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Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
V. Developing the
Integrated Marketing
Communications Program
14. Direct Marketing © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
Combining Direct Marketing with Support Media Adding a promotional
product to a direct mailer has proved to increase response rates. One company
included a promotional product in half of its 10,000 mailers and not in the other half.
The former generated 65 percent more orders. 3M used a promotional product as an
incentive for people responding to a direct-mail offer. The incentive generated a 23
percent response rate versus only 9 percent for the regular mailer.
To successfully implement direct-marketing programs, companies must make a
number of decisions. As in other marketing programs, they must determine (1) what
the program’s objectives will be; (2) which markets to target (through the use of a list
or marketing database); (3) what direct-marketing strategies will be employed; and (4)
how to evaluate the effectiveness of the program.
Direct-Marketing Objectives
The direct marketer usually seeks a direct response. The objectives of the program are
normally behaviors—for example, test drives, votes, contributions, and/or sales. A typical
objective is defined through a set response, perhaps a 2 to 3 percent response rate.
Not all direct marketing seeks a behavioral response, however. Many organizations
use direct marketing to build an image, maintain customer satisfaction, and inform
and/or educate customers in an attempt to lead to future actions. Exhibit 14-1 shows
how the city of San Diego uses direct mail to encourage tourism.
Developing a Database
As we have discussed throughout this text, market segmentation and targeting are critical
components of any promotional program. Direct-marketing programs employ these
principles even more than others, since the success of a direct-marketing program is in
large part tied to the ability to do one-to-one marketing. To segment and target their markets,
direct marketers use a database, a listing of customers and/or potential customers.
Research by the U.S. Postal Service showed that 65 percent of the companies surveyed
rely on their internal databases for marketing purposes. 10 This database is a tool for
database marketing—the use of specific information about individual customers
and/or prospects to implement more effective and efficient marketing communications. 11
Figure 14-2 demonstrates how database marketing works. As you can see, the
database marketing effort must be an integral part of the overall IMC program. At the
Exhibit 14-1 San Diego
encourages visits through
direct mail
Figure 14-2 How
database marketing works
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Chapter Fourteen Direct Marketing