Direct marketing is a form of advertising Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience to purchase or take some action upon products, ideals, or services. It includes the name of a product or service and how that product or service could benefit the consumer, to persuade a target market to purchase or to consume that particular brand. These brands are usually that reaches its audience without using traditional formal channels of advertising, such as TV, newspapers or radio. Businesses communicate straight to the consumer with advertising techniques such as fliers, catalogue distribution, promotional letters, and street advertising.

Direct Advertising is a sub-discipline and type of marketing Marketing is the process by which companies create customer interest in products or services. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business development. It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and create value for their customers and for themselves. There are two main definitional characteristics which distinguish it from other types of marketing. The first is that it sends its message directly to consumers Consumer is a broad label for any individuals or households that use goods and services generated within the economy. The concept of a consumer occurs in different contexts, so that the usage and significance of the term may vary, without the use of intervening commercial communication media Mass media denotes a section of the media specifically designed to reach a large audience. The term was coined in the 1920s with the advent of nationwide radio networks, mass-circulation newspapers and magazines. However, some forms of mass media such as books and manuscripts had already been in use for centuries. The second characteristic is the core principle of successful Advertising Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience to purchase or take some action upon products, ideals, or services. It includes the name of a product or service and how that product or service could benefit the consumer, to persuade a target market to purchase or to consume that particular brand. These brands are usually driving a specific "call-to-action." This aspect of direct marketing involves an emphasis on trackable, measurable, positive responses from consumers (known simply as "response" in the industry) regardless of medium.

If the advertisement asks the prospect to take a specific action, for instance call a free phone A toll-free, Freecall, Freephone, or 800 number is a special telephone number, in that the called party is charged the cost of the calls by the telephone carrier, instead of the calling party. A toll-free number is assigned from a special dialling prefix range such as 0800 where all calls to those prefixes are free to the caller number or visit a website, then the effort is considered to be direct response Direct-response marketing is a form of marketing designed to solicit a direct response which is specific and quantifiable. The delivery of the response is direct between the viewer and the advertiser, that is, the customer responds to the marketer directly. This is in contrast to direct marketing in which the marketer contacts the potential advertising.

Direct marketing is predominantly used by small to medium enterprises with limited advertising budgets which do not have a well recognized brand A brand is the identity of a specific product, service, or business[page needed]. A brand can take many forms, including a name, sign, symbol, color combination or slogan. The word brand began simply as a way to tell one person's cattle from another by means of a hot iron stamp. A legally protected brand name is called a trademark. The word brand message. A well executed direct advertising campaign offers positive return on investment, as the message is not hidden with over complicated branding, does not directly sell more cars, instead direct advertising is straight to the point, it offers a product, service or event and explains how to get the offered product, service or event.

History

The term direct marketing is believed to have been first used in 1967 in a speech by Lester Wunderman Lester Wunderman is an advertising executive widely considered the creator of modern-day direct marketing. His innovations include the magazine subscription card, the toll-free 1-800 number, loyalty rewards programs, and many more. He identified, named and defined the term "direct marketing" in a 1967 speech at MIT, and was inducted into, who pioneered direct marketing techniques with brands such as American Express American Express Company , sometimes known as "AmEx" or "Amex", is a diversified global financial services company headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best known for its credit card, charge card, and traveler's cheque businesses and Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment, and operates as an imprint of the Columbia/Epic Label Group. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in pre-recorded sound,.^{[citation needed]} The term junk mail, referring to unsolicited commercial ads delivered via post office or directly deposited in consumers' mail boxes, can be traced back to 1954.^[1] The term spam Spam is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately. While the most widely recognized form of spam is e-mail spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media: instant messaging spam, Usenet newsgroup spam, Web search engine spam, spam in blogs, wiki spam, online classified ads spam, mobile, meaning "unsolicited commercial email", can be traced back to March 31, 1993,^[2] although in its first few months it merely referred to inadvertently posting a message so many times on UseNet Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980. Users read and post messages to one or more categories, known as newsgroups. Usenet resembles a bulletin board system (BBS) in many respects, and is the precursor to the various Internet forums that are widely used today; and can that the repetitions effectively drowned out the normal flow of conversation.

