Direct, Digital & Data-Driven Marketing

Lisa Spiller

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781529712292
• Edition: 5
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Marketing
• Index: Business

In this latest edition of her classic text, Lisa Spiller takes an insightful, in-depth look at contemporary marketing concepts, tactics, and techniques and the dynamic innovations that continue to drive and shape this multi-faceted, multi-dimensional field.

Direct, Digital, and Data-Driven Marketing recognizes the growth of the various digital formats as the newest interactive channels for conducting modern marketing. But it does not overlook the traditional principles of direct marketing still relevant today. This book examines the field both as it once was and as it is evolving. With plenty oflearning features online resources, the Fifth Edition provides an engagingjourney, which will leave any marketing student with a thorough knowledge ofhow all kinds of businesses manageregular communication with their customer base and target demographic.

Part 1 Build, Develop, and Measure Direct Marketing Strategies

1 Processes and Applications of Direct Marketing

Chapter Contents

• The Scope of Direct Marketing 8
• Characteristics and Growth of Direct Marketing 9
  • Definition and Description 9
  • The Convergence of Direct and Brand Marketing 10
  • Factors Affecting the Growth of Direct Marketing 11
• The Processes of Direct Marketing 14
  • Direct Communication 1:1 17
  • Multiple Media 17
  • Measurable Response 18
  • Database 18
  • Customer Relationships 19
  • Multichannel Fulfillment 19
  • Omni-Channel Marketing 20
• Applications of Direct Marketing 21
  • Users of Direct Marketing 21
  • Nonprofit Organizations 23
  • Political Organizations 24
  • Governmental Organizations 28
  • Sports Organizations 28
• Summary 32
• Key Terms 32
• Review Questions 32
• Exercise 33
• Critical Thinking Exercise 33
• Readings and Resources 33
• Case: Fear 2 Freedom 34
• Notes 40

Chapter Spotlight

Peace Frogs

Like most college students, Catesby Jones needed some extra cash, so he decided to create beach volleyball shorts to sell around campus at the University of Virginia. He wanted an unusual design that would appeal to his target market, so he arranged an eye-catching assortment of national flags all over the boxer shorts. To put flair into his design, Catesby added a frog holding two digits in the air, forming a peace sign. After receiving numerous orders, he began manufacturing and selling the unique shorts from his dorm room. Soon, he began selling other items featuring the creative peace-signing frog, such as the T-shirt featured in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1 Peace Frogs Hope T-shirt. Used with permission of Peace Frogs, Inc.

Catesby saw the potential in his creation, so he and a few buddies decided to place a $15,000 direct marketing advertisement in Rolling Stone magazine. The advertisement generated a total of 1,000 orders. By the time Catesby had finished his degree in international relations, he was already four years into what would become his passion and a very successful business.

Peace Frogs began to dispense products through multichannel distribution, using a mail-order catalog, retail stores—company-owned and licensed (from wholesale to department stores and specialty retailers)—and on the Internet at www.peacefrogs.com (see Figure 1.2). These channels allowed the company to distribute its products to a vast number of consumers and save resources through cross-marketing. They also helped create brand recognition and loyalty because the consumer could see the merchandise at many different outlets.

Figure 1.2 Peace Frogs Web page. Used with permission of Peace Frogs, Inc.

Now a million-dollar company, Peace Frogs operates a 37,000-square-foot distribution center at its home office in Gloucester, Virginia. This multipurpose facility houses Peace Frogs’s merchandise, ordering systems, and a retail store. The 25 employees who work in the distribution center try to ensure that customers are completely satisfied.

The company not only has unique clothing, it has also found a distinctive way to distribute merchandise—by psychedelically painted VW vans driving the roads and highways of the United States. Peace Frogs chose this vehicle, shown in Figure 1.3, both as a means of transportation and as a marketing statement, a representation of ‘reliability and freedom.’ As it did with its products, the company has taken something ordinary and transformed it into a unique message that leaves a distinct impression and has a positive impact on its customers. The peace frog and its related ‘positively peaceful thinking’ message have become a significant symbol to which many can relate.

Figure 1.3 Peace Frogs van. Used with permission of Peace Frogs, Inc.

