Relationship Between Direct Marketing and Branding

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Discussion
  • Direct Marketing
  • Branding
  • Push Marketing Theory
  • Pull Marketing Theory
• Conclusion
• References

Introduction

Direct marketing is a form of advertising that allows non-profit organizations and businesses to communicate directly with the customer via different advertising techniques. Direct marketing strategy majorly includes email, cell phone text messaging, online display advertisements, interactive consumer websites, television commercials etc. Direct marketing has the primary purpose of receiving direct feedback from consumers about a brand. Branding on the other hand is a strategy that emphasizes on long-term orientations. The primary objective of branding application is to develop and reinforce central messages of a company along with the product brands. It aims at high quality of service, environment friendly attributes, longevity, durability and cost saving objectives in order to enhance brand image and ensure sustainability. Branding and direct marketing are two distinct approaches for marketing. Direct marketing is intended to drive immediate customer responses; however branding is a delayed response advertising technique. This essay illustrates the relationship between direct marketing and branding with respect to interactive marketing strategies.

Discussion

This part of essay will try to discuss, evaluate and examine the provided essay question.

Direct Marketing

Direct marketing activity is the process through which various advertising media interact directly with consumers and obtain responses about a brand. The responses that are obtained with the help of direct marketing can be tracked, analyzed and stored on a database, which can be used further for development of long lasting customer relationships. With the help of direct marketing application most of the companies try to record the trial, purchase or enquiry related issues of Customers. These issues are analyzed by the companies and significant changes are incorporated if required. The changes or developments on an existing product of a brand are made after studying the demand of the customer market thoroughly. Direct marketing is generally controlled with the help of electronic or digital marketing strategy in the contemporary era (Burrow, 2011, p.23). Most of the advertisements are sent via e-mails and phone messaging systems. In some cases companies post their advertisements along with survey rating ability in social networking websites, such as Facebook and twitter.

The enhancement of direct marketing strategy sampling can be clearly observed among the fast food business operations. The advertisements provided by the Fox’s Crinkle Crunch biscuits illustrate the importance of customer responses for brand promotions. In a disguised and carefully controlled experiment conducted by agency fast marketing, it has been observed that about 11.8 percent respondents stated that they would prefer to purchase Fox’s Crinkle products next time because they had obtained faith towards the brand after going through the advertisements (Cheverton, 2006, p.65). Furthermore, 19.5 percent, of respondents stated that they have gained faith towards the brand because the brand deals with the customers directly and listens to their queries. Therefore, direct marketing has significant advantages during the marketing of a brand (Henry, 2008, p.89).

Branding

Branding is a strategic approach that involves in the creation of unique image and name for a product in the consumers’ mind. The scope of branding is not only limited to a specific product of a brand in fact it emphasizes to enhance the image of all the products of a brand. There are numerous ways to conduct branding application in the modern world. Most of the organizations prefer to use advertising campaigns with consistent themes. Branding mainly targets the customers, who have already been loyal towards a particular brand. It is the best strategy that is implemented in order to maintain sustainability of a company. Branding strategy does not emphasize on direct responses from customers (Haig, 2011, p.18). Branding strategy is used to provide advertisements of a particular brand in a creative manner. Branding is a slow strategy that has been very helpful to attract customers towards the products of a particular brand (Kapferer, 2008, p.87).

Foundry Sports Medicine and Fitness is one of the best examples that can be considered for branding. The organization has established a luxury full-service orthopaedic medical centre and the branding of the facility was done neatly. The advertisements provided in the television and the internet focused mainly on the luxury features and the unique interiors of the medical facility (Mueller, 2011, p.32). Generally, medical facilities are standardized with low design and modifications; however Foundry Sports and Fitness Company provided television facility, internet facility, prior booking facility etc, for customers. Therefore, the branding of a company is a strategy that helps customers to recognize a particular brand with the help of advertisements (Knapp, 2000, p.88).

There are basically two theories that explain the relationship between direct marketing and branding applications.

