Marketing Essentials

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achieved ratio
Profitability Marketing To see where the Measure profitability by
controllers company is making and product, territory, customer,
losing money segment, channel, order size;
measure ROI
Efficiency Line and staff To improve the spending Measure efficiency of sales
managers; and impact of marketing force, advertisements, sales
marketing dollars promotions, distribution
controllers
Strategy Top managers, To ask whether the Review marketing
marketing auditors company is pursuing the effectiveness and company's
best market, product, and social and ethical
channel opportunities responsibilities
Depending on your role, and your company's choice of control type, you may find
yourself responsible for one or more of these activities. Or, others in your company may
need your help gathering the required information to conduct these assessments.
Whichever part of the control process you're involved in, you can feel proud about
contributing to a key stage in your firm's marketing process.
A Closer Look at Direct Marketing
Will you order this year's holiday gifts from catalogs instead of heading for the shopping
malls? Have you sent money in response to a mailed-in request for donations to a
charitable cause? Has your company been purchasing raw materials over a Web site
rather than placing orders with your suppliers' sales force?
If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions, then you've participated in or seen
direct marketing in action.
Companies engage in direct marketing when they sell their products and services
directly to customers without the use of intermediaries such as wholesalers, retailers, and
so forth. To do so, they can use traditional media, such as:
printed, mailed marketing pieces
radio
TV
telemarketing
faxes
They can also use newer media, such as:
e-mail
Web sites
online services
As you may have guessed from the printed marketing materials you receive in your
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mailbox, or the e-mails you receive at your business or your home, direct marketing is
showing remarkable growth. Here are just a few statistics:
Direct-mail sales in the United States alone are growing 7% annually a
significant improvement over U.S. retail sales' annual increase of 3%.
Annual catalog and direct-mail sales in the United States have exceeded $318
billion.
Why direct marketing?
Direct marketing has been growing so fast because it provides increased benefits in
today's business world of intensifying competition. It enables companies to
buy mailing lists containing the names and contact information of almost any
group of target customers; for example, left-handed people, millionaires, new
consulting companies
personalize and customize the messages they deliver to target customers
time the delivery of messages so that they reach prospects at the right moment
achieve higher readership of printed materials
test messages and media to find the most cost-effective approach
conceal their offerings and strategy from competitors
measure customer responses to identify the most profitable campaigns
integrate direct-marketing strategies with other strategies, such as paid
advertisements
reach customers less expensively than through a sales force
Direct marketing's most important benefit for companies is that it lets firms engage in
relationship marketing, or one-to-one marketing. Through this special kind of
marketing, companies build stronger, more profitable bonds with target customers.
Customers whether individual consumers or businesses also appreciate direct
marketing for many different reasons. They can
shop more easily and quickly from home or the office
choose from a larger selection of merchandise
compare products, services, and prices easily
order goods 24 hours a day
learn about available products or services without tying up time meeting with
salespeople
receive their purchases quickly through next-day delivery services
In addition, new technology has made it easier than ever for companies to compile
customer databases: organized collections of updated, accessible information about
individual customers or prospects. Your company's customer database lets it
identify prospects: The company may generate sales leads by advertising its
product and then build a database from the responses that come in. It can sort
through the database to identify the best prospects and then contact them by mail,
phone, or other means in an attempt to convert them into customers.
decide which customers should receive a particular offer: The firm defines the
ideal target customer for an offer, then searches the database for those most
closely resembling the ideal.
deepen customer loyalty: The company can pique customers' interest and
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enthusiasm by remembering their preferences and sending gifts, coupons, and
special information.
"reactivate" customer purchases: Your firm can use automatic mailing
programs to send customers birthday or anniversary cards, holiday shopping
reminders, or other timely offers.
The dark side of direct marketing
Direct marketing clearly offers crucial benefits to both sellers and buyers. But it can also
have its dark side characteristics that might serve to turn customers away from your
product:
customer irritation: Many consumers view direct-marketing solicitations as
annoying.
unfairness: Some unscrupulous direct marketers take advantage of impulsive
buyers; for example, by using inflated claims to capture customers with low sales
resistance.
outright deception and fraud: These include false claims about products and
performance and questionable gimmicks such as envelopes that resemble
government documents which make recipients feel compelled to open and read
the contents.
invasion of privacy: Critics worry that marketers know too much about [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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