The company’s line now includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, boxer shorts, lounge pants, jewelry, accessories, and school supplies. In the process of building a business through direct marketing, Catesby Jones showed that with dedication and hard work, and by daring to be a little different, people can make an impact.

The Scope of Direct Marketing

Find us on Facebook! Send us a Tweet!

Follow us on Snapchat! View our Instagrams! Pin this now!

Connect with us on LinkedIn! Watch us on YouTube!

Check out what’s trending!

Figure 1.4 Social media logos and icons

Note: The logos and icons shown in this figure are owned by the following companies: Facebook Inc., Twitter, Inc., Snap Inc., LinkedIn Corporation, Google, Inc., and Pinterest, Inc.

Visit our website! Click here! Text this number now! Call this toll-free number! Complete the bottom portion of this mailer and return it in the enclosed postage-paid envelope! Clip this coupon and visit our store! The use of direct marketing in today’s business world is booming! Direct marketing is now at the center of the communications revolution and is being used by businesses, organizations, associations, and individuals across the world with great fervor.

Long ago, Roland Rust and Richard Oliver foretold the rise of direct marketing at the expense of traditional advertising. They claimed:

Mass media advertising as we know it today is on its deathbed. Advertising . . . agencies are restructuring to accommodate a harsher advertising reality, direct marketing is stealing business away from traditional advertising, and the growth of sales promotion and integrated marketing communications both come at the expense of traditional advertising.¹

Practitioners and scholars suggest that a paradigm shift in marketing, fueled by the growth in the use of direct marketing techniques, is under way. New digital and social media marketing developments are dramatically changing how marketers create and communicate customer value. Today’s marketers must know how to leverage new information, communication, and distribution technologies to connect more effectively with customers in this digital age.² For many companies, direct marketing—especially in its most recent transformation, digital marketing, including mobile and social networking—constitutes a complete business model. This new direct model is quickly changing the way companies think about building relationships with customers.³

Direct marketing has literally transformed the way marketers engage with consumers today and the manner by which people purchase products and services. New digital technologies have put nearly everything at the tip of consumers’ fingers. With a few taps on their digital devices, they can do almost anything! Need groceries? Tap. Want to order flowers for your mother? Tap. Want to vote on your favorite brand? Tap. Want to enjoy a certain type of music? Tap. Want to check on an order that you recently placed? Tap. Etc.! Direct marketing has enabled consumers to enjoy a plethora of modern conveniences and the trend is bound to continue in the future.

Today, direct marketing is a fundamental marketing tool in a growing variety of businesses. Direct marketing grew faster than almost every other marketing activity in the latter part of the twentieth century.⁴ Total U.S. spending on digital advertising in 2018 was $39.1 billion.⁵ Future predictions indicate that digital advertisement spending will continue to steadily increase over the coming years, and digital ads are expected to comprise two-thirds of all advertisement spending by 2023.⁶ These statistics strongly suggest that direct marketing is becoming an integral element in the marketing manager’s arsenal worldwide. The economic impact of direct marketing is simply mind-boggling! With this much emphasis being placed on direct marketing, it is important to understand what it is and how it is used.

Characteristics and Growth of Direct Marketing

Despite its growth, there is no universal agreement about exactly what direct marketing is. Both practitioners and academicians grapple with a contemporary conceptual definition. Unquestionably, the concept known as direct marketing continues to evolve. However, its definition provides a framework from which we can improve our understanding and determine the critical elements of its process. The definition you are about to read is the result of years of scholarly research involving a content analysis of direct marketing definitions published in direct marketing, principles of marketing, integrated marketing communication, and advertising textbooks.⁷

Definition and Description

Direct marketing is a database-driven interactive process of directly communicating with targeted customers or prospects using any medium to obtain a measurable response or transaction via one or multiple channels. This definition identifies database, interactivity, direct communications, target customers, measurable response, and one or multiple channels as key dimensions in direct marketing activities. Two concepts commonly used to describe forms of direct marketing are interactive marketing and digital marketing. Interactive marketing implies two-way communications between the marketer and the prospective customer. Interactive marketing employs one-on-one communication tactics to enhance personal customer relationships. Marketers focus on adapting to the needs and wants of consumers when implementing interactive marketing. Digital marketing is the process of using technology and its full capabilities to communicate seamlessly with consumers through the Internet and t...