Direct marketing and direct selling

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.
 Advantages
To 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

Kiosk Catalog
marketing marketing

Television Telemarketing
 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.
▪ Objectives
▪ Target markets and prospects
▪ Offer elements
▪ Testing elements
▪ Measuring campaign success
Catalog marketing:

 In this type of marketing companies may send full-line merchandize catalogs, specialty consumer catalogs.

 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

 Success depends on managing customer lists carefully to avoid duplication or bad debts, controlling inventory,
offering good-quality merchandise so returns are low and projecting a distinctive image.
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.
 National Do Not Call Registry
▪ TRAI has launched NDNC Registry
▪ Curb unsolicited calls from telemarketers
▪ Have also restricted the sending of bulk SMSs by
service providers
M-Commerce:-

Mobile Commerce, also known as M-Commerce or mCommerce, is the ability to

conduct commerce using a mobile device, such as a mobile phone, a PDA, a Smartphone,
or other emerging mobile equipment such as GPS, Satellite Radios, Vehicle Tracking
Systems etc.

 M-Commerce is the ability to conduct Commerce using a mobile device such as:

1. Mobile Phone

2. Personal Digital Assistant(PDA)

3. Smart Phone
 Services and Applications

Mobile ticketing

Mobile Money Transfer

Content purchase and delivery

Information services


Mobile banking

Mobile Browsing

Mobile Purchase

Mobile marketing and advertising
 Advantages

Advantages of M-Commerce are:

• Portability
• Instant connectivity
• Mobility
• Personalization
• Localization
 Disadvantages

 Small screens of most devices still limit types of file and data transfer
(i.e. streaming videos, etc.)

 Use of graphics limited

 User interface is often difficult to learn how to use

 Speed
 Limited storage capacity of devices
Way Ahead…..

 In India, M-commerce is in initial stages and advantages will soon be realized

 Indian consumer is fast maturing and open to new ideas

 Problem areas are being addressed by operators and equipment manufacturers

 M-commerce players need to improve user interface and implement

innovative pricing structure soon
 Mobile marketing
▪ M-marketing is:
▪ Marketing in a mobile environment
▪ Via mobile communication devices
▪ Information can be delivered to mobile devices via voice application, text
applications (e.g.: SMS), e-mail (e.g.: i-mode).

▪ An objective: « real-time marketing »

▪ Meet the customers needs at the customer’s point of requirement (time and
place) (Oliver, Rust and Varki)
 Consumers attitude towards m-advertising
▪ Globally, m-advertising provides personalized ads, at the right place and at the
right moment.

▪ However, some inconveniences are still to be taken care of:

▪ Violation of privacy
▪ Irrelevancy of certain ads
▪ Number of ads sent
▪ Consumer may have to pay

▪ Example: consequences for mobile phone operators

▪ Spam effect:
▪ Negative impact on brand image
▪ For consumers, it’s all spam
Developing effective mobile marketing
programs

▪ Mobile ad copy should occupy only 50% of the screen

▪ Brands should limit their ads to a pair of phrases

▪ Should place the logo in the corner of the mobile ad frame

▪ Should use at least one bright colour, but no more than two
 Direct response marketing
Television:

▪ 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 marketing :

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
 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 Invasion
and fraud of privacy
Direct selling:

 It is the sale of a consumer

product or service, person-to-
Traditional selling 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
Direct selling in return for a commission on
those sales.
Conclusion :

▪ 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