. In Russia, the dynamics of direct marketing development are generally positive, although the pace is much lower than in the West. If a few years ago, mainly only large companies regularly used direct marketing in their work, now the trend has changed.

Direct marketing can be considered in two main aspects: on the one hand, it is a means of establishing planned long-term relationships with the buyer, and on the other, the direct implementation of sales operations. The definition of direct marketing is based on five key points.

1. Direct marketing is an interactive system, i.e. the prospect and the salesperson can engage in two-way communication. For example, a company might send out a mail order catalog; the customer can respond by calling for more information, clarification of problems, or placing an order.

2. As part of two-way communications, direct marketing always offers the consumer a means of response. Since an answer is possible, the number and characteristics of those who do not answer are also important for planning.

3. Direct marketing can be used anytime and anywhere. Response does not require a retail store or salesperson. The order can be placed at any convenient time of the day or night and can be delivered to the buyer without the need to leave home.

4. Direct marketing must have a measurable answer - those who use direct marketing must accurately calculate the costs of applying this strategy and the final income. The quantitative result obtained demonstrates the primary benefits of direct marketing and is undoubtedly the reason for the growth of its popularity.

5. Direct marketing requires a database of customer information. With the help of such information, a direct marketing seller can design communications aimed at promising individual or corporate clients. Information also allows sellers to offer their customers certain benefits: convenience, efficiency and time savings.

Let's list the advantages and disadvantages of direct marketing.

Direct marketing has the following strengths:

It is more targeted than other forms of marketing communications;

Has the ability to provide a personalized approach;

Its results are measurable;

All elements of the direct marketing mix are verifiable;

All elements are extremely flexible.

Direct marketing also has some weaknesses:

Ineffective if used as a short-term strategy;

Poorly conducted direct marketing creates distrust in the company and undermines its image;

Failure to coordinate direct marketing with firm operations, product distribution, or corporate strategy can lead to decreased customer loyalty;

Direct marketing messages may conflict with other marketing communications messages.

The rapid pace of development of direct marketing is due to its communication characteristics:

1) the linear nature of communication in the “seller-buyer” relationship; unlike other main means of marketing communications, which are characterized by mass communication, direct marketing as a type of communication is direct in nature;

2) targeting and focus. Direct marketing means make it possible to clearly identify from the entire mass of recipients the target audience in whose attention the communicator is interested;

3) interactive mode of communication “seller-buyer”: the recipient’s response is not separated in time from the receipt of the request. It is almost instantaneous, and the measurability of the effect of direct marketing communication is higher compared to mass advertising. This leads to greater controllability and allows flexible adaptation to the recipient’s needs;

4) purchase of additional amenities - both by the recipient and the communicator. The recipient is given the opportunity to completely transfer the functions of delivering the selected product directly to his home or office;

5) relatively high cost of one contact.

Among the main communication goals achieved through direct marketing are:

Attracting the recipient's attention;

Retaining the consumer in the sphere of influence of the communicator;

Development of long-term relationships with the recipient;

Stimulating the act of purchase and creating the preconditions for repeat purchases;

In some cases, the study of consumer reaction to a particular product.

The process of planning direct marketing is not inherently different from the process of planning marketing communications in general. However, planning a direct marketing campaign has certain specifics, since the primary objectives are relationships with potential consumers and sales. Another feature of planning is the use of high-quality databases rather than mass media as information carriers.

As one of the variants of the algorithm for planning and conducting a traditional direct marketing campaign, we can name its following stages.

1. Formation of campaign goals, which are determined by the organization’s marketing goals and its communication policy. Goals should be formulated in terms of quantitative and qualitative indicators. In industrial markets, the main goals of a direct marketing promotion campaign are:

Creating awareness - priority of rational information over emotional information, priority of rational logic and motivation;

Creating understanding - the consumer must be aware of all the functions of the product, its advantages, advantages over other similar ones and disadvantages associated with design features or difficulties during operation;

An effective reminder is the opportunity to receive additional information about products and the company itself during the purchase decision-making process, which can last from one month to one year;

Open paths - the availability of information should be supported by the opportunity to look, try the product being evaluated, have the opportunity to read the reviews of those who have already purchased this product, etc.

2. Determining the target audience to whom the appeal will be addressed.

3. Selection of communication channels for transmitting the appeal. As part of a direct marketing campaign, several means of communication may be used at different stages. At the stage of forming the information field about goods and services, non-personal communication channels can be used, at the stage of forming relationships, e-mail can be used, and at the stage of forming the motivational field, the telephone can be used.

4. Determining the budget for a direct marketing campaign.

5. Formation of an address database in which the target audience will be most fully and reliably represented.

6. Development of a communication concept - determining the degree of personalization of the appeal, choosing the tone and style of communication, developing the main idea that will form the basis of the campaign.

7. Development of a plan for related activities.

8. Conducting campaign events.

9. Analysis of the effectiveness of the campaign.

At each stage, a situation is possible when the correct choice of one or another aspect of a direct marketing campaign will require marketing research. A special feature of marketing research for the purposes of direct marketing is the collection, analysis and replenishment of the database. The basis of such research is secondary marketing information.

Types of direct marketing

The main types of direct marketing include:

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

Direct marketing by mail (direct mail) - includes mailing letters (addressed or unaddressed), advertising materials, booklets and other advertising messages to potential buyers to addresses from mailing lists or by e-mail (direct mail) with an order form attached or an answer envelope;

Catalog sales (catalog marketing) - the use of catalogs of goods sent to customers by mail, sold in stores or presented at exhibitions and fairs;

Telephone marketing (telephone marketing) - using the telephone as a tool for direct sales of goods to customers;

Direct response television marketing (telemarketing) is the marketing of goods and services through advertising television (or radio) programs using feedback elements (usually an on-screen telephone number);

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

In direct marketing, the key to success is detailed information about the individual consumer. Modern enterprises create special databases about buyers, which represent an array of detailed information about individual (potential) buyers, including geographic, demographic, psychographic characteristics, 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.

Direct mail translated into Russian means direct mail. Within the framework of this form of communication, the communicator most often addresses the addressee with a written message sent by mail (addressed delivery, direct mailing, e-mail). While direct mail has certain similarities with advertising, it is classified as a means of direct marketing due to the existence of two fundamentally important communication characteristics: the direct, immediate nature of communication and the personal nature of the message (in advertising - impersonal).

The effectiveness of direct mail campaigns, other things being equal, is significantly higher than when using advertising media. The ability to accurately measure the economic impact of direct mail communications is also much broader than measuring advertising effectiveness. Most often and most effectively, direct mail is used to sell licenses, technologies, books, new clothing, gourmet food products, organize magazine subscriptions, for insurance, and sell various services.

A huge advantage of direct mail is that it can be used as a market research tool. For this purpose, postal questionnaires are sent out in order to obtain the necessary information, the collection of which otherwise would require large financial and time expenditures.

Direct mail can take the form of direct response advertising. An important advantage of direct response advertising (sometimes called direct mail advertising) is the ability to use it in cases where the advertiser wants to study the demand for his product on a limited scale without conducting a large advertising campaign. Having addressed a certain circle of consumers, he only wants to feel the pulse of the market, and only then make a decision on expanding the production (sales) of the product and launching an advertising campaign.

Comparing direct mail with advertising in newspapers and magazines, it should be noted that when reading print media every day, the reader is not able to focus only on a specific ad, his attention is scattered. The TV viewer has no choice; he watches what is shown to him at that moment, and cannot watch all the programs in a row. Direct mail does not have the distracting information background inherent in other means of disseminating information.

While many types of advertising simply direct the consumer to a store where he can see and purchase the product, direct mail advertising convinces the consumer of the need to purchase without first seeing the product. Direct mail provides more complete and varied information, while providing a close and direct connection with the potential consumer.

In addition to the listed advantages, mailing as a means of direct marketing has the following advantages:

Selectivity;

Confidentiality;

Speed ​​of execution.

Direct mail advertising packaging. Everything that makes up a direct mail design should be harmonious. The packaging should be different from the rest of the mail, entice the recipient to open it, and should reflect the overall design concept.

The classic design of a direct mail package consists of a mailing envelope, a letter, a flyer, a reply aid, and a return aid.

1. Postal envelope. The direct mail sales process begins with the mailing envelope. Enticing copy (such as “important, don’t delay!”) is often used to pique the consumer’s interest and get them to open the envelope.

2. Letter. The letter itself should be personal, appeal to the consumer's personal interest and arouse interest.

3. Prospect. The prospectus gives detailed information about the product: specification, color, prices, photographs, guarantees and signatures. It represents the primary sales message and may take the form of a booklet, large text sheets (large attachment or large folder), brochure, leaflet or single sheet.

4. Means of response. The response tool is an order form, often containing a telephone number for a toll-free call. This should summarize the main points of the offer to sell in an easy to read and complete form.

5. Refund facility. This facility allows the buyer to send back the necessary information. It may be an information request form, an order form, or a payment form.

Writing direct mail advertising. To write good copy, a direct mail writer needs reliable information about the manufacturer, the customer, and the competition. Good copy translates sales pitches into benefit terms, emphasizes customer satisfaction, and uses clear, concise language. The offer must be made immediately and attractively. Moreover, the text writer must convince the consumer that what is promised will certainly be fulfilled. Finally, good writing makes it easier to take the desired action. The requested action must be simple, specific and immediate.

They forget to include a letter in the offer;

Lack of consistency in identification - the inscription looks different on the envelope and in the postal item;

There are no distinctive features on the outside of the postal item;

No guarantees are given;

There is no personal letter from the owner in the newsletter or catalogue;

Too many messages;

Incorrect colors or graphics;

The main sentence is not striking;

Too many headlines.

The large amount of text space available in direct response advertising, compared to print media, presents equal parts temptation and opportunity. There is a tendency to include redundant materials and use overly creative forms. But the purpose of such advertising is to sell, not to impress. Every word and picture should contribute to this task. A direct mail program should often be modified for effective communication based on different target audiences.

Catalog marketing is a direct marketing method using catalogs of goods sent to customers by mail or sold in stores. Catalogs are multi-page brochures with photographs of products and their prices. This approach is being revised, and videos, CDs, and online catalogs are increasingly becoming carriers of commercial information. The intended reverse reaction of the recipient is to contact the seller by phone or send a written order for a product placed in the catalog to the address indicated by the sender. Using the catalogue, you can consider placing order coupons for a specific product in periodicals of various types.

