Direct Marketing in Action: Cutting-Edge Strategies for Finding and Keeping the Best Customers

In many ways, mass marketing–broadcasting one's message to a large and anonymous population of potential customers–no longer works. In a marketplace increasingly defined by customer categories with high expectations for service, quality, and responsiveness, companies are discovering that they must invest more heavily in reaching and communicating with their customers directly in order to stay competitive. But to many consumers, direct marketing has a bad reputation, associated with intrusive door-to-door salesmen, dinnertime phone solicitations, junk mail, and, most recently, e-mail spam. In Direct Marketing in Action, a team of experts from academia and from the front lines in business sets the record straight–dispelling common myths and misconceptions about direct marketing and showcasing the most current practices, principles, and techniques. From the dentist who sends check-up reminders to his patients to the hotel chain that customizes room amenities based on their guests' profiles, direct marketing is infused with the idea that the best allocation of our marketing dollar is one that focuses on and communicates with our particular micro market–and reinforces the distinctive benefits that we provide to those customers. In Direct Marketing in Action the authors cover the full range of issues that must be considered in developing an effective direct marketing strategy, including competitive analysis, information and data management, media and channel selection, building brand loyalty, and measuring the results of campaigns. Bridging the gap between research and practice, clearly defining terms and concepts, featuring numerous examples, and presented in a format that can be read cover-to-cover or in modular fashion, Direct Marketing in Action will serve as an essential handbook for marketers and a comprehensive overview for students, teachers, and researchers.

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