Although Wunderman may have been the first to use the term direct marketing, the practice of mail order selling (direct marketing via mail) essentially began in the U.S. upon invention of the typewriter A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with a set of keys that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. From their invention before 1870 through much of the 20th century, typewriters were indispensable tools for many professional writers and in business offices. By the end of the 1980s, word in 1867.^{[citation needed]}

The first modern mail-order catalog was produced by Aaron Montgomery Ward Aaron Montgomery Ward was an American businessman notable for the invention of mail order in 1872.^{[citation needed]} The Direct Mail Advertising Association, predecessor of the present-day Direct Marketing Association, was first established in 1917.^{[citation needed]} Third class bulk mail Bulk mail broadly refers to mail that is mailed and processed in bulk at reduced rates. The term does not denote any particular purpose for the mail; in particular, it is not synonymous with "junk mail." postage rates were established in 1928.^{[citation needed]}

Direct marketing's history in Europe can be traced to the 15th century. Upon Gutenberg's invention of movable type Movable Type is a weblog publishing system developed by the company Six Apart. It was publicly announced on 3 September 2001, and version 1.0 was publicly released on 8 October 2001. On 12 December 2007, Movable Type was relicensed as free software under the GNU General Public License. The current version is 5.02, the first trade catalogs from printer-publishers appeared sometime around 1450.^{[citation needed]}

Benefits and drawbacks

Direct marketing is attractive to many marketers, because in many cases its positive effect (but not negative results) can be measured directly. For example, if a marketer sends out one thousand solicitations by mail, and one hundred respond to the promotion, the marketer can say with some confidence that the campaign led directly to 10% direct responses. The number of recipients who are offended by the junk mail/spam, however, is not easily measured. By contrast, measurement of other media must often be indirect, since there is no direct response from a consumer. Measurement of results, a fundamental element in successful direct marketing, is explored in greater detail elsewhere in this article.

The Internet has made it easier for Marketing Managers to measure the results of a campaign. This is often achieved by using a specific website landing page directly relating to the promotional material, a call to action will ask the consumer to visit the landing page and the effectiveness of the campaign can be measured by taking the number of promotional messages distributed (e.g 1000) and divide it by the number of responses (people visiting the unique website page).

Another way to measure the results is to compare the projected sales for a given term with the actual sales after a Direct Advertising Campaign.

While many marketers Marketing is the process by which companies create customer interest in goods or services. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business development. It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and create value for their customers and for themselves recognize the financial benefits of increasing targeted awareness, some direct marketing efforts using particular media have been criticized for generating unwanted solicitations, not due to the method of communication but because of poorly complied demographic databases, advertisers do not wish to waste money on communicating with consumers not interested in their products. For example, direct mail that is irrelevant to the recipient is considered junk mail, and unwanted email messages are considered spam. Some consumers are demanding an end to direct marketing for privacy and environmental reasons,^{[citation needed]} which direct marketers are able to provide by using "opt out" lists, variable printing and more targeted mailing lists. In response to consumer demand and increasing business pressure to increase the effectiveness of reaching the right consumer with Direct Marketing, companies such as Ireland Advertising specialize in targeted Direct Advertising to great effect, reducing advertising budget waste and increasing the effectiveness of delivering a marketing Marketing is the process by which companies create customer interest in products or services. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business development. It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and create value for their customers and for themselves message with better geodemography Geodemography includes the application of geodemographic classifications for business, social research and public policy but has a parallel history in academic research seeking to understand the processes by which settlements evolve and neighborhoods are formed. It links the sciences of demography, the study of human population dynamics, geography, information, delivering the advertising message to only the consumers interested in the product, service or event on offer.