To successfully obtain orders from customers, managers need accurate, up-to-date customer lists. Ideally, these lists should only include those who are potentially ready to make a purchase. For example, internal lists may contain information such as how customers paid for their purchase, where they live, what they purchased, how long they have been a customer of the firm, and when they made their last purchase. External lists can be divided into several types: prefabricated lists, request lists, lists of potential buyers, Fig. 1.

Collective lists identify those people who share common interests, such as skiing, home improvement, or the arts of cooking. Inquiry lists or customer lists from other companies are provided by both competitors and non-competitors. Each of these categories can be further drilled down until the seller identifies just one characteristic, such as income or whether there are pets. Lists of potential buyers are generated from existing or purchased databases that can be purchased from fitness clubs, beauty salons, etc.

Telephone marketing involves establishing contact between the communicator and the recipient via telephone. The communication characteristics of this type of marketing are similar to those of personal selling. This form of direct marketing is especially effective for establishing initial contact as a preliminary stage, “preparation of a springboard” for the use of personal selling techniques, sending a sales agent to the addressee. Telephone marketing allows you to solve a number of problems:

Provides information about potential clients necessary when planning an advertising campaign;

Provides information from respondents that serves as the basis for future communication strategy;

Conducts market research using consumer surveys to obtain their opinions about products, the company, or the attractiveness of sales discounts and incentives;

Allows you to directly learn about the advantages and disadvantages of the service, their concerns and risks;

Allows you to obtain additional information necessary to generate printed advertising messages for direct marketing events.

Direct response telemarketing, sometimes called “shopping on the couch,” is becoming increasingly popular in Russia for promoting household goods: household appliances, new products made using unique technologies.

In its simplest version, short (5-10-minute) programs dedicated to specific products are shown on one of the television channels. The buyer declares his intention to purchase the advertised product by calling the telephone numbers indicated during the broadcast. If a call and a purchase order are made immediately after the broadcast of the story, then the buyer is given a gift, which, as a rule, is a necessary attribute of the advertised product. For example, when advertising inflatable sofas, pumps for these sofas are offered.

A relatively new and rapidly developing form of direct marketing today is interactive marketing and e-commerce. Interactive marketing has gained such popularity due to the fact that it offers certain opportunities to consumers and companies, table. 2.

Table 2. Advantages and opportunities of interactive marketing

Benefits and opportunities for consumers	Advantages and opportunities for companies
Obtaining more complete information on companies and products	Quick adaptation to market conditions. For example, instant changes in product prices and descriptions
Speed ​​and convenience when making a purchase (order)	Reduced costs. Compared to traditional forms of direct marketing: low cost of updating information, conducting transactions, personalizing information, delivering messages, expanding the audience, providing information, ensuring high density of information flow
Leveling the emotion factor. There is no need to meet face to face with the seller and be exposed to emotional and persuasive factors	Building relationships. It is possible to analyze customer responses, obtain additional information, provide consultations, send various promotional materials and even carry out maintenance of some products (for example, updating or correcting software products, databases)

The advantages of interactive marketing also include:

The possibility of its use by both large organizations and medium and small ones that serve market niches and offer their goods and services to a narrow segment of consumers;

Almost unlimited electronic (as opposed to, for example, print) advertising space;

Fairly fast access and copying of information;

Generally, the privacy and speed of electronic shopping.

In addition to the advantages, modern interactive marketing has some disadvantages:

Limited access of buyers and, consequently, volumes of purchases;

Some one-sidedness of demographic and psychographic information about buyers;

Chaoticity and information overload in global networks.

When planning and implementing a direct marketing campaign, its effectiveness should be tested before the campaign (effectiveness of messages on perception, memorability and recognition) and after the campaign (number of responses and purchases).

Evaluation of the effectiveness of the perception of appeals is called a pretest and is carried out using a marketing research method such as focus groups. During one focus group, several research problems can be solved:

Find out the level of fame of the company and the identification of its business;

Degree of information assimilation;

Level of memorization of information.

A focus group helps to identify ways to improve a communication message before it is sent and thus increase its effectiveness. In the case where there are two or more alternative options, the test makes it possible to choose the priority one.

The contact audience method is one of the methods for assessing the effectiveness of a direct marketing campaign. This method is implemented in practice based on an accurate count of calls and requests received after receiving the request. The organization must clearly organize the work of dispatchers who record:

Number of responses;

Their character;

Source of this information.

As a result, economic efficiency will be a calculation based on the ratio of all messages sent to the number of responses, the size of the contact audience, the number of transactions or purchases made.

Advertising for business organizations

The direct oral appeal of the seller to the potential buyer chronologically preceded all other forms of commercial communications. In modern conditions, this type of forming connections with target audiences is defined as direct marketing. Direct response advertising can build customer loyalty, identify and attract new customers, deliver better information to customers faster, and increase company profits.

Let's define direct response advertising (direct advertising). Direct response advertising is impersonal communication with a specific addressee, expressed in a direct appeal, for the purpose of selling and developing long-term relationships with customers, as well as ensuring continued business success.

Other experts define direct advertising as any activity aimed at obtaining a consumer response: either in the form of a direct order for a product or service, or in the form of a request for further information. The ideal communication response as a result of direct advertising is the direct purchase of a product; such a result of communication could be called the “ideal final result,” as is customary in the Theory of Solving Inventive Problems by G.S. Alyshullera.

Thus, direct response advertising can be considered in two main aspects: on the one hand, it is a means of establishing planned relationships with the buyer, on the other, it is an indirect implementation of sales operations, providing the necessary pre-sales service, etc. The latter approach allows us to consider such advertising as a form of direct marketing (zero-level distribution channel).

Product advertising (direct response advertising, business advertising, business advertising) is one of the fastest growing categories of advertising. Ordinary consumers see only the tip of the advertising iceberg. The rest - and a very important part of it - consists of advertising messages for wholesalers and retailers, insurance, construction organizations and other participants at various levels of marketing channels.

Business advertising and the corresponding advertising campaign require a completely different positioning strategy and choice of advertising media than consumer advertising. The distribution of load between various information transmission channels has a significantly different character here.

The main function of advertising is to convey information to a certain circle of people (target audience) and provide feedback from consumers, which is what relationship marketing is focused on. In addition to the main function, advertising also performs a number of additional ones, among which the popular function is motivation to make a purchase through the use in advertising of offers to stimulate sales and provide certain benefits when making a purchase in a certain period of time.

A significant difference between consumer and business advertising campaigns is the type of messages used. Of course, any advertising should attract attention and arouse interest, but advertising of industrial goods is based primarily on facts and contains much less emotional elements and motives. Such messages are targeted not just at specific industries, but often at specific people within the industry. In addition, the main idea of ​​business advertising is most often to obtain benefits (reducing equipment downtime, reducing customer complaints, saving time and money, increasing overall business efficiency).

Among the main communication goals achieved through direct response advertising are:

Formation of the information field in the business environment;

Increasing interest in the company and its products;

Development of long-term relationships based on trust and loyalty;

Stimulating the act of purchase based on an individual incentive offer;

Studying the consumer's reaction to a particular product (the possibility of directly obtaining valuable marketing information).

In business advertising, it is necessary to take into account the significant differences in the purchase process (compared to the purchase of consumer goods). The factors that have the greatest influence on the purchase of industrial goods also influence advertising of this type, as shown in Fig. 2.

Rice. 2. Factors influencing direct response advertising for business organizations

1. Procurement participants. Decisions about business purchasing are usually made by groups of people - employees of different departments of the enterprise. They have different views and experiences, so to successfully close the deal, the seller must take into account the differences in the interests of participants in the purchasing process and reflect these differences in the advertising message.

2. Purchasing cycles. Impulse buying and the business market are incompatible concepts. Most companies have formalized procedures for any more or less significant acquisitions. The length of the procurement cycle can vary from several weeks to several months, especially if significant investments are required. In long cycles, advertising is usually accompanied by active personal selling and the use of direct response techniques.

3. Scale of procurement. Typically, business markets have much less opportunity to sell a product than consumer goods. Hence, the average time and costs for concluding a transaction turn out to be significantly greater. In addition, many of the methods for establishing and communicating with audiences are not applicable in direct response advertising. While the main characteristics of consumer advertising are audience reach and frequency, in business markets most indicators are related to sales volumes.

The listed factors relate to the enterprise, but a number of other factors can create advertising through the use of certain means of influencing the target audience or the person making the purchasing decision. Let's list these factors:

Factors of competitive advantage that can be emphasized and highlighted in an advertising message;

Motivation factors (rational motives prevail over emotional motives in business advertising);

Availability of a sales promotion offer indicating the validity period of this offer;

Rice. 3. Direct Response Advertising Categories

Trade advertising is used by manufacturers to sell goods and services to wholesalers and retailers. In addition, it can be used to advertise goods and services that retailers need to conduct their business (sale equipment, cash registers, cleaning services, etc.). Trade advertising has several goals.

1. Expansion of distribution. Manufacturers are interested in increasing the number of stores in which their brands are represented.

2. Additional support from traders. Manufacturers compete with a huge number of other brands for shelf space and dealer support. Trade advertising can encourage retailers to better position the brand in the store or use supplier promotional designs.

3. Announcement of demand stimulation. Many messages contain information about upcoming promotions to stimulate consumer demand. In this way, manufacturers demonstrate to retailers that they stand behind their brands.

Industry advertising. The manufacturer himself is the buyer of equipment, raw materials, materials and components used for the manufacture of his products. Companies that supply it most often advertise in trade publications, use direct mail, telemarketing and personal selling. This industry advertising is quite different from consumer advertising. Industry advertising is addressed to a highly specialized and relatively small audience.

Industrial advertising has the goal of promoting complex production equipment. Purchasing production equipment is a complex process that requires the participation of several specialists. Advertising is most often used here as a means of demonstrating a product or to create brand awareness to facilitate negotiations for sales representatives and help increase the likelihood of a successful deal.

While a typical consumer goods manufacturer may have millions of potential customers, an industrial advertiser can count his customers on one hand. Sellers of heavy engineering and other manufacturing products want to get the most out of their limited sales opportunities. Typically, few large companies purchase large quantities of industrial products and do so frequently.

It is clear that in this environment, industrial product sellers will use a number of highly targeted methods, including relevant industry publications, direct mail, telemarketing and personal selling. Purchasing industrial equipment is typically a complex process that involves a number of decision-makers from manufacturers. Industry advertising is usually a means of introducing a product or creating brand awareness to set the stage for follow-up calls by sales representatives.

Not only is industrial advertising aimed at a very specialized and relatively small audience, but its tone is significantly different from consumer advertising. Industrial advertising texts are written for experts, often including specifications and details that only professionals in a particular industry will understand.

