Although direct and on-line marketing are booming, a large number of companies still relegate them to minor roles in their communication-promotion mix.
Advertising and sales-promotion departments receive most of the communication dollars and jealously guard their budgets.
The sales force may also see direct marketing as a threat when it has to turn over smaller customers and prospects to direct mailers and telemarketers.
However, companies are increasingly recognizing the importance of integrating their marketing communications.
Some companies are appointing a chief communications officer (CCO) in addition to a CIO (Chief Information Officer).
The CCO supervises specialists in advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and direct-on-line marketing. The aim is to establish the right overall communication budget and the right allocation of funds to each communication tool.
This movement has been variously called integrated marketing communication (IMC), integrated direct marketing (IDM), and maxi marketing.
How can different communication tools be integrated in campaign planning? Imagine a marketer using a single tool in a “one shot” effort to reach and sell a prospect. An example of a single-vehicle, single-stage campaign is a one-time mailing offering a cookware item.
A single-vehicle, multiple stage campaign would involve successive mailings to the same prospect. Magazine publishers, for example, send about four renewal notices to a household before giving up.
A more powerful approach is he multiple-vehicle, multiple-stage campaign.
Consider the following sequence:
News campaign about a new product
Paid ad with a response mechanism
Direct mail
Out bound telemarketing
Face-to-face sales call
Ongoing communication.
For example, Compaq might launch a new laptop computer by first arranging new stories to stir interest. Then Compaq might place full-page ads offering a free booklet on “how to buy a computer.” Compaq would then mail the booklet to those who responded, along with an offer to sell the new computer at a special discount before it arrives in retail stores.
Suppose 4 percent of those who receive the booklet order the computer.
Compaq telemarketers then phone the 96 percent who did not buy to remind them of the offer. Suppose another 6 percent now order the computer.
Those who do not place an order are offered a face-to face sales call or demonstration in a local retail store. Even if the prospect is not ready to buy, there is ongoing communication.
Ernan Roman says that the use of response compression, whereby multiple media are deployed within a tightly defined time frame, increases message reach and impact.
The underlying idea is to deploy a sequence of messages with precise timing intervals in the hope of generating incremental sales and profits that exceed the costs involved. Roman cities a Citicorp-campaign to market home equity loans.
Instead of usually only “mail plus an 800 number,” Citicorp used “mail plus coupon plus 800 number plus outbound telemarketing plus print advertising.”
Although the second campaign was more expensive, it resulted in a 15 percent increase in the number of new account compared with direct mail alone.
Advertising and sales-promotion departments receive most of the communication dollars and jealously guard their budgets.
The sales force may also see direct marketing as a threat when it has to turn over smaller customers and prospects to direct mailers and telemarketers.
However, companies are increasingly recognizing the importance of integrating their marketing communications.
Some companies are appointing a chief communications officer (CCO) in addition to a CIO (Chief Information Officer).
The CCO supervises specialists in advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and direct-on-line marketing. The aim is to establish the right overall communication budget and the right allocation of funds to each communication tool.
This movement has been variously called integrated marketing communication (IMC), integrated direct marketing (IDM), and maxi marketing.
How can different communication tools be integrated in campaign planning? Imagine a marketer using a single tool in a “one shot” effort to reach and sell a prospect. An example of a single-vehicle, single-stage campaign is a one-time mailing offering a cookware item.
A single-vehicle, multiple stage campaign would involve successive mailings to the same prospect. Magazine publishers, for example, send about four renewal notices to a household before giving up.
A more powerful approach is he multiple-vehicle, multiple-stage campaign.
Consider the following sequence:
News campaign about a new product
Paid ad with a response mechanism
Direct mail
Out bound telemarketing
Face-to-face sales call
Ongoing communication.
For example, Compaq might launch a new laptop computer by first arranging new stories to stir interest. Then Compaq might place full-page ads offering a free booklet on “how to buy a computer.” Compaq would then mail the booklet to those who responded, along with an offer to sell the new computer at a special discount before it arrives in retail stores.
Suppose 4 percent of those who receive the booklet order the computer.
Compaq telemarketers then phone the 96 percent who did not buy to remind them of the offer. Suppose another 6 percent now order the computer.
Those who do not place an order are offered a face-to face sales call or demonstration in a local retail store. Even if the prospect is not ready to buy, there is ongoing communication.
Ernan Roman says that the use of response compression, whereby multiple media are deployed within a tightly defined time frame, increases message reach and impact.
The underlying idea is to deploy a sequence of messages with precise timing intervals in the hope of generating incremental sales and profits that exceed the costs involved. Roman cities a Citicorp-campaign to market home equity loans.
Instead of usually only “mail plus an 800 number,” Citicorp used “mail plus coupon plus 800 number plus outbound telemarketing plus print advertising.”
Although the second campaign was more expensive, it resulted in a 15 percent increase in the number of new account compared with direct mail alone.