Direct marketing and direct selling

By: Shwetanshu GuptaMBA-49-2013

Direct marketing:

▪ Direct marketing is the use of consumer direct channels to reach and deliver goods and services to consumers without using marketing middlemen.

▪ It helps the companies to opening dialogue directly between themselves & the end consumers of their products.

▪ It is targeted at individual users rather than through intermediaries.

▪ Company markets through various advertising media that interact directly with consumers, generally encouraging the consumer to make a direct response.

Cont’d

▪ In other words, direct marketing consists of direct communications with carefully targeted consumers to obtain an immediate response.

▪ However, the ultimate purpose of direct marketing is to establish and manage direct long term relationships with customers by capturing personal information in a database.

▪ Marketer send birthday cards, information materials and small premiums to certain customers.

AdvantagesTo Businesses:

▪ Direct marketing can help sales to grow when used along with sales promotions and advertising campaigns.

▪ It is also useful for small businesses through guest books, visitors lists, and lists of enquiries. These operations rely on repeat business.

▪ Direct marketing builds relationships; it is an important tool in customer relationship management (CRM).

▪ It helps to measure response to campaigns to decide which media is most profitable.

▪ It helps to find cost effective approach of media.

To consumers:

▪ Home shopping can be fun, convenient & hassle free.

▪ Buyers get good services from the company like toll free numbers for purchasing or ordering goods.

▪ It provides quick delivery of goods to the consumers.

▪ It saves time and introduces consumer to a larger selection of merchandise.

▪ Consumer can do comparative shopping by browsing through mail catalogs and online shopping services.

Forms of direct marketing:

Direct mail marketing

Catalog marketing

Telemarketing Television

Kiosk marketing

Direct mail marketing:

▪ It involves sending an offer, announcement , reminder or other item to a person through mail

▪ Marketers send out millions of mail pieces each year, using highly selective mailing lists.

▪ It is a popular medium as it permits target market selectivity, can be personalized, is flexible.

▪ Cost involved is very high than the mass media but the people reached are better prospects.

Catalog marketing:

In this type of marketing seller prepares catalogues of merchandise or products and sells directly to customers.

Catalogues are generally in printed form but can also be distributed in the form of CDs .

To reduce printing and distribution costs catalogues are being increasingly made online.

Products from various companies or vendors may be combined into a single catalogue to provide a one point shop for customer looking out for a particular type of product

Telemarketing:

▪ Telemarketing is the use of telephone and call centers to attract prospects , sell to existing customers and provide service by taking orders and answering questions.

▪ Companies use call centers for inbound telemarketing- receiving calls from customers and outbound marketing- initiating calls to prospects and customers.

▪ Effective telemarketing depends on choosing the right telemarketer , training them well & providing performance incentives.

▪ Advantages: Likely to replace more expensive field-sales call.▪ Reduces amount of personal selling effort.▪ Reduce field-force travelling calls.

▪ Telemarketing pioneer.

▪ It offers more than a thousand products backed by a 24*7 call center.

▪ Diversified its operations by opening an online store.

Cosmetic company L’Oreal India has a toll free number on which it offers expert advice about looking good.

Direct response marketingTelevision:

▪ Direct marketing via television (commonly referred to as DRTV) has two basic forms:

long form (usually half-hour or hour-long segments that explain a product in detail and are commonly referred to as infomercials) & short form, which refers to

typical 30-second or 60-second commercials that ask viewers for an immediate response (typically to call a phone number on screen or go to a website).

▪ Infomercials promote products that are complicated or technologically advanced, or require a great deal of explanation.

Company promotes the concept of home shopping by a way of media and television advertisements of various products by showing their features, use and advantages.

A toll free number is flashed on the television screen when infomercials are screened.

The consumer can call the number for the demonstration and delivery of the product.

Kiosk- A small, temporary, stand-alone booth used in high-foot-traffic areas for marketing purposes.

A kiosk will usually be manned by one or two individuals who help attract attention to the booth to get new customers. 

Kiosks are machines kept in shopping malls and other such places by organizations to spread the information and generate orders from customers who visit such Free standing, semi-permanent display or retail outlet, within a large retail establishment or a shopping mall

Kiosk marketing :

Ambi Pur , a perfume company dealing in room fresheners organized a kiosk marketing campaign in the Nirmal lifestyle, Mumbai.

Attracted a lot of parents who came in with their children and stopped by the kiosk & got information about the co.

The objective of the campaign was to create awareness about the product among the target consumers, mainly the households.

Disadvantages :

Irritation

Unfairness

Deception and fraud

Invasion of

privacy

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Traditional selling

Direct selling

It is the sale of a consumer product or service, person-to-person, away from a fixed retail location.

Direct sellers are not employees of the company but are independent contractors, also referred to as consultants or distributors who market & sell the products or services of a company in return for a commission on those sales.

▪ In this era of competition no company can rely on single direct marketing form.

▪ So companies use one of the form of direct marketing or a combination of these marketing forms in order to stand out of the rest.

▪ For example :AVON

Conclusion :