Channels

Direct mail

The most common form of direct marketing is direct mail,^{[citation needed]} sometimes called junk mail, used by advertisers who send paper mail to all postal customers in an area or to all customers on a list.

Any low-budget medium that can be used to deliver a communication to a customer can be employed in direct marketing. Probably the most commonly used medium for direct marketing is mail, in which marketing communications are sent to customers using the postal service. The term direct mail is used in the direct marketing industry to refer to communication deliveries by the Post Office, which may also be referred to as "junk mail" or "admail" or "crap mail" and may involve bulk mail Bulk mail broadly refers to mail that is mailed and processed in bulk at reduced rates. The term does not denote any particular purpose for the mail; in particular, it is not synonymous with "junk mail.".

Junk mail includes advertising Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience to purchase or take some action upon products, ideals, or services. It includes the name of a product or service and how that product or service could benefit the consumer, to persuade a target market to purchase or to consume that particular brand. These brands are usually circulars, catalogs, free trial CDs, pre-approved credit card A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services. The issuer of the card grants a line of credit to the consumer from which the user can borrow money for payment to a merchant or as a cash advance to the applications, and other unsolicited merchandising Merchandising is the methods, practices, and operations used to promote and sustain certain categories of commercial activity. In the broadest sense, merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to the variety of products available for sale and the invitations delivered by mail Mail, or post, is a method for transmitting information and tangible objects, wherein written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post or to homes and businesses, or delivered to consumers' mailboxes by delivery services other than the Post Office. Bulk mailings are a particularly popular method of promotion for businesses operating in the financial services, home computer, and travel and tourism industries.

In many developed countries, direct mail represents such a significant amount of the total volume of mail that special rate classes have been established. In the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language and United Kingdom, for example, there are bulk mail rates that enable marketers to send mail at rates that are substantially lower than regular first-class rates. In order to qualify for these rates, marketers must format and sort the mail in particular ways – which reduces the handling (and therefore costs) required by the postal service.

Advertisers often refine direct mail practices into targeted mailing, in which mail is sent out following database A database consists of an organized collection of data for one or more uses, typically in digital form. One way of classifying databases involves the type of their contents, for example: bibliographic, document-text, statistical. Digital databases are managed using database management systems, which store database contents, allowing data creation analysis to select recipients considered most likely to respond positively. For example a person who has demonstrated an interest in golf Golf is a precision club-and-ball sport, in which competing players , using many types of clubs, attempt to hit balls into each hole on a golf course while employing the fewest number of strokes. Golf is one of the few ball games that does not require a standardized playing area. Instead, the game is played on golf "courses", each of may receive direct mail for golf related products or perhaps for goods and services that are appropriate for golfers. This use of database analysis is a type of database marketing Database marketing is a form of direct marketing using databases of customers or potential customers to generate personalized communications in order to promote a product or service for marketing purposes. The method of communication can be any addressable medium, as in direct marketing. The United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States. It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution. Within the United States, it is commonly referred to as the "Post Office", "Postal calls this form of mail "advertising mail" (admail for short).

Telemarketing

The second most common form of direct marketing is telemarketing Telemarketing is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits prospective customers to buy products or services, either over the phone or through a subsequent face to face or Web conferencing appointment scheduled during the call,^{[citation needed]} in which marketers contact consumers by phone. The unpopularity of cold call Cold calling is the process of approaching prospective customers or clients, typically via telephone, who were not expecting such an interaction. The word "cold" is used because the person receiving the call is not expecting a call or has not specifically asked to be contacted by a sales person telemarketing (in which the consumer does not expect or invite the sales call) has led some US states and the US federal government to create "no-call lists" The National Do Not Call Registry is intended to give U.S. consumers an opportunity to limit the telemarketing calls they receive. To register by telephone , consumers may call 1-888-382-1222. The registry was set to begin in 2003, but a court challenge delayed its implementation until 2004. The law provides exceptions to a blanket do-not-call and legislation including heavy fines. This process may be outsourced to specialist call centres.