Database Management

Database marketing is the process of creating, using, maintaining customer databases, as well as other databases (products, distributors, sales, etc.) for the purpose of completing sales transactions and establishing relationships with customers. Companies use both individual forms of direct marketing and integrated direct marketing, which includes a full range (set) of its tools.

Database is the essence of direct marketing. The database contains information about buyers and prospects; it is formed over a significant period of time. Database marketing is the process of creating, maintaining and using customer databases for the purpose of contacting customers and conducting business.

Companies can build their databases from internal and external sources, or use a combination of internal and external means. Internal, or home, databases are created from customer questionnaires, credit card information, or information cards filled out by customers at the point of sale. The in-house approach is cost effective as long as the company only uses its own expertise or resources.

Many companies do not have the experience or resources to develop home database systems. They can purchase commercial databases from firms whose sole job is to collect, analyze, categorize, and market vast amounts of consumer information. Using information such as income, education, occupation and census data, such databases can describe life in specific neighborhoods across the country with remarkable accuracy.

One of the most difficult tasks in working with databases is maintaining and updating them. In such a situation, two approaches can be taken:

1. Maintaining the database by determining the customer value rating. Advertising specialists are constantly improving their databases by accumulating information about the value of the consumer - the recency, frequency and cost of purchases made by him. Other relevant information required to maintain databases includes how they pay for a purchase, where customers live, what they buy, how long they have been a customer of the company, and the date of their last purchase. Each company must consider its own needs when creating a database, taking into account the task of identifying the most profitable customers and promising prospects.

2. Building relationships based on the life values ​​of consumers. Database marketing will be most effective when it focuses on building relationships. In database marketing, the consumer value approach is the equivalent of relationship marketing. Under this approach, a new buyer is considered to mean not only an immediate sale, but also additional purchases over the period of time while the buyer remains a user of the product.

To build relationships, advertising professionals must carefully select clients who are best suited to make a significant contribution to sales made and profits generated. Where necessary, they develop consumer profiles to select similar buyers. For example, a company sells its products to retailers. This company must know how to satisfy customers' needs and desires better than other suppliers in the market. By conducting research, a company can assess who is most likely to buy its products and how to maintain relationships with customers.

In general, building relationships based on consumer values ​​in direct response advertising works best when it is possible to monitor the reaction of the target market. In turn, the supplier, in order to assess the buyers' readiness for feedback, offers them significant individual benefits. The responses can later be measured. This approach requires product research, conducting customer satisfaction surveys to obtain the personalized information needed to make sure that the target market has both the means and the motivation to respond.

Obtaining, systematizing and maintaining existing marketing data is carried out by purchasing ready-made specialized databases and on the basis of completed purchases. The database management process is shown in Fig. 4.

Rice. 4. Database management

Companies buy or create a mailing list from companies in related areas of activity and constantly update the basic information to make it relevant to the current situation. The transformation of data into useful information that can be used to implement the company's strategy is carried out by a specialist who is responsible for the database. Typically, this is one person in the company, and the information obtained during data conversion is proprietary.

The strategy of an advertising campaign for direct response advertising based on the use of a database involves planning several stages of distribution with advertising messages of different natures of impact. At the first stage, it is recommended to use an information letter, at the second - a proposal highlighting the competitive advantages of a product or product, at the third - an advertising message with elements of sales promotion.

Obtaining a mailing list is the first step in creating a database. A mailing list is a list of names of customers or prospects with their addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and email addresses, if available. This list does not contain any information regarding consumer behavior - what is called purchasing history. The mailing list can be created either through internal sources (for example, warranty cards) or purchased from specialized research companies or third parties. Once those wishing to use direct marketing receive a list, managing the database system entails the following five steps.

1. Obtaining, organizing and maintaining existing marketing data. Companies buy or create a mailing list and continually update the basic information to make it relevant to the current situation.

2. Transforming data into useful information that can be used to implement company strategy. Let's say Toyota maintains a database with detailed information about who owns the cars. This year the company hopes to increase sales of a new car model, the Camry. Toyota's direct marketers can select a database of satisfied Toyota owners who have owned their cars for more than 5 years as a target market for a new model.

3. Use of the database when implementing special strategies. The list of satisfied Camry owners can then be converted into a mailing list for a direct mail program to advertise a new car model that is being offered at a discount.

4. Test results. Toyota could test direct mail advertising on a sample of customers to get a response. Ultimately, Camry sales figures would serve as a measure of success.

5. Collection of new data and their inclusion in the existing database. Camry car buyers can be surveyed six months after purchase to assess their level of satisfaction and obtain information about specific aspects of the car's operation.

Literature

1. Assel G. Marketing: principles and strategies. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2003.

2. Bagiev G. L., Tarasevich V. M., Ann X. Marketing. - M.: Economics, 1999.

3. Burnet J., Moriarty S. Marketing communications. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2000.

4. Bolt G. A practical guide to sales management. - M.: Economics, 1991.

5. Gamble P, Stone M, Woodcock N. Consumer Relationship Marketing. - M.: Grand, 2002.

6. Germogenova L. Yu. How to make a store advertisement. Shop, advertising, product. Sales promotion: trading methods, forms of sales. - M.: RusPartner Ltd., 1994.

7. Danenburg V. Basics of wholesale trade. - St. Petersburg: Neva-Ladoga-Onega, 1993.

8. Saliy V.V., Saliy Z.P. Marketing strategies in consumer cooperation. - Part 1. - Novosibirsk: SibUPK Publishing House, 1998.

9. Shaughnessy J. Competitive marketing: a strategic approach. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2002

Direct marketing is a type of communication based on personal contact with the client in order to create partnerships and make profit. This is a relationship without intermediaries, based on an individual approach to the consumer.

Direct marketing– communication between the manufacturer/seller of goods or services directly with the buyer.

It includes all kinds of relationship building with the customer. The result should be measurable feedback from the subject of communication, which can be used in further analytics.

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Target– building relationships and collecting measurable information from the client.

Tasks:

• sorting and grouping subjects;
• generating a flow of applications (lead generation);
• conversion of traffic into buyers;
• expansion of the customer base;
• retention and development of interactions with old principals;
• creating the “correct” idea of ​​a product/service and introducing the idea of ​​the right solution into the consciousness of the subject of communication.

Peculiarity direct marketing– filtering the largest and most profitable consumers, personalized approach to them, maintaining constant personal contact with them. Thanks to the comprehensive informatization of society and the widespread dissemination of computer technology, a mass approach to advertising can be combined with an individual one.

The use of such a technique is advisable when an individual person and all possible transactions with him are of great value, and the costs of this are covered by the probable profit from potential contracts.

Some companies are moving away from traditional advertising and sales channels such as retail and online outlets. They sell their products or provide services through direct marketing, developing appropriate PR policies.

Recently, the use of such product promotion has become popular in mass commodity markets. Many foreign experts believe that its use in various areas will only grow. This is especially facilitated by the decrease in the effectiveness of standard methods of disseminating information to attract attention to an object, which over time may give way to direct research in the field of communication data.

To date, this strategy is growing 200% faster than media advertising, while bringing in 100% more profit.

In order to maximize wholesale sales through individual communication, the company works with intermediaries. Thus, using a systematic approach, the use of direct marketing helps to establish a close relationship with a partner, increase the level of trade, customer loyalty and understand the distributor’s impression of the product.

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4 components of personal contact with the client

Key elements direct marketing:

• interactivity. It is characterized by a two-way dialogue between the product manufacturer and its consumer, being an indicator of the effectiveness of feedback;
• customer reaction. In this case, the seller can receive feedback on this or that product, service, or certain terms of the transaction in the shortest possible time;
• measurability of feedback. It is easy to calculate the effectiveness indicators of an advertising campaign: the price of one contact, the price of one lead, etc. Experts believe that this is precisely the formula for success;
• database. The basis of this strategy is information about customers, containing their addresses, age, etc.

What types of direct marketing can be used in business?

The following tools are used:

• sending messages or parcels via mail or delivery services. Effectiveness depends on packaging, the meaning of the text and the correct identification of the target audience;
• catalogs (retail, specialized, b2b, product lists of one type);
• Mass media (printed periodicals, television, radio);
• promoting goods using the telephone (calling a list, receiving incoming calls);
• interactive presentation of a product or service (commercial services, Internet).

Direct mail is a carefully prepared advertising mailing to potential buyers. An expensive but effective tool due to the scrupulous selection of recipients. In-depth study and selection of the target audience allows us to apply an individual approach to the consumer, achieving high results. Basically, booklets, presenters, and brightly colored printed materials are sent this way.

Among the advantages of such distribution as one of the cheapest methods are the multi-format nature of the materials sent, a profitable and attractive presentation of the product, and a huge audience reach. The negative aspects include the fact that if the target audience was not selected carefully enough, then the messages will go to “cold” clients and will not have any effect.

Today, direct marketing companies around the world send millions of online emails targeting different customer segments.

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Promotion of products using the catalog is used if the product placed in it is difficult to imagine “here and now”, or the customer does not have time for this. High quality printing, effective and efficient presentation methods, as well as the ability to attach multimedia materials, allow any consumer today to make their choice only on the basis of information from the catalogue.

A prospectus as an independent product is already interesting and attractive and helps to form a complete idea of ​​the product and brand. The brochure cover must be bright and catchy, the texts must be easy to understand, and the images must highlight the design of the product.

Types of directories:

• retail. Contains the names of product items that are presented in a store that sells individually. Their task is to attract visitors to commercial outlets and collect mail orders;
• full-scale. They aggregate a list of product items from several selling platforms;
• a list of b2b goods containing the names of product items, as a rule, manufacturing enterprises that are trying to reduce the costs of personal sales in this way;
• specialized. As a rule, they are intended for a fairly narrow target audience and have a high conversion rate.

Mass Communications used in direct marketing in the form of:

• magazines. It is advisable to place advertisements in them if the target audience is identical to the readers of the printed publication. For example, buyers of handicraft magazines are divided into people engaged in various types of handicrafts - embroidery, knitting, doll making. Often, in order to place a form in a publication for the consumer to fill out data, a lot of space is needed. In this case, direct mail may be cheaper. Often print media publish announcements of products from the same publishing house;

• radio. The stumbling block to this type of popularization of a product is its “background nature.” A person returning home on a crowded bus after hearing an announcement is unlikely to look for a pen to write down the company's phone number. The only exceptions are programs from daytime and evening broadcasts. Listeners of such programs are identified according to psychographic, demographic, and social characteristics. At the same time, it is predetermined that the environment in which people find themselves most likely allows them to quickly respond to the message. In this case, you need to use a simple phone number that is easy to remember. This is one of the important principles of direct marketing.

