Direct Marketing vs Digital Marketing - Coursework Example

The Value of Direct Marketing and Digital Marketing Direct Marketing Vs Digital Marketing Direct Marketing Direct marketing is defined as a database propelled and engaging process that communicates directly with intended consumers or prospects via whichever medium to gain a reasonable feedback or deal through one or several channels. Direct marketing employs a variety of media and forms such as direct mail, mobile, television, internet, newspapers, radio, hand-held devices, magazine and catalogs. The industry has undergone quick expansion for the past few years primarily because of computers, new consumers’ lifestyles, credit cards, new technologies in printing and in-store retailing has had negative characteristics. The chief goal for direct marketing is to build and solidify long lasting relations with consumers. Digital Marketing Digital marketing is defined as the use of digital technologies to create effective marketing channels, and to attain corporate objectives by fulfilling and surpassing the needs of consumers more efficiently than the competitors. This is due to the capability of the Web, to create a new marketing environment further from the conventional and traditional media. One distinct characteristic of the digital media is it’s ability of supporting many-to-many interactions. Consequently, this new model of communication has increased significantly the part played by the customer and the significance of interactive digital technologies. Digital marketing has gained popularity due to the incorporation of a variety of network information and digital technologies, as well as digital television and mobile phones. These wide varieties of digital technologies pose a challenge for marketers to think further than the internet, to include the vast digital tools that will enable business enterprises electronically carry out business activities (Chaffey, 2012). Measuring Customer Behavior and Influences in Internet and Direct Marketing Measuring Consumers Behavior Buying behavior can be defined as the process of decision making and people’s acts concerned with buying and using goods. On the other hand, consumer buying behavior denotes the buying behavior of the final consumer: people that buy goods for personal use rather than business intentions. In order to understand, the buying behavior of consumer businesses needs to have information on the process of consumption and perceptions of consumers about the product utility. Customers have different buying behavior; this is essential information for a firm to devise the best marketing strategies. Thus, measuring behavioral and attitudinal loyalty can help an organization measure the strength of its customer base (Kukar-Kinney, 2009). Many research studies have identified loyalty as an important tool in the creation of efficient marketing strategies. Despite this, a consensus on the best method of measuring customer loyalty has never been reached. Consumer behavior can be either planned or random. Thus, understanding the nature of the customers’ behavior is required in determining the level of their loyalty. The two approaches of analyzing consumers’ behavior are the behavioral approach and the attitudinal approach. According to the behavioral approach, consumer behavior is random and unplanned while the attitudinal approach suggests that it be planned and rational. Another method is to get an implicit measure of the customers’ opinion (sub-conscious or emotional response to questions). This will be achieved through timing the time the consumer takes to answer questions and the answer itself. This will be aided by a time survey software; the results will help gain more insight on answers that are automatic and those that are rationalized. Engage the consumers in the research process. This can be through online applications that will provide a captivating environment for customers to share their opinions and experiences with using the products. These include tools like chatrooms, bulletin boards, social media (twitter, facebook) and blogs. These digital methods are cost effective in the process of acquiring consumers’ responses. This data will help marketers gauge the buying behavior of consumers (Tuten, 2013). Influences of Buying Behavior Situational influences: these are factors which result from place, time, and circumstances and affect the buying decision process of the consumer. These factors can terminate, lengthen or shorten the process of buying. These factors include physical surroundings (weather, store atmosphere, location); social surroundings (relatives, friends, people who are present during the purchase); time dimension (how long or how easy can the product be used); reason of purchase of a product; general mood of the buyer (having cash). Psychological influences: these are those that occur to establish the general behavior of people and hence control their behavior as consumers. These factors are internal, but affected by social forces from the surroundings. These factors include perception (the act of choosing, categorizing and deducing information inputs to generate meaning). Motives (this is the inner force that drives the consumer towards the buying process). Learning (this involves the consumers’ information about the product that might change their thoughts and behaviors’). Attitude (this is the consumer own assessment, feelings about the product viability). The clients’ attitudes of the products and firm will greatly determine if the marketing strategy is successful or fruitless. Marketers’ measure of consumers’ attitudes should revolve around advertisements, prices, salespeople, brand names, store locations, package designs and repair services. These are two major models that have tried to explain the consumers’ attitudes. The first is the Fishbein Model: this is the attitude toward an object. This involves the beliefs regarding the characteristics of the products, vigor of beliefs and appraisal of beliefs. The second is the Theory of Reasoned Action: this deal with the intentions of consumers to buy products (also known as behavior intention model). This model analyzes what the consumer thinks about other people’s opinions regarding the product