Push Marketing Theory

Push marketing is the strategy by which content is brought to the user. It is also known as traditional marketing. The modern marketing techniques emphasize on advertisements and endorsements of products on television or internet. The primary objectives of such marketing are to gain the attention of the target customers. Push marketing strategy emphasizes on direct mails, phone messages etc, in order to get appropriate responses from the customers (Stafford and Faber, 2005, p.44). Push marketing method is implemented by organizations because it enables to get immediate responses about an existing product of a brand. Push marketing is also regarded as outbound marketing strategy because it pushes marketing out to the customers. Push marketing has been found to be very useful during the implementation of strategies because it places products before prospects. Advertising through television, radio, billboards, radio spots, social media have been proved to be beneficial for recognition of brands (Pride and Ferrell, 2011, p.48).

Pull Marketing Theory

Pull marketing theory states that customers should be pulled to business with the help of brand endorsements and advertisements. In the contemporary era, the customers obtain information about different brands by their own interest. Now-a-days, the customers are not required to be attracted by the happenings about a brand or new products that are launched by a company. Almost every customer has access to the internet and they acquire required information through family, friends and online news (Wenderoth, 2009, p.45). Therefore, pull marketing strategy plays very crucial role to attract customers, who have already developed interest towards a particular brand. Pull marketing strategy also helps to maintain sustainability as it emphasizes on the long term goals of profitability. Pull marketing strategy creates awareness towards the products of different brands and it increases the brand visibility, especially on the web. Blogs posted by companies are very important as it helps the customers to acquire information about the products launched by the companies and it simplifies the inquiring processes (Wright, 2006, p.72).

Sustainable telemarketing is a new theory which helps to regulate the direct marketing and branding strategies. Direct marketing can affect consumer goodwill drastically if they are not managed appropriately. In order to ensure that consumer goodwill is not over-exploited, it is essential that organizations develop a sustainable telemarketing pattern. Direct marketing and branding are two different approaches of marketing for a company (Zarrela, 2010, p.81). It is the primary responsibility of organizations to provide advertisements of products based on the interest of consumers. Consumers have a tendency to respond towards the products that they feel useful for themselves. Therefore, branding of products can be done on selective products after doing a thorough analysis on the brands. There are several evidences that signify the relationship between direct marketing and br5anding. It is clear that both the marketing approaches are different from each other in terms of strategic implication; however both the marketing strategies emphasize on the development of brand image by using extensive brand endorsements (Kotler and Lee, 2008, p.77). Companies, such as Coca Cola and PepsiCo have implemented branding as well as direct marketing strategies for endorsing their products. Direct marketing is very useful for a company, when they launch new products under the same brand. Companies try to understand the response of the customers against the products that are launched. Therefore, direct marketing strategy is required because it helps the companies to acquire information about the customer responses via feedbacks and reviews. Apple Company on the other hand has restricted direct marketing strategies and has implemented branding strategies for endorsing their products. Apple Company has sufficient customer-base and goodwill, which has helped the company to reduce the expenses on direct marketing (Pickton and Broderick, 2005, p.64). The products launched by Apple are easily absorbed in the market due to high brand value. Thus, branding can be used as a strategy if customers already have knowledge about the new products that are introduced in the market. Branding strategy also helps to create awareness about the products of a brand through telemarketing and web; however it does not collect customer responses directly through the means of advertisements (Solomon and Bamossy, 2002, p.21).

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it is possible to state that direct marketing and branding are two different approaches of marketing. In order to generate sales and enhance the brand value, companies have to implement both strategies for the customers. Most of the companies use electronic marketing strategies to target their customers. Use of television and social media has become a common trend in the contemporary era; therefore brand endorsements can be successful if they are marketed via interactive media. The push and pull marketing strategies have been very common form of marketing done by the companies. Push strategy emphasizes on the collection of customer feedbacks about products. On the other hand pull marketing strategy helps to create awareness about products launched by a brand. Pull marketing strategy is generally implemented by companies to ensure sustainability. Therefore, it is clear that