In some cases, radio and TV broadcast only information about which periodicals to look for an advertising offer. And if the notification itself does not serve for direct sale, but only to prepare the buyer for this, then it acquires the character of “auxiliary”.

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Telephone marketing

Its basis is a mobile device, thanks to which you can study the market in depth: conduct surveys, update information about customers. Telemarketing is an independent type of communication and can be used either separately or together with other types of direct product promotion.

There is inbound and outbound telephone research. An incoming call from a consumer is their reaction to calls to action from advertising. As a rule, a toll-free telephone number in the 8800 format is used. An example is the company OJSC SUN InBev. This manufacturer of beer and beer drinks was among the first in the CIS to launch a 24-hour hotline for incoming calls from customers, the purpose of which was to receive feedback - collect information for subsequent analysis, development and adjustment of a strategic marketing plan. The hotline operators were specially trained - they studied the varieties of cider, poire, mead and beer, their production technology, the nuances of packaging, labeling and product quality control. In addition, the telephone operators were well informed about all current promotions and events in which the company participated. The hotline number was located on the label of each bottle. This careful approach usually leads to success.

Outbound telemarketing is used to find and contact potential customers. This is a rather expensive tool that has several significant disadvantages:

• many people have a negative attitude towards telephone advertising;
• as an advertising method it is not suitable for all products, and its use is limited by time of day and days of the week;
• You cannot resort to methods of persuasion other than verbal ones.

Telephone promotion of goods can be a fairly effective tool, provided that the target audience is selected correctly. It is usually used in cases such as:

• service,
• accepting orders,
• sales support,
• management of customer accounts.

Due to the fact that only verbal messages are possible, the use of this type of marketing is limited. These can be financial, insurance services, or goods that are well known to the consumer and do not require visual representation. For example, a subscription to a popular print publication. From a content perspective, this approach is close to radio advertising. The only difference is that the level of targeting in telephone promotion is much higher. If this process is streamlined, a permanent and profitable relationship with customers arises.

In addition, this type of open popularization includes mobile and telephone direct response announcements.

Interactive Marketing

Many organizations offer information, advertising, entertainment, gaming services, as well as those that accompany online sales under various payment terms.

The dominance of the Internet over traditional media in everyday life is becoming increasingly noticeable. Among the main prerequisites for the development of online communications in direct marketing are:

• the ability to broadcast the company’s image and values ​​to a wide range of consumers;
• presentation of the product line, placement of prices, offers, etc.;
• the likelihood of an individual connection between the potential acquirer and the company itself;
• conducting advertising campaigns and promotions;
• searching for new and popularizing existing sponsors;
• in-depth study of the market: demand, needs, results of own PR campaigns and the activities of competitors;
• creating a company image in the minds of potential buyers.

The main feature and advantage of online promotion in the context of direct marketing is the possibility of the narrowest targeting while achieving the maximum level of conversion. The boundaries of audience segments are determined by gender, age, geographic, behavioral and many other factors. For each Internet user, search engine robots automatically collect many indicators, thereby providing the advertiser with sufficient information to make a decision whether to advertise a product to this particular person or not.

A significant advantage of online ads is transparency and efficiency per unit of investment. An advertiser can track a huge amount of data about visitors to whom a product announcement was shown: number of impressions, click map, depth of page views, time spent on the site, cost of a specific transition, key phrases.

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Expert opinion

Mailing is not the most effective tool for direct communication

Elena Kuznetsova,

Head of Direct Marketing Department of the Regent Group of Companies (Moscow)

While working on the project, we had to deal with the ineffectiveness of one of the agencies' mailing lists. Our goal was an individual appeal to the residents of Moscow. We advertised the opening of a premium cosmetology center and invited people to open days. Since the level of service provided is quite high, the price tag was appropriate. We eliminated the distribution of leaflets immediately. The target audience was residents of luxury homes who own new foreign cars. I’ll say right away that the effect was zero. The phone number, website address, unique selling proposition in the body of the letter - everything was in order, but nevertheless no one called us. And there was no increase in the number of visitors to the site.

The agency's progress report contained a number of documents:

• a certificate with the stamp of the post office about the number of letters accepted for sending. Given the long-standing cooperation of this agency and the liaison office, the employees of the second structure had no obstacles to printing another dozen such certificates;
• several phone numbers from the sample. We also called these numbers and found out that the letters were received by the recipients. As for the other acquirers, we will not know the truth;
• numbers of elite houses, street names and the number of letters sent. This situation rather surprised us. We decided to go around several houses and found out that some houses are extremely far from elite. In some buildings, concierges did not deliver the letters, but simply threw them away. The rest hid our materials and then returned them to us.

After this incident, we defined the following criteria for cooperation with agencies:

• a well-developed database of recipients (it’s better to create the list yourself);
• the ability to easily and quickly check the fact of delivery of letters directly to the addressee.

Direct marketing on the Internet as a type of personalized advertising

Exist three main groups of instruments Internet communications: e-mail, banners and websites.

Web environment When communicating with consumers, it allows the following types of advertising:

• on companies' online pages;
• links to partner pages;
• ads;
• screensavers;
• text and “child” windows;
• mini-site on another Internet feed.

Online resource The company is also a platform where photos of new products, useful videos, and other multimedia materials are posted. Its structure, although nonlinear, at the same time must be clearly ordered and have a certain hierarchy. The controls should be clear to the visitor. When developing sections and creating content, it is necessary to be guided by the signs of time, place, certain events occurring in the company, product line, as well as generally accepted principles of interface construction and effective direct marketing. The main Internet page of the enterprise serves as its business card. For example, on the home page of the Ukrainian McDonald's during a campaign aimed at promoting healthy eating, it was possible to calculate the amount of calories that should be consumed in accordance with the work and rest schedule.

Web space promotion businesses are carried out online and offline. The first path includes SEO promotion, contextual, banner and advertising on social and teaser networks, website placement in directories, etc. The second is the placement of the page address on all kinds of media: document forms, product packaging, as well as when using standard forms of promoting a product or service.

Advertising mini-site. When the user hovers the cursor over certain banners or interface objects, a preview of another Internet resource opens. This allows you to simultaneously view the content of another page.

Links posted on third-party Internet sources. They can be accompanied by a description of the product or service and allow you to go to the advertised resource. Placing footnotes and keywords in the text is of great importance for website promotion in the online environment.

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ads– offers for purchase and sale, provision of services, calling for a specific target action in direct marketing.

Tables– a method of effective communication between seller and buyer, when the former, for a number of reasons, does not have its own online space. The merchant places an offer in the appropriate thematic category on specialized resources that have their own search algorithms.

Text windows– a type of communication with the client in hypertext format, which demonstrates part of the advertised service.

Screensavers– an aggressive type of web promotion of a product, because such graphics or videos appear suddenly and in an unexpected place, presenting some new product, promotion, using psychology (for example, a pulsation strategy).

The essence child window in that the visitor is shown an advertising page while downloading the information he needs.

Banner essentially a link that opens a page with the material that was displayed on the image itself. Such advertisements are aimed at a wide audience and can be of various types, “degrees of activity”, and also perform various functions.

They can be static in appearance (pictures, photos, company logo, inscriptions - everything that can attract a potential buyer), as well as animated and interactive.

Cartoon ones contain an element of dynamics and are often more attractive than the first type of banners, but this rule does not always work and not on all resources. The purpose of the interactive link is to lure the potential consumer into the game (“hit the target”, “help me find a way out”, etc.). One of the new trends is a banner on which you can choose the characteristics of the product (color, size).

Footnote images can perform various functions depending on the advertiser's intention: to entertain, intrigue, describe some problem and offer a solution, recommend or demand something. Only by thinking through each individual case, choosing the right text and picture for a specific target audience, can you achieve success in your advertising campaign. Places for placing banners can be search engines (Yandex, Google), teaser and social networks, partner sites, various services, etc.

E- mail similar to direct mail, it allows you to exchange correspondence, only in this case the exchange takes place electronically, using online addresses.

The function of a network service as a method of promotion in direct marketing can be considered in two ways:

• firstly, this is the most convenient form for business contact and resolving issues that require discussion and thought;
• Secondly, you can also effectively promote your products and services through email distribution.

Communication via e-mail opens up wide opportunities for a company to interact with the market environment. E-mail allows you to keep in touch simultaneously with a huge number of people from the business environment, as well as with consumers of products. They will all see your logo and promotional offers from time to time, which can be a powerful lead generation tool.

The main advantages of the network service:

• instantaneous receipt of sent messages;
• low costs;
• Your mailbox is open 24/7 for incoming texts, and once a letter arrives, it will wait indefinitely for you to open it.

Communication in this way represents a separate form of communication not only due to specific methods of implementation, but also due to the personal nature of contacts. Global computerization has helped solve an important problem - combining an individual approach with the mass nature of advertising.

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Expert opinion

Emails played a major role in attracting customers

Yulia Zefirova,

PR director of the Mnogo.ru club (Moscow)

The main tool for attracting customers has become e-mail distribution. As the main method of hard direct marketing, we sent email messages to Mnogo.ru cardholders twice:

• distribution to 60 thousand people who were members of the club at that time, an offer to find out additional information about the event and book a table. As a result, two thousand people (3.3%) asked for information, 480 made a reservation.
• letters to buyers who have ever visited the advertiser's establishments. There were 380 such people. Of these, 38 requested additional information (10%) and 20 made a reservation.

This is one of our most effective campaigns, and the costs turned out to be insignificant, and the profits were significant.

Direct marketing: examples of effective campaigns

1. Honda Motor Company– careful study and analysis of data sets.

When a client from the database reaches a certain age, gets married and has children, he receives an offer to purchase a spacious station wagon instead of a sedan or hatchback, and later a trailer. With the help of this policy, the company managed to retain 65% of customers, which is 50% more than other automobile concerns.

1. Buitoni.

Buitoni achieved the effectiveness of its advertising campaign by offering a free cookbook from the country's chefs, as well as organizing a club, membership of which gave the right to receive booklets about Italian culture and cuisine. Buitoni's regular mailing list contained small questionnaires that helped determine the needs of the organization's members, which later made it possible to take into account their interests within the framework of various events.

1. REEMSTMA.

The objective of the PR campaign to promote the product was, with the support of the media, to increase sales of R1 brand cigarettes. To participate in it, you had to send the lid from the pack to the specified address. Next, a drawing was held among the participants and prizes were awarded. Along the way, information about the respondents was entered into the company database. That. a wide list of consumers of this brand was collected. The manufacturer received reliable information about the gender and age structure of its customers, increasing sales by one and a half times.