In the US, a national do-not-call list The National Do Not Call Registry is intended to give U.S. consumers an opportunity to limit the telemarketing calls they receive. To register by telephone , consumers may call 1-888-382-1222. The registry was set to begin in 2003, but a court challenge delayed its implementation until 2004. The law provides exceptions to a blanket do-not-call went into effect on October 1, 2003. Under the law, it is illegal for telemarketers to call anyone who has registered themselves on the list. After the list had operated for one year, over 62 million people had signed up.^[3] The telemarketing industry opposed the creation of the list, but most telemarketers have complied with the law and refrained from calling people who are on the list.^{[citation needed]}

Canada The land occupied by Canada was inhabited for millennia by various groups of Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored, and later settled, along the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three has passed legislation to create a similar Do Not Call List. In other countries it is voluntary, such as the New Zealand Name Removal Service The New Zealand Name Removal Service provides a way for New Zealanders to reduce the amount of junk mail and telemarketing calls they receive.

Email Marketing

Email Marketing E-mail marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as a means of communicating commercial or fundraising messages to an audience. In its broadest sense, every e-mail sent to a potential or current customer could be considered e-mail marketing. However, the term is usually used to refer to: may have passed telemarketing in frequency at this point,^{[citation needed]} and is a third type of direct marketing. A major concern is spam Spam is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately. While the most widely recognized form of spam is e-mail spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media: instant messaging spam, Usenet newsgroup spam, Web search engine spam, spam in blogs, wiki spam, online classified ads spam, mobile, which actually predates legitimate email marketing. As a result of the proliferation of mass spamming, ISPs and email service providers have developed increasingly effective E-Mail Filtering programs. These filters can interfere with the delivery of email marketing campaigns, even if the person has subscribed to receive them,^[4] as legitimate email marketing can possess the same hallmarks as spam. There are a range of e-mail service providers that provide services for legitimate opt-in emailers to avoid being classified as spam.

Door-to-Door Leaflet Marketing

Leaflet distribution services are used extensively by the fast food industries, and many other business focussing on a local catchment Business to consumer business model, similar to direct mail marketing, this method is targeted purely by area, and costs a fraction of the amount of a mailshot due to not having to purchase stamps, envelopes or having to buy address lists and the names of home occupants.

Broadcast faxing

A fourth type of direct marketing, broadcast faxing A fax is a document sent over a telephone line. Fax machines have existed, in various forms, since the 19th century (see "History" below), though modern fax machines became feasible only in the mid-1970s as the sophistication of technology increased and cost of the three underlying technologies dropped. Digital fax machines first became, is now less common than the other forms.^{[citation needed]} This is partly due to laws in the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language and elsewhere which make it illegal.^{[citation needed]}

Voicemail Marketing

A fifth type of direct marketing has emerged out of the market prevalence of personal voice mailboxes, and business voicemail systems. Due to the ubiquity of email marketing, and the expense of direct mail and telemarketing, voicemail marketing presented a cost effective means by which to reach people directly, by voice.

Abuse of consumer marketing applications of voicemail marketing resulted in an abundance of "voice-spam", and prompted many jurisdictions to pass laws regulating consumer voicemail marketing.

More recently, businesses have utilized guided voicemail (an application where pre-recorded voicemails are guided by live callers) to accomplish personalized business-to-business marketing formerly reserved for telemarketing. Because guided voicemail is used to contact only businesses, it is exempt from Do Not Call regulations in place for other forms of voicemail marketing.

Couponing

Couponing is used in print media to elicit a response from the reader. An example is a coupon which the reader cuts out and presents to a super-store check-out counter to avail of a discount. Coupons in newspapers and magazines cannot be considered direct marketing, since the marketer incurs the cost of supporting a third-party medium (the newspaper or magazine); direct marketing aims to circumvent that balance, paring the costs down to solely delivering their unsolicited sales message to the consumer, without supporting the newspaper that the consumer seeks and welcomes.

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