Direct marketing

This is the fastest growing segment of the marketing mix for businesses are learning that they can often communicate directly with the customer given proper strategy and suitable products. Obviously, sophisticated distribution channels exist for many products because it is economic and practical to reach the customer at his location. It would be unreasonable to expect the Ford motor Company to market their volume production on an individual buyer basis or Levi’s to be obtained directly from the licensed factory. However both companies started their empires by marketing directly to their customers.

Direct marketing includes: direct response advertising, junk mail, product offers, database mailing list, telephone marketing and other forms of communication directly between the product source and the customer. The real attraction in direct marketing is its accountability. Simply, if you send out 500 and 50 recipient order you know what each sale costs. Traditional advertising; newspaper, radio or TV does not offer the same level of result recovery assessment. This somewhat explains the increasing interest in direct marketing techniques.

Research and Forecasting

The old saying “if you don’t plan where you are going, you could end up anywhere” is as important to marketing preparations as it is to writing your Business Plan. Many qualified professional organizations contribute to studies in consumer behavior, market research, attitudinal influences and customer awareness factors that provide corporations with the foundations needed to make marketing decisions. Questions concerning customer acceptance of new ideas, whether advertising is effective and the prospect of success for a product are handled by the market researcher. When large companies prepare to commit millions of dollars to their product programs, the investment in research is essential to avoid costly errors. Of course, such information assists sales planning, production and financial forecasting.