1. MARY KAY COSMETICS.

The gross revenue of this company consists of the sales of individual employees who use direct marketing as the basis for promoting the products of this manufacturer. A cosmetics sales manager organizes teams of several people, demonstrates the capabilities of the product and sells it to those who are interested in it. The obvious advantage of such a scheme is the clarity and ability to manipulate various group effects to achieve results. In addition, the company practices congratulations to employees and clients on important holidays, and also promptly notifies about launching promotions. The result is rapid growth of the enterprise thanks to these events.

How to start direct marketing: step-by-step instructions

The principles of individual product promotion can be applied to almost any business. Its effectiveness directly depends on the skills and competencies of the marketer.

Organization of such activities requires deep control and careful preparation. At the moment, such a strategy in Russia is not sufficiently developed, which opens up wide opportunities for specialists in this field and advertising companies. Europeans receive dozens of letters every day with similar proposals; Russians are not yet so involved in this process. A high rate of return on investment allows direct marketing to outperform advertising in the media, as well as other types of communications.

Personal research tools can not only expand your customer base, but also increase the number of leads from the same consumer of goods or services. It also allows you to increase brand awareness and gain deeper insight into your market niche.

Preparing a direct marketing campaign

At this stage, it is necessary to determine the goals, objectives and tools of the advertising campaign, develop a portrait of the customer, and describe the target audience.

Basic goals:

• growth of personal base;
• personal offer and personalized approach to each customer;
• ensuring constant client flow and building a lead generation process;
• return of lost purchasers.

It is necessary to determine what percentage of response or conversion the organization should receive from this promotion. With a target review rate of 30%, getting 15% would be a failure. And earning 1% conversion with the same plan is definitely a success. To set goals and objectives, it is useful to study the market: the industry, competitors, average bill and conversion - dozens of different indicators. Then you should test the campaign by running it and adjust if necessary. It is believed that due to the insufficient development of individual marketing in Russia, the average Western conversion level of 2-4% must be surpassed - then the advertising campaign can be considered successful.

Direct marketing and service is direct interaction with the client. The most important point is identifying the target audience. For example, who might be interested in purchasing delivery route planning software? Manufacturer? Distributor? Wholesaler? To whom should the proposal be addressed: the general or commercial director, the head of the logistics service?

The main goal is to determine the portrait of the consumer of your product or service. You can entrust such an important research to a consulting company if you are not confident in your abilities and have never conducted such research.

1. Select a tool.

The required funds are directly determined by the goals, objectives and target audience that you have defined in advance. For example, advertising handicraft products on Odnoklassniki will be more effective than on Instagram, since the main clientele is on the first social network.

2. We conduct DM campaigns.

1. The selection of people from a wide range is carried out through coupon services or posting information in the media. All those interested in the offer can be considered as representatives of the target audience. Similar results can be achieved by placing advertisements with a contact phone number on television and radio. Some companies determine their consumers by studying various databases (for example, traffic police) found in the public domain. The disadvantage of this option is the issue of correctness, completeness and relevance of the information presented in such lists. This method is more suitable for the b2c sphere. For b2b this is much less likely to apply, since it requires an individual approach to each partner.

2. Reorienting people interested in a product or service into buyers. At this stage, work is carried out with the segment from which the feedback was received (for example, clicking on a link). Here the interaction takes on the character of communication with a specific target group. At this point, the marketer comes into play, who should have formulated the goal in advance, prepare professional product images, infographics, and convey the value of the proposed product to the final buyer. When contacting a potential customer, it is imperative to highlight the following: Problems:

• why does he need this product;
• Why now;
• why should he answer in the affirmative to the proposal.

If your choice is e-mail newsletter, then it is necessary by all possible means to divert the recipient from the idea that this message is spam. First, at the beginning of the letter you need to address him by name. Secondly, you need to come up with a catchy and succinct title for the subject line of the letter. And thirdly, try to avoid template notifications.

Here you can also reflect answers to frequently asked questions when you first contact us. You can offer a discount in case of immediate purchase, offer a gift for a certain amount, participation in a drawing, etc. Draws are regularly held for European car owners who are objects of Russian direct marketing. In one of these, Volkswagen placed small fake keys in the mailing envelope. All visitors to the presentation of the new model who arrived with keys from the mailing list entered into a drawing for a new car. The result of this campaign is almost 100% response!

The loss of a small number of regular customers threatens a significant decrease in sales. It is necessary to maintain continuous communication with them by constantly notifying them about promotions and interesting events.

Exists several ways to keep in touch with clients:

• thanks for the purchase;
• unique messages about promotions and events taking place in the company;
• Happy Birthday;
• gifts for brand loyalty (for example, souvenirs with your company logo);
• an invitation to an open day, corporate event or presentation, to a round table between the manufacturer and the buyer;
• resolving pressing issues with problematic counterparties;
• response to the wishes of regular consumers, care for them and respect for their interests;
• drawing up an individual portrait of the customer based on information from questionnaires.

In addition, it is also necessary to work with the “lost” ones. This will allow you to study the negative aspects of your organization and competitors, and find out the reasons for refusing to interact with the company.

3. Analysis of the conducted DM campaign.

Main mistakes:

• incorrectly defined target audience;
• poorly selected text and graphic appeals for a certain circle of buyers;
• inappropriate time window for events.

Even if the advertising campaign achieved a positive result, it is necessary to find out what inaccuracies and shortcomings there were in order to prevent them from happening in a future PR campaign. This applies to both targeted requests and requirements for additional information about the company, its goods and services, as well as its events. Audiences that have not responded to advertising also need to be taken into account in strategic planning.

Many foreign experts believe that very soon direct promotion of goods and services will displace other methods of conveying information about a product as less effective and stagnant in their development.

What other mistakes are made when conducting direct marketing?

Year after year, marketers make the same mistakes. unforgivable mistakes, nullifying the effect of the applied efforts:

• lack of sales skills. Many organizations begin their journey by presenting products to the wrong target audience. This is the fault of the employee who did not pay enough attention to determining the portrait of a potential buyer and the content of the advertisement. To eliminate such miscalculations, you need to select the most personalized message for each consumer segment. The emphasis should be on the benefits that the client will receive from cooperation with your company, and not on the company's awards;
• savings on database compilation. It must be relevant, truthful and not misleading to the marketer;
• reducing costs for specialists in this field. To achieve a 100% result, you need a proven master. There is no need to reduce costs at his expense. The dividends his work will bring are worth much more;
• Success will be achieved by turning to the rich experience of specialized agencies;
• Copywriting is invaluable. The text must be unique and aimed at representatives of the target audience;
• You shouldn’t strive for a low price everywhere. This tactic does not bring success in all areas of marketing activity;
• Before starting market research, conduct initial testing of the niche. This will allow you to determine whether there is a demand for your product and in which direction you should move.

Direct marketing (direct marketing, direct marketing) is a set of activities with the help of which companies successfully build direct marketing communications personally with each consumer of their goods and services and establish long-term mutually beneficial relationships with them. At the same time, communications are two-way in nature: using direct marketing tools, you not only address clients directly, but also establish effective feedback, receiving feedback on proposals from your consumers.

The essence of direct marketing activities can be formulated as “direct action marketing”, and all of them involve direct (and, as a rule, personal) contact with customers. Among them are such tools as direct mail, courier delivery, telemarketing, fax mailing, e-mail mailing.

An individual approach to each client will allow you to find out his preferences, and therefore make a more convincing offer of your products and services. An equally important aspect is the ability to establish long-term relationships with representatives of your target audience and increase their loyalty through direct marketing. Getting to know your customers personally will allow you to offer them exactly the products that are most attractive to them, and thus establish long-lasting relationships.

Only with the help of direct marketing tools will you be able to establish effective feedback and measure the reaction of your customers to offers, as well as discover the most effectively working or, conversely, non-working mechanisms. This will allow you to increase the impact of your DM events and spend the funds you allocated for them with the greatest benefit.

Unlike mass communications, direct marketing is the most controlled tool. Using it in your marketing practice, you can completely control the costs of carrying out any stage of a comprehensive DM campaign or when using individual direct marketing tools.

Direct marketing provides ample opportunities for marketing and creative experiments, since the flexibility of each of its tools allows you to unlimitedly vary and change the methods and forms of contacting clients at different stages of the DM campaign. At the same time, you are in control of tracking the most effective offers and when they are sent to the target audience. Thus, direct marketing makes it possible to accurately calculate the results of ongoing activities.

At the same time, using traditional forms of advertising, be it an advertising module in a magazine or a television commercial, you will definitely “waste” them on part of the non-target audience. Moreover, it is not possible to determine the percentage of ineffective use of your advertising in this case. And any direct marketing tool is aimed at ensuring that your information is never received by a random person. After all, one of the main tasks of direct marketing is to establish direct communication only with representatives of your target audience.

Establishing effective feedback will allow you to minimize financial risks by accurately knowing how customers will respond to your proposals. Since customer reactions can be predicted, you can calculate the necessary funds that need to be spent to achieve the planned result.

In addition, by eliminating numerous intermediaries between you and your clients by establishing direct communications, you save significant money. If certain intermediary links cannot be avoided for objective reasons, direct marketing allows you to eliminate unnecessary costs by identifying your target audience, to whom you will contact at the most appropriate time with the most attractive offer.

Direct marketing allows you to better meet customer needs by improving the quality of services. After all, if you are directly familiar with your customers, know their motivation for purchasing certain goods and needs, then you can interest them in individual offers. And developing relationships on a long-term basis will help increase customer loyalty.

In essence, direct marketing is an effective way to attract and retain customers and allows you to build communications with consumers when the product suits them perfectly and “sells itself”, without any intermediaries.

COMPLEX DM CAMPAIGN

A comprehensive DM campaign is the pinnacle of direct marketing. It concentrates all the advantages of individual services (direct mail, databases, telemarketing, courier service, fax mailing, e-mail mailing) and is a unique mechanism in terms of its effect and flexibility. At the same time, a DM campaign is not just the sum of all the listed direct marketing tools. It gives you the opportunity to successfully build effective marketing communications with your clients, and therefore solve the problems that face you.

The art of conducting a comprehensive DM campaign lies in the optimal combination of various direct marketing methods. The basis for successfully achieving your business goals is consistency, degree of use, and creative solutions in relation to all direct marketing tools. Only a verified and carefully planned DM campaign will help you achieve the desired result, and our agency’s specialists will help you with this.

