This is the opinion of Andrew Ambrogioni, MD of Action Ambro's: "There are two key reasons why I believe DM has got the bad rep it has over the years. Firstly, poorly planned and executed campaigns by unqualified agencies who believe they can be specialists across all marketing disciplines, and secondly, the poor quality of public domain databases. Put the two together and you have an absolute waste of client's money on a campaign that is destined from the start to yield far from satisfactory results.
"Direct marketing that is accurate, can drive a response and establish a relationship between brand and target audience is the ultimate goal and if achieved, could blow above-the-line brand advertising out of the water in terms of measurability and ROI. Yet very few direct marketers have seriously tackled and got to grips with the technology and media available to achieve this."
Internationally, privacy laws are seriously affecting how direct marketing takes place and the mediums used. While this has seen global brands employing innovative means of creating data, South Africa lags very far behind.
"Locally, many in the field still believe it is acceptable and effective to spam and bombard consumers with unsolicited and unwanted communications that are completely irrelevant to the target. Far from effective, it causes more damage and brand dissonance than one realises. I cannot think of one person who has an email address or cellphone that at one stage or another has not been bombarded with emails and SMS messages for products and services that they would never consider using.
"More importantly, the result of bombarding huge lists with irrelevant information is a direct increase in the cost per contact which in turn negatively impacts return on investment. Data that is developed directly out of a brand's own customer base delivers far more favorable results and a higher ROI as the communication is targeted and relevant."
Ambrogioni believes this creates a niche, focused market segment that will view your communication as relevant and hence consider it more favorably - and only then can direct marketing evolve from mass mailings and spam to its rightful positioning as Response Advertising.
Key in data collection is ensuring that the means is not intrusive nor invades privacy, but rather allows the consumer to have control over the process by consciously choosing to get involved. More critical is the effective use of the database technology available - there are countless occasions where databases are underutilised simply because the marketers do not understand the full capabilities of their system.
"If you can get this balance right and leverage your database to the maximum, the world is your oyster. Even traditional forms of media such as radio, TV and print can be used to capture data by developing response-driven messaging rather than simply awareness campaigns. Add to this the proliferation of new communication mediums and technologies and direct marketers have a plethora of channels to reach consumers that want and choose to be engaged directly," concludes Andrew.
