This activity is important because direct marketing has undergone an enormous transformation in the last decade. In fact, the Direct Marketing Association, which has been in existence since $1917,$ recently changed its name to the Data and Marketing Association to reflect the changes and the analytical opportunities within direct marketing.

The goal of this exercise is for you to recognize the characteristics and benefits of direct marketing.

Read about the characteristics and benefits of direct marketing and then answer the questions that follow.

Direct marketing is a form of integrated marketing communication that comprises the total number of activities that the seller uses to direct efforts to a target audience in a seller$-$buyer exchange. Marketers will use one or more media to solicit a response from a prospect or customer. Sometimes the seller desires an immediate, action$-$oriented response. To solicit this type of response, marketers rely on direct response advertising, such as infomercials, which many of you have probably seen. Pocket Fisherman and P$90$X are a couple of well$-$known ones. Infomercials want the viewer to $$ACT NOW!$$ and often offer incentives such as $$Buy One, Get One Free,$$ but wait there$$s more, $$Free Shipping If You Order Now!$$

Direct marketing includes both offline media $($such as catalogs, direct mail, telemarketing, and televised infomercials$)$ as well as digital media $($such as email, text$-$message marketing, and mobile advertising$).$ Pottery Barn, for example, offers a portfolio of catalogs. A family with small children might receive a Pottery Barn Kids catalog, while college students might receive a Pottery Barn Teens catalog. This differentiation is an example of direct marketing. Amazon, however, uses a more customized approach of direct marketing by sending carefully crafted and curated emails to consumers based on individual preferences.

How a firm develops its direct marketing campaign can lead to very different response rates from consumers.

These response rates, as well as the response types, tie directly to potential benefits for the firm. Response types include: registering for further information, requesting interaction with a salesperson, and making a purchase.

Some benefits of direct marketing for a firm include, but are not limited to:

development of new customer relationships;

the ability to test different elements of a marketing message or campaign;

the ability to test the appeal of a product or service,

the ability to test different marketing approaches to identify which approaches are most effective for different target audiences.

As with any IMC strategy, communicating a clear marketing message across the promotional mix is important. If the look and sound of the message are inconsistent in different places, it is destined to be less effective.

Which of the following is an example of direct marketing that uses offline media?

Multiple Choice

email campaign

text$-$message campaign

telemarketing

mobile advertising

Twitter campaign