Direct marketing market in Russia, overview, perspectives of DM

Direct marketing – what’s the plus?

The market of Direct Marketing (DM) can be conditionally divided in two groups. The first group - a market of direct advertising: mailout for marketing, advertising, PR purposes. It also includes integrated projects and DM. According to expert estimates, DM accounts for 80% of DM market.

The second group – a market of mass direct business mailouts, notices, it also includes billing market. For example, Pension Fund notices, land tax, vehicle tax, various invoices, etc.

Nowadays most of the leaders of marketing services highly appreciate potential of DM. Its methods and techniques are used not only in trade, but also in other sectors, such as financial services, insurance services, and telecommunications.

I would like to pay attention to the fact, that many people confuse direct marketing with direct mail. The fact is that direct marketing is any personal communication with a consumer, which allows you to get the highest percentage of responses. Direct marketing involves creation and maintenance of databases for the creation and development of relations with regular and potential customers. The purpose of DM – to find individual approach to potential buyers and to establish contact with them, long-term relationships, for the mutual benefit.

Unlike their American colleagues Russian advertisers underestimate the effectiveness of direct marketing

It’s necessary to consider DM not only in it’s classical concept, but as database marketing - building of marketing communications based on databases on selected target audience. It is the basis of DM campaigns development. Prospects of the market are enormous. We can see continuous increase of interest of clients to this marketing tool. It seems that the global financial crisis impact has only accelerated this process.

Let’s focus on direct marketing tools: postal mailout, express delivery, telemarketing, mobile marketing, e-mail and internet marketing, fax mailout.

For the last 2-3 years, we can see a merger of companies working in the field of direct marketing, with companies that work with new tools (internet marketing, mobile marketing and so forth) in the market of DM. The integration of these areas with DM allows to reach a completely new level of services and products. According to the analysts, direct marketing will get a significant share in the media mix of Russian advertisers in the coming years: not 1-2%, as now, but the way more. In the USA, for example, DM costs amount about half of all costs on advertising for companies, in Europe – 20-30% depending on the country.

Many companies on DM-market now offer a new integrated advertising product that allows to combine the capabilities of existing databases with the possibilities of Internet marketing and mobile advertising. So, it can be concluded that focusing on a client in integrated marketing communications - a future of marketing communications.

Paper don’t yield the position

Clients often ask the question: what kind of mailout is more effective - paper or electronic, and why? What criteria should we guide when choosing a mailout?

Some people think that fashion for direct marketing is already fading. Let me explain why it’s not like that. We do not have to forget that the Internet - it is not just an advertising channel, but also a great tool for DM. I do not mean "spam", but a private address to recipients of mailouts, that should correspond to three main objectives of DM: it’s required a database with your target audience that was thoroughly selected (otherwise it will be a spam), preparation of the mail and design according to the rules of e-mails.

What is worth paying attention to: it's reasonable to use the mailout for the real clients that already know you and 10-15% of them have already given you good references on the website. Database should be segmented - the proposal should take into account individual consumer preferences, you should not send the same message to all.

By The Way

DM Myths

For many people DM previously was associated with postal and fax sending only. Now SMS and e-mail mailout added to this list. In addition, some people mistakenly believe that it bothers a client, client does not like it, it annoys a client. Meanwhile, mailouts become more popular and effective. Why? It happens because markets today are oversupplied by offers, and direct appeal to a customer is the very key to success. So it won’t be an exaggeration, if I say: “There comes an era of direct marketing!” Yes, there are negative emotions, but only in some cases, when it comes to so-called "spam" (and no matter which channel of communication was involved). Therefore, entering upon the path of DM, it is important to understand the following: a message must be interesting, informative and aimed at your target audience. If a client receives information that he finds necessary for him, he will certainly continue to contact the author.

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