that is superior to a set of alternatives. It concentrates on the attitudes that influence buying behavior (Pride, 2012). Techniques and Tools in Internet and Direct Marketing Direct Marketing Tools The main direct marketing forms include the use of telephone, direct-mail, catalogues, online marketing, kiosk marketing and television marketing. Direct-mail marketing entails sending of reminder, announcement, offer or other items to an individual at a particular virtual or physical address. Marketers use mailing lists which are highly sorted out, to send a variety of mail pieces annually. These materials sent include letters, brochures, and catalogues, samples, ads, CDs and DVDs. Although direct mail costs more when reaching a larger group than use of television, its target populace offers much better potential consumers. The use of email and mobiles has accelerated the delivery of direct mail. Catalogue marketing has advanced recently, shifting from the traditional use of print papers to the digital age of using Web-based catalogues. This has reduced the cost of mailing, printing and production. Online catalogues unlike print catalogues present a nearly infinite amount of merchandise. They also permit concurrent merchandising: removal and addition of products is easy, and adjustments of prices can be done immediately in regard to the changing marketplace. Telephone marketing it entails physical use of the telephone to sell products directly to customers. The use of outbound telephone marketing refers to the direct sale of products to customers. On the other hand, inbound involves the use of toll-free numbers to obtain orders from direct mail, print and television ads. Television marketing involves airing of persuasive descriptions of products that also provides information on how to acquire the products. Kiosk marketing: kiosks are referred to as information and ordering machines, and they are located in several stores and airports. Hence, firms feed information about their products into these kiosks that make them accessible by consumers. Digital Marketing Tools Some of the major forms of digital marketing are mobile marketing, social media, video and online display advertising. These forms are constantly being updated as technological advancements continue. Online display advertising objective is to get the intended customer to take action immediately through clicking on the advert. The types of adverts used are pop-ups, skyscrapers and banners. They can elicit several replies and attain a series of communication goals, for example, increase recall and performance, change opinions. Affiliate marketing is a type of online marketing entails the process of one company rewarding another for marketing in their websites. Search engine marketing entails optimization of keyword searching and search listings (Doherty, 2010). Online video advertising: sites for sharing media information have recently increased in popularity. They provide individuals and firms with a platform that makes it possible to share audio, video and visual content in an online environment. Examples of such sites include Flickr and YouTube. The developments in digital television have brought up the concept of interactive television advertising. In this model viewers can access additional information about a particular product by ‘pressing the red button.’ Email marketing is also an essential form of marketing that is significant in enhancing closer relations between businesses and customers. It is efficient in disseminating promotional messages, and it is relatively cheap. Online newsletters are email marketing tools that deals with specific issues or topics (Ellis-Chadwick, 2012). Mobile marketing involves the creation and sending of information messages of marketing via mobile devices (Smartphones, phones, or tablet computers). In the past, before the rise of the digital age mobile marketing entailed advertising messages being sent to disposed recipients. However, the increased use of smartphones and tablets nowadays has raised the capability of sharing both visual and text messages. Social media advertising platforms include twitter, facebook, MySpace, Renren (Miller, 2012). Major Ethical Issues in Digital and Direct Marketing The incorporation of digital technologies in most of the marketing strategies has accrued significant benefits. Some of the benefits include providing customers with convenience and diverse choices and facilitates the opening of the global markets for smaller companies to compete favorably using various digital platforms. Nevertheless, the escalating use of technology has led to the rise of major ethical issues. Some of the marketing techniques may be irritating to consumers. For example, TV commercials that are too long, loud and insistent can be annoying. Other irritating forms include accumulation of junk mails, email inboxes filled with spam, and pop-ups or banners constantly flashing on the computer screens. Some marketers are also defrauding buyers that are not well informed about the product attributes. They exaggerate the feasibility of their products and the unsuspecting consumers end up buying them. The digital divide: historically internet technologies were used by highly skilled technologists. Today many people can be able to use these internet technologies. However, there is a significant disparity on internet use depending on the level of education attained. Hence providing quality education will help eliminate this digital divide. Even though the use of mobile phones and television has reached many areas still there is the need to ensure development of digital literacy community on other forms of digital tools. Social exclusion: another ethical concern is the possibility of the poorest individuals in the society being excluded from technology use. It can be hard for them to afford, digital radio, broadband connection, 3G phone, a computer or interactive television and, therefore, unable to benefit the vast opportunities technology offers. Intrusion is another moral issue in marketing. Accessing online customers leave substantial information about themselves even without realizing. The marketers can use this data to predict and assess customer behaviors. This can also be termed