A comprehensive DM campaign involves a set of tools, each of which can and should be used in a properly defined combination with others. One of the most important advantages of direct marketing is the ability to almost endlessly change your messages to the target audience and accurately measure the response using these tools.

Our specialists will help you most effectively compose messages for each type of communication, prepare and deliver them to representatives of your target audience, collect and analyze the reactions of your customers.

To win over a consumer, you need to know as much as possible about him. Only personal contact will give you maximum information about a potential client, but in order to establish it you will need to use a number of direct marketing mechanisms.

Using databases when conducting a comprehensive DM campaign will identify your target audience, which will help with marketing research. Databases are needed to target your offers directly to those customers who are most interested in your services or products.

Our agency has databases of legal entities in the capital and regions of the country, as well as databases of individuals, which company specialists regularly check and update. We can check your database against agency lists, and also compile a database for a specific advertising project. At the same time, the database can be created using an expanded number of parameters, which will allow you to identify potential clients and make them the right offer that will not go unanswered.

Telemarketing will help you create the most accurate portrait of your target audience. A preliminary telephone call in itself is not only an auxiliary tool, but also represents a self-sufficient marketing event. With its help, we will create a database for your subsequent mailings, conduct surveys, organize a hotline and call center.

Telemarketing gives you the opportunity to establish direct contact with your customers. You can use the call center services at any stage of the DM campaign, including to attract attention to direct mail or courier delivery. The service is also very effective in establishing feedback from your target audience. This allows you to track customer reactions to your offers. Based on telemarketing data, you can quickly adjust the progress of advertising campaigns or marketing programs.

One of the most popular direct marketing services, direct mail, solves a number of problems within the framework of a comprehensive DM campaign. Direct mail, produced using a reliable database, delivers information directly to the addressee you are interested in. With this service, you can establish constant contact with customers and regularly inform them about new products, conditions, and special events. Personalized contact via direct mail will increase the loyalty of your audience. In addition, direct mail is one of the main tools in implementing loyalty programs.

Sending out faxes will provide you with prompt delivery of information to your clients through the database. In a DM campaign, fax distribution can be carried out in combination with telemarketing, direct mail and courier delivery. An additional reminder about your product or service at a noticeable low cost makes faxing a popular direct marketing tool.

E-mail distribution (not to be confused with spam) in a comprehensive DM campaign also, as a rule, accompanies other direct marketing services. With its help, you can inform your customers about new products, services, events, discounts, etc. The effectiveness of electronic mailing is ensured by a verified database in which customer addresses are entered only with their personal permission.

The courier service does not just deliver a business letter, documents, valuable gift or some other item to your client. Using courier delivery as part of a DM campaign ensures that information is accurately received by exactly those representatives of the target audience that you need most. This service emphasizes the special importance of both the message and the client to whom it is delivered. Such an individual approach increases audience loyalty and promotes sales growth.

Conducting a comprehensive DM campaign will help you quickly and effectively achieve various goals:

interest consumers in new products or services;

increase sales or orders;

bring to the attention of certain categories of clients information about some special events;

maintain constant contact with your clients;

increase awareness of your brand;

find new clients;

carry out activities within the framework of programs to support and develop loyalty among its audience.

The versatility of direct marketing services gives you the opportunity to combine and change the scope of their use during a comprehensive DM campaign, depending on the goals being pursued. For different categories of your target audience, you can use different mechanisms. If your clients are end consumers, use direct mail to convey to them the information you are interested in. The business audience can be reached by faxing to offices, or in the case of a particularly important client - through courier delivery. Telemarketing after these events will allow you to establish feedback and develop more effective marketing campaigns.

Whatever direct marketing services you use during your DM campaign, they all make it possible to receive an accurate response from your customers to your events. This allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of using various tools during the campaign itself and make changes as necessary. Such flexibility makes it possible to develop and implement optimal DM campaigns, while conventional advertising or marketing activities may be more expensive in terms of funds and execution time.

Addressing the problems of direct marketing is not a tribute to fashion. Practice shows: there is no better way to find new clients and maintain business connections with existing ones than direct marketing; There is no faster way to increase turnover than directly contacting the client.

The secret to the future success of your direct marketing company is simple:

• precise planning,
• creativity,
• excellent performance,
• constant monitoring of results.

All the necessary instructional material on the above-mentioned set of issues is contained in this reference book - a subscription ongoing publication with a simple and effective system of updates and additions, representing modern experience accumulated in this field both in Western Europe and in Russia as presented by leading foreign and Russian specialists. The basic set of the reference book is 400 pages. You can receive another 100 pages every quarter.

You can sign up for a discounted subscription to the basic block of the reference book and its supplements directly from the publisher.

We present to your attention a fragment of this unique publication.

1.1.1. What is direct marketing?

Direct marketing refers to all forms of contact with customers aimed at establishing a dialogue, for example, questions and answers, offers and orders, or calls for donations and their transfer.

Signs of direct marketing include individual appeals to customers, elements of response, cost transparency, as well as reasonable accumulation of customer data.

Direct marketing covers all market activities in which communication tools and techniques are used with the specific intention of establishing a dialogue with interested parties, the purpose of which is an individual and measurable response from the interested party. This may take the form of an order, a request to receive a catalog, attending a promotional event, or other forms. Firms using direct marketing thus determine which of the persons to whom advertising messages were sent and in what form responded to them; in accordance with this reaction, the dialogue develops. Interested parties then receive additional information material or an order proposal. Clients are given bonuses for loyalty to the company, small rewards or birthday greetings, etc.

1.1.2. Who uses direct marketing?

You can often hear the opinion that direct marketing is only suitable for parcel trading companies.

It is not right! Direct marketing is currently used by industry, trade, artisans and companies operating in the service sector.

Other arguments against direct marketing include:

Anyone can use direct marketing

Direct marketing is applicable to almost everyone. It is more difficult to answer the opposite question: which industry, in fact, cannot use direct marketing?

What is often missing is knowledge about the applicability of individual direct marketing tools. Many people are held back from using direct marketing by the fear of common mistakes that can cost a lot of money.

But perhaps the same thing will happen to you as to some skeptics. The more you engage in direct marketing, the greater your passion for this field of activity. It simply provides opportunities for any industry: from a small trader or artisan to a chemical concern or even political parties and associations.

Over half of all companies use direct marketing

The German Direct Marketing Association and German Post JSC in their study “Economic factor of direct marketing 1995” tried to study the question of who uses direct marketing. For this purpose, a representative survey of 614,388 firms (subject to taxation and with a turnover of 500,000 marks or more) in the old federal states was carried out. Below are some of the results of this survey.

In 1988, direct marketing was used by about a third of all firms, in 1995 it was already more than half.

More than half of companies use direct marketing

If you take a closer look at the survey results by industry, you will see that direct marketing is not only used by mail order companies.

Total direct marketing expenses by industry

But since in absolute terms there are different numbers of trading firms, service firms, etc., better comparability can be achieved by comparing the average direct marketing costs of each individual firm by industry. Here's the result:

Average costs for direct marketing in thousand marks per company

What goals can you achieve with direct marketing?

What can you achieve with direct marketing? Today there are four major goals that you can achieve using it.

Goal 1: Filter stakeholders from a large target group.

Currently this is done in various ways. By using an ad with a coupon or a supplement to a magazine or newspaper, you identify from all the readers of these publications a target group that is interested in your offer. For the same purposes, commercials on radio and television indicating the company’s telephone number, advertising messages, “Online” networks, etc. can be used.

Goal 2: Convert stakeholders into customers.

This will be more accurate and comprehensive than in the case of advertisements.

Goal 3: acquiring new customers.

You can often acquire new customers in a way that doesn't require identifying interested parties. This happens primarily when your proposal evokes a spontaneous reaction. This reaction occurs not only when low prices are offered. Target groups with great purchasing power also show spontaneous readiness to take advantage of your offer when it comes to exclusive, expensive goods and services!

Goal 4: customer retention and further development of relationships with them.

Retaining a customer is ten times cheaper than acquiring a new one. Therefore, in this case the money will be well invested. How to retain a client?

Let's give a few examples.

• Congratulate the customer on their new purchase.
• Offer him special treatment.
• Create a program for multiple users of your products.
• Inform the customer about the upcoming arrival of new products.
• Send him suggestions regularly.
• Send the client your own newspaper intended for him.
• Congratulate him on his name day and birthday.
• Show the client tokens of appreciation for their loyalty to the company for 5, 10, 20 years (flowers, thank you note, small gift, “certificate of loyalty,” etc.).
• Invite him to visit your company (open day, company anniversary or expansion events, presentation of new products, production seminars, special events such as competitions, fashion shows, presentation of company products by popular personalities, etc. .).
• Satisfy an unhappy customer.
• Ask him orally and in writing about his wishes.
• Try to get all the most important data about the client.
• Regularly remind the client about yourself.
• Encourage all your employees to be customer-centric!

Finding and attracting a client is one of the main goals of every company. Therefore, in your mailbox you will find not only emails from parcel trading companies, but also postal items from companies and institutions.

1.2.2. Direct marketing as a company function

Direct marketing as the guiding principle of an enterprise is a new thought. It is interesting primarily for those companies that have focused on customers.

At the same time, direct marketing always performs a specific function of the company: promoting the sale of products and the provision of services. This feature makes direct marketing necessary for every company. Communication becomes an orchestra of communication: each instrument must play in its own characteristic way, but all together according to a single score.

What role does direct marketing play in this case?

Think about how you, as a client, form an impression of the company? This, for example, happens with:

• Advertisements
• Supplements to newspapers
• Mailov
• Sellers
• Employees on the phone
• The product itself
• Fairs
• Sales (special trade, parcel trade, etc.)
• Arrangements of the point of sale
• Sales environment
• Messages about products or the company itself
• Etc.

You know from your own experience what your impression is of a particular company. To be specific: the advertising is good, the products are also good, but the sellers are unfriendly! You will never go there again! One negative moment negates all the positive impressions!

A few weeks ago I bought a technically excellent presentation and communications telephone from a very well-known computer company. The salesperson as well as the written advertisement were great! So I also expected excellent customer service. However, I was to be disappointed. In order to find out the customer service phone number, I had to call seven phone numbers (starting with the phone number of the company that sold me the product). At the end of this odyssey, I knew by heart the first sentence that I would hear in response to my subsequent calls: “We are not responsible for these questions. Try calling 0180."

Professor Eric van Vooren, a direct marketing specialist from Belgium, shows the problem of optimal coordination of individual direct marketing tools with the following very impressive example.

