This makes it possible to measure our response very carefully " another important characteristic that separates Direct marketing from other advertising media.
Finally, by testing lists and gathering information through responses, we can build an internal marketing database. This will then have in our possession a qualified list of present and prospective customers for our products or services, together with a bank of valuable information on the requirements and preferences of each. List testing and response analysis will also help us discover what else we might sell to these people, once they become our customers.
To summarize, we can say that Direct Marketing has the unique ability to communicate on a personal level to a targeted audience. Direct Marketing generates orders, builds retail sales traffic, raises funds, and increases sales leads. It is cost-effective, allows accurate sales predictions, and its costs and effects are directly and easily measurable. .
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Activities which are appropriate to our company.
First of all, it is essential to explain in which markets or segments we have to focus. Secondly, we will assess the Direct Marketing mediums we are going to use and the one we can afford for our size of business.
If we decide to launch a Direct Marketing campaign we should target newer segments such as airlines', business centres', airports, etc.
A study from Euromonitor (1999) on the car rental industry found that:.
• Business usage and leisure usage were the main reasons for renting a car.
• Airport sales dominate the car rental industry.
• Although at an early stage of development, the overall emerging trend in the transportation market is the use of the Internet to book tickets. Airlines are starting to promote direct sales, and car rental companies are introducing automated booking over the Internet. .
Those key findings should guide our marketing strategy; we should essentially focus on those precise segments.