as infringing on the privacy of customers. Marketing to children is also an ethical concern. For example, are the advertisements merged with other website contents? Do children know that information collected from them may be used for future marketing strategies? Measuring Performance for Internet and Direct Marketing Performance measurement is done to assess the effectiveness of particular marketing strategy. This achieved through analyzing the marketing strategies towards the objectives of the business. The major concern areas used in performance measurement are analytics, data and metrics. Data: a collection of data is crucial in determining the effectiveness of a marketing strategy. There is the need to collect correct and accurate data for analysis. By scrutinizing comprehensively the data collected, business enterprises can be able to develop new effective and efficient marketing strategies. These analytics was essential in optimizing marketing expenditure through use of models which assess results of marketing activities, impacts of competition and the environment for marketing the product (Doherty N. a.-C., 2009). Metrics: the use of metrics in measuring performance enables marketers to validate the budgets in regard to profits earned. They help to assess the significance of marketing to the growth of the company. Metrics can occur in a variety of forms such as activity-dependent metrics that entails numeric counting and reporting. For instance, this will involve getting the number of visitors in a web page or number of downloads. Dashboards are also essential tools in measuring performance. They contain both metrics and data which are deduced and presented in a meaningful form (Xia, 2010). Recommendations Direct marketing Company One such company that uses direct marketing is Direct Marketing of Asia Ltd (DMA). This is a reputable advertising agency and marketing company. This company serves clients from Hong Kong, Asia, China and other companies around the globe (DMA, 2014). The use of online advertising methods which involve profiling behavior of online customers, searching keywords is inclined to be unproductive. The company needs to develop new techniques of online advertising that enhances targeting the right consumers. These new procedures will ensure a clear analysis of the online results of ads (the accurate assessment of web visitors). The business needs to tap extensively on the opportunities offered online advertising, social media and mobile. There should be a shift from the rigid direct mail and telemarketing forms to incorporate technology in their system of operations. Digital marketing company The McKinsey & Company is an example of a digital marketing company (McKinsey & Company, 2014). Improving and creating new methods of marketing so as to gain a competitive advantage is always the goal for any business. Digital marketing has far played an important role in ensuring efficient delivery of product’s information. Nevertheless, organizations such as McKinsey & Company need better and newer ways of influencing consumers purchasing behavior. For a successful advertisement environment, the company should take the following strategies. First, the company’s activities should be well coordinated in that it engages actively customers in an exciting digital buying environment. Second, they develop unique and positive attributes of their brands that will enhance consumer empowers enabling him/her to trust the products. In the process, the consumer will in turn become the brand ambassador. Third, efficiently utilize the available digital data tools present like social media. Many people use these social sites and by customizing appealing advertising templates it will help in captivating the attention of consumers. Finally, do a pre-test of the various forms of marketing tools to be employed before the actual launch of the product. References (2014, March). Retrieved from McKinsey & Company: http://www.msknisey.com Brashear, T. G., Kashyap, V., Musante, M.D. & Donthu, N. (2009). A profile of the Internet shopper: evidence from six countries. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 17 (3), 267-281. Chaffey, D., & Ellis-Chadwick, F.E. (2012). Digital marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice (5th ed. ed.). Harlow: Pearson. DMA. (2014, March). Retrieved from Direct Marketing Company of Asia: http://www.dm-asia.com/en/index.php Doherty, N.F., & Ellis-Chadwick, F.E. (2009). Exploring the Drivers, Scope and Perceived Success of e-Commerce Strategies in the UK Retail Sector. European Journal of Marketing, 43, 1246-62. Doherty, N.F., & Ellis-Chadwick, F.E. (2010). Internet Retailling: the past, the present and the future. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 38, 943-965. Ellis-Chadwick, F.E., & Doherty, N.F. (2012). Web Advertising: The role of email marketing. Journal of Business Research, 65 (6), 843-848. Ewing, M. (2009). ‘Integrated marketing communications measurement and evaluation’. Journal of Marketing Communications, 15, 103-117. Katona, Z., Zubscek, P.P., & Sarvary, M. (2010). Network effects and personal influence: the diffusion of an online social network. Journal of Marketing Research, 48 (3), 425-43. Kukar-Kinney, M., Rigway, N.M., & Monroe, K.B. (2009). The relationship between consumers’ tendencies to buy compulsively nd their motivations to shop and buy on the Internet. Journal of Retailing, 85 (3), 298. Miller, M. (2012, April 9). The 5 Ws of social media marketing: Industry survey and insights. Retrieved from Search Engine Watch: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2166552/The-5-Ws-of-Social-Media-Marketing-Industry-Survey-Insights-Study Pride, W.M., & Ferell, O.C. (2012). Consumer Buying Behavior. In W. ,. Pride, Marketing (p. Chapter 7). Cengage Learning. Sweney, M. (2012, April 3). UK advertising spending to hit £5 billion. Retrieved from The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/apr/03/uk-web-advertising-spend Tuten, T. L., & Solomon, M.R. (2013). Social Media Marketing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Xia, Y., & Zhang, P.G. (2010). The Impact of Online Channel on Retailers Performances: An Empirical Evaluation. Decision Sciences, 41 (3), 517-545. Read More