The behavior of some companies in the field of marketing is reminiscent of the behavior of a person who wants to pass himself off as a playboy, entering a bar with the keys to a Porsche car, wearing branded glasses, and smelling of expensive perfume. But, unfortunately, one of the attentive observers notices clothespins on his trousers, which are used when riding a bicycle. And this little thing spoils everything, destroying all attempts to create the desired impression.

Think about where in your company you can find such “clothespins”? Often these “clothespins” are unprofessional integration of direct marketing into the entire marketing system.

Value Spectrum Model

Ogilvy and Mather has developed a model that gives direct marketing firms some very useful guidance on how to harmonize. The agency model has two main dimensions: value and client loyalty. These two dimensions that form the developed model can be explained as follows.

Customer value

Suppose a client gives your company 3000 marks of turnover per year and is a client for 4 years. As a result, the total turnover during this time is 12,000 marks. This is the so-called “lifetime value” (Life-Time-Value) of the client. If you acquire a client, you can calculate how much turnover potential you will have. If you lose a client, then in this case your losses in turnover will increase precisely due to this circumstance. A client’s negative experience in relations with a company is spread by rumors 10 to 15 times. As a result, turnover losses increase tenfold! If you cause the customer's anger or dissatisfaction, you will have to give up 132,000 marks in turnover. In particular, from 12,000 marks attributable to himself, and from 120,000 additional marks, since he told ten other people about his negative experience.

Let's return to the model developed by the Ogilvy and Mather agency. High customer value only occurs if the customer uses a lot of the products or services you offer.

You make food for dogs. An owner with many young dogs that will later become huge Newfoundlands is of more value to you than a lady with a single elderly Yorkshire Terrier.

You sell phones. A company with many employees is more valuable to you than a single family that buys a phone only occasionally.

Loyalty of potential clients

Prospect loyalty can be extremely high. However, this will do nothing if they do not become real clients of your company.

Specifically: If a Newfoundland dog breeder or the owner of a large canteen does not buy anything from you, then you have nothing from the high value of a potential client. Naturally, the ideal would be for a high-value prospect to become your actual customer.

Graphically, four groups of varying customer value and loyalty can be distinguished.

Value Spectrum Model

It is interesting to differentiate between these fields through market research. These different groups are subject to different strategic actions, as you can see from the following table.

Naturally, associated with these types of strategies is a certain use of tools. Retaining loyal, high-value customers also requires very special costs. Here we use methods of the external advertising service: personal service to the best clients, service for “especially important persons” (VIP-Service), as well as certain direct marketing methods, such as very personal emails or a telephone hotline. Less loyal customers or potential customers with a lower degree of value are "handled" by classical means, for example through advertisements in magazines and newspapers, which, however, are intended for customers with a higher degree of value.

Benefits of the Value Spectrum Model

The value spectrum model has various benefits for customers and firms:

1. The budget can be reallocated according to the duration of the customer's value.

2. Clients, depending on their membership in a particular group, receive appropriate messages. The best clients usually need different messages than the messages sent to the “bad clients.”

3. The model provides guidance for the effective, coordinated use of various advertising media.

It is these models that can help ensure that various specialized advertising departments are doing one unified job.

1.2.3. Direct marketing in the marketing system

The concept of “marketing system” implies the meaning and design of a policy defined by one or another company aimed at ensuring the sales of products, the selection of production policy tools, pricing, distribution and communication policies.

All marketing tools express the special objectives of direct marketing, the main of which is the policy of communication and distribution.

Distribution policy is then an integral part of direct marketing when it is aimed at direct distribution. Examples of this are direct sales, mail-order-parcel trading, as well as issues related to the delivery of goods (external sales services, distribution organizations, post office, etc.).

With regard to pricing and counterparty policies in direct marketing, special problems have to be solved. These include, for example, issues of delivery conditions (on account or on demand), payment terms (for example, terms), credit policy (for example, purchases on credit), etc.

In the field of communication policy, two topics are at the center of attention.

Firstly, all direct marketing tools must be consistent with each other. Secondly, direct marketing must be consistent with classic advertising.

1. Direct marketing tools in the communication system

Direct marketing tools can be, for example, emails, active and passive telephone marketing, CD-ROMs, online offers, fax advertising, applications with responsive elements, ads with coupons, television and radio advertising with responsive elements, etc.

Almost all of these tools can be used for two purposes:

• winning over stakeholders and
• purchasing an order.

2. Combination of direct marketing with classic advertising

Contrary to many claims, classical advertising and direct marketing work well together when they are consistent with each other.

If you combine your classic advertising with elements of direct marketing, you will be able to:

• successfully resonate with large target groups;
• identify stakeholders from these target groups;
• open the door to direct marketing, since advertising messages from already known companies are opened more quickly than messages from unknown ones.

The combined use of direct marketing and classical advertising makes it possible to harmonize goals, target groups, advertising messages and communication system tools. All this is done in order to achieve a common result. This result should be higher than the sum of the effectiveness of individual promotional activities.

If this cannot be done, there is a danger that individual activities will be directed in different directions and it will become impossible to achieve the overall optimal success of own advertising with clients and stakeholders.

How can classical advertising be brought into harmony with direct marketing?

There are various ways here.

Strategy 1: Almost all direct marketing users, when communicating with clients, pay attention to the uniform design of their advertising: key “pictures”, logography, font types, etc., both in classic advertising and in direct marketing remain the same. The person to whom the advertisement is directed must understand at first glance that this is an advertisement for this particular company, regardless of whether he watches an ad, a movie clip, or reads an advertising message.

Strategy 2: Classic advertising and direct marketing are combined quite deliberately. With the help of classic advertising, you can indicate further activities in the field of direct marketing. Use, for example, a classic ad with the link: “Check your mailbox in the next few days.”

Strategy 3: Combine classic advertising with direct marketing elements. Outdoor advertising (posters, billboards, stands, advertising on vehicles, etc.) often contains opportunities to receive responses in the form of a telephone number or, more recently, in the form of a WWW (World Wide Web) address.

Benefits of Harmonization

Ultimately, it is about optimizing communication with the client in a way that satisfies the client, the offeror and the agency.

• Benefits for you as an offeror: The more ways you communicate with clients, the more overlap there will be. An overall communication plan, in which each individual tool is cross-checked for its intended effectiveness, reduces overall costs.
• At the same time, it gives you great confidence. You use each tool in such a way that, when combined with other tools, it produces an additional effect.
• These advantages are recognized by many providers. More and more tasks are being transferred to direct marketing agencies. An important consequence of harmonization for many agencies involved in classical advertising was to ensure the safety of their own clientele. It is in Germany that a truly “founding boom” has occurred in this area in recent years.

  Most of the important classic agencies today have direct marketing subsidiaries, which often bear the same name with the addition of only the word “direct”.

• Benefits of harmonization for persons targeted by advertising:

  Today they are bombarded with information. But only individually directed information stands out from this flow. Ideally, direct marketing messages reach only highly interested people. This target group does not view promotions as burdensome. Previously, a lot of money was invested in mass communication, but at the same time there was an unjustified dissipation of funds. Today, with the help of direct marketing, more accurate and effective information is provided to customers. This information, coming from one company, goes in two directions: firstly, to another company (direct marketing “Business-to-Business”) and, secondly, to individuals (direct marketing “Business-to-Consumer”) .

1.3.2. Common features and differences between “B-to-B” and “B-to-C” direct marketing

American Mark S. Benson in his book “Do-it-Yourself Direct Marketing” describes the differences between “B-to-B” and “B-to-C” direct marketing.

B-to-C direct marketing is completely simple. You send advertising messages, some recipients respond and place an order, for example, pizza.

“B-to-B” – direct marketing is much more complex. You are trying to find those individuals in the company who can later advance the deal.

To do this, the future consumer of pizza, the person responsible for purchasing pizza or an influential representative of the company must receive various arguments. You must try to prove to the company's representatives that your pizza is in complete harmony with the company's main activities. You promote the benefits of your pizza ingredients, such as mozzarella, olives and tomato sauce. You also give the buyer a number of compelling arguments so that he can later explain to his boss why he purchased the pizza.

This example clearly shows the difference between B-to-B and B-to-C direct marketing. In B-to-B direct marketing, it is important to find interested parties and influence them in order to ensure that the company concludes an appropriate purchase and sale agreement. In the language of specialists, we are talking about creating “initiators” (Leads). With B-to-C direct marketing, you can, for example, directly contact the buyer using email.

Is B-to-B direct marketing something completely different from B-to-C direct marketing? Or does it function exactly the same? Or is there a difference only in the place of address? Is the target group located in the company or at home?

As often happens, the truth is in the middle. There are commonalities and differences.

What is common between B-to-B and B-to-C direct marketing?

Still people!

There is still a widespread belief that people who work in a firm behave differently than they do in private life. However, it should be recognized that a person does not lose his “human appearance” when crossing the threshold of a company!

And so, in many respects, you can treat company employees just as you would individuals, for example, with respect to their product-utility orientation and with respect to motivation.

Specifically: why, for example, is a certain car purchased for an external sales service? Because of its capacity, performance, profitability, etc.? However, along with these rather rational considerations, there are others. Can I make an impression on my boss by making this decision? How will I appear to the external sales team? Will your competitors be jealous?

Reflections when making a decision

Research on consumer behavior distinguishes between determinable habits and extensive decisions when purchasing a product. If you buy butter, for example, you don't think long about whether it is salted or unsalted, how high the fat content is, what country of origin, etc. You also don't weigh the various attributes against each other, read the reports of the results testing and in any other way inform yourself about the qualities of this oil. As a rule, you usually buy “your” oil. This is called a habit-driven decision.

If, for example, you are buying a laptop computer, then it takes much more time for you to make a decision about its purchase. First, you try to get as much information as possible, read messages about testing the product, etc. This is called an extensive decision.

Both of these types of solutions are found in both B-to-B and B-to-C direct marketing. When purchasing paper clips, carbon paper, pencils and other similar products, the B-to-B direct marketing system is based on habit decisions. Toothpaste, butter, bread, etc. are further typical examples for B-to-C direct marketing.

In contrast, extensive solutions occur, for example, when purchasing a new computer system or new production equipment. In the field of "B-to-C" direct marketing, this is the purchase of a lawn mower or car. That is, the location of the decision is not particularly important. This can happen both at home and in a company. What is more important is the type of decision and it gives you direction for choosing a strategy.

Data bank as a basis

No one is able to hold the necessary data about thousands of people in their head. This applies to both the B-to-B sphere and the B-to-C direct marketing sphere. You need the data bank as “extended memory”. It needs to be updated regularly; new data must be added constantly. And then they must be subject to reasonable evaluation.

Differences between B-to-B and B-to-C direct marketing

Number of decision makers

In the field of B-to-B direct marketing, as a rule, more people are involved in resolving the issue than in the private sphere. And it is precisely this in the field of B-to-B direct marketing that poses a difficult task for us: to find out who makes the decisions and what their address is.

According to research results, there are different categories of decision makers:

1. "Users" This is the circle of people who will later use the product or service. This is, for example, when purchasing production equipment for the persons who will work on it.
2. "Persons of influence." These are individuals who, in one way or another, influence the decision to purchase or not purchase a product. These are, for example, specialists working in the company who manage production equipment.
3. "Intermediaries". These are, for example, secretaries who control the flow of information flowing to decision makers.

As already mentioned, the constant accumulation of data is a sign of direct marketing. The purpose of contacts in the field of B-to-B direct marketing is to clarify the question of who performs the above-mentioned role in relation to which product. Such information for the B-to-B direct marketing strategy will be more valuable than gold!

Environmental change

Compared to families, firms change significantly more. Many are becoming larger and hiring new staff. Some file for bankruptcy or downsize. Employees of the company either get promoted or leave it. The only constant in any company is transformation! Families, on the contrary, change their composition much less frequently.

These rapid changes have implications for B-to-B direct marketing. Let's say you started a dialogue using direct marketing tools and then established a good relationship with the client.

Suddenly one of your clients within his company, for one reason or another, gets promoted and takes a good position. A good relationship with the client remains. Suddenly you have a powerful decision maker at your disposal. And your contribution is worth it. And this in turn often brings profit.

Number of possible clients

The third and final difference is the number of potential customers. In the field of B-to-C direct marketing it is greater. In the B-to-B sphere it is rather less. For example, the market for interested parties and buyers of microsurgical needles is relatively small, especially compared to the B-to-C direct marketing market for CD players.

Often in the B-to-B market, direct marketing deals with only 100 or 1000 individuals. This has several consequences. Since it is impossible to simply expand the market, there is more intensive work with individuals than in the field of B-to-C direct marketing. Secondly, it is impossible to conduct meaningful testing, since each test version requires a sample survey of 2000 individuals.

Naturally, there are products designed for large target groups: carbon paper, toners, office furniture, etc.

In this case, it is advisable to create small, observable target groups. This will make it possible to better target individual target groups with a marketing strategy that suits them.

More and more people are excited about the idea of ​​direct marketing. The encouragement for this comes from seminars and books like this one. With the help of “human direct marketing” you pave your way to your personal success. Always think about the person you are advertising for! Remember that he is looking for advantage and benefit. Show them to him. Justify why he will receive these advantages and benefits from your proposal. Make it easier for him to receive your offer. And if you can do this, you will influence your colleagues and employees in terms of customer focus.

6.1.1. Direct marketing in Russia – development trends in the second half of the 90s

Today, direct marketing in developed countries is an absolutely necessary companion for any product. Speaking in terms of numbers, out of approximately $260 billion spent on promoting goods in the United States, and primarily on advertising, about $140 billion (almost 54%) is spent on direct marketing. Of this, $54 billion (21%) is servicing trade through catalogues. In Western Europe, of all expenditures on product promotion, the share of direct marketing is more than 37%, and in the recent year 2000, according to the forecasts of specialists from the European Direct Marketing Association (FEDMA), this share will exceed 50%.

The direct marketing course is a mandatory part of the programs of all Western universities. There is even a specialized university, and many research organizations operate.

Experts estimate that there are more than 80,000 such organizations in the world. These figures do not include periodicals published by non-members of national associations.

The legislative sphere has been developed quite fully. Corporate rules have developed for specialists in this field, a certain set of written or unwritten norms that pose a kind of ethical barriers to invading the client’s privacy.

More than 40 periodicals on the topic of direct marketing are published around the world.

Direct marketing has long turned into an entire business industry, “provoking” the emergence of such technologies as computer telephony or intelligent printing.

With the whole world, as they say, everything is clear. It is much more interesting to understand what is happening in Russia.

It is estimated that in Russia in 1997, about $2 billion was spent on product promotion. The share of direct marketing was about $250 million, or 8%. It's not that much. But there has been a steady trend of almost twofold annual growth in the share of direct marketing in advertising budgets. In 1996, the amount of these costs was estimated at $75 million. If things continue at this or similar pace, then by 2000 we are quite capable of catching up with Europe in the share of direct marketing in the costs associated with product promotion (Diagram 1) .

Diagram 1

These funds are distributed approximately as follows:

Postal costs (tariff and forwarding) - 34%, printing - 28, communication types of direct marketing (personal sales, telemarketing, coupon ads, etc.) - 19, maintaining address databases - 11, research and development - 3, other items – 5% (diagram 2).

Diagram 2

Considering that the most effective direct marketing tool in Russia is currently mail, it is extremely interesting to look at its main clients.

Catalog trade - 53%, direct marketing in the non-catalog area - 28, direct mail as part of advertising campaigns - 13, publisher mailings, including direct subscription - more than 5% (Diagram 3).

The income of the postal department from direct marketing (excluding commissions for sending money transfers) consists of the following indicators: postal tariff - 64%, forwarding - 22, other services, including all types of impersonal mailings - 14% (Diagram 4). The diagram shows that the postal service makes money mainly from the postal tariff; its forwarding tariffs are too high and many prefer to resolve these issues on the side; moreover, the actual lack of automation in forwarding does not make it possible to use the postal service when forwarding large quantities. Other forms of earning money, such as issuing permits for the use of payment marks (stamps “postage paid”), are associated with so many problems and are so long and difficult to solve that they seriously complicate the interaction of commercial structures and mail. There is not even any talk about letters that the recipient must pay for.

Fortunately, as they say, not just by mail... Although if you look at direct marketing tools and the share of direct marketing budgets allocated to them, it turns out that mail is the leader here too by a large margin.

Addressed mailing of correspondence (letters, parcels, etc., sent through the postal network) accounts for about 47%, targeted mailing through courier services accounts for 4%, all types of impersonal mailings, including putting in mailboxes and all types of distribution of materials or samples, and also forwarding using existing card subscription schemes - 13, direct response, including teleshopping and coupon advertisements in the press - 26, telemarketing - 7, fax-modem mailing - about 2, direct marketing on the Internet - less than 1% (Diagram 5) .

Direct marketing is most effective in conditions of the most intense competition. It is all the more interesting to look at who exactly becomes clients of Russian direct marketing agencies, adjusted, of course, to our Russian reality. The correction is that in a number of markets there is simply not the necessary amount of money to implement direct marketing programs. An incident from life - the director of one of the Moscow dairy giants once said that this is exactly what is needed, but now he can only pay with milk.

Diagram 3

Diagram 4

Diagram 5

Diagram 6

What do we have today? The top spot is held by imported soft drinks. Their share is more than 16%. Further positions were distributed as follows: hygiene items - 15%, cigarettes - 13, tea and coffee (including Russian producers) - 8, publishing activities - 8 (more than half of them are domestic businessmen), dairy products - 7, computers and office equipment – ​​6, beer – 5, construction, production of building materials and sale of housing – 5, over-the-counter medications – 4, banks (only domestic, and their activity has noticeably decreased) – 3, tourism – 3, air transportation – 3% (Diagram 6) .

It didn’t reach one hundred percent, since the rest is volumes completely indistinguishable to the eye. The share of Russian firms in these orders today is about 15%.

From the above, it does not at all follow that in the tourism market, for example, competition is weaker than in the production of personal hygiene products. It’s just that it’s difficult for small, usually travel companies, to manage any significant budgets for business development. Although studies have shown that more than 95% of travel agencies do not even collect the address information that floats into their hands.

According to our calculations, in Russia 3-4 Russian agencies are seriously involved in direct marketing. However, it is known that recently foreign agencies have been very seriously studying the possibility of working in our market. Large advertising agencies, mainly representatives of international network agencies, are increasingly using direct marketing for their clients in Russia. Among the direct marketing agencies in Russia, there are another 5-6 firms that in the near future are capable of breaking into the established elite of domestic direct marketing. In addition, in the vast expanses of Russia there are about 300 companies engaged in direct mail. Today, in almost every major city in the country there are companies specializing in courier delivery. More than 60 organizations offer advertising on the Internet, and only the lazy do not offer fax-modem mailing, which has become a real scourge for its recipients.

At the beginning of 1998, the first call-center in Russia began to operate actively. In addition to it, other organizations have appeared that provide services in the field of telemarketing.

There is not a single curriculum on direct marketing in any of our universities, but one of the advertising schools has included direct marketing in its curriculum.

A significant obstacle to the development of direct marketing is the lack of credit cards among a wide range of people. But this disadvantage, like youth, is eliminated, apparently, only with time.

The press in Russia has begun to pay more attention to direct marketing, and we are talking not only about advertising publications, but also about business publications.

The number of Internet users has not yet reached a “commodity” level (according to some data, in the country in the “pre-crisis” period there were about 400,000 users, now their number has decreased), which did not prevent our companies from implementing a number of successful direct marketing projects using this network.

Perhaps, with the exception of modern printing equipment capable of performing direct marketing tasks, the country now already has everything necessary to solve the most complex problems.

Forecasts for the development of direct marketing in our country may seem contradictory, but nevertheless, along with a noticeable reduction in the volume of orders in direct marketing (and in general in the field of product promotion), this is a temporary phenomenon. Direct marketing is perhaps the best cure for the crisis, since only direct marketing allows you to reliably “tie” your buyer to your product, then production will have someone to work for.

There is every reason to assume that in the very near future the number of companies engaged in direct mail will sharply increase, and the more than 40% reduction in the postal service in Russia will throw a huge number of professionals onto the market.

The State Duma is preparing for consideration a law on direct mail, the text of which we plan to familiarize readers with in the next supplement.

According to some reports, it is planned to open 2 more call centers in Moscow by 2000.

We are also aware of ongoing negotiations about the opening in Moscow of what is called a “letter-shop” - a combination of a mailing house with intelligent printing.

But the most gratifying news for our time of crisis is that domestic manufacturers have become increasingly interested in and using direct marketing methods. Even if we are talking about small budgets and relatively timid steps for now, this in itself is pleasing. It’s also nice that many people come to this intuitively, no longer being satisfied with the traditional means of promoting goods in our market, which only confirms the assumption that the emergence of direct marketing is a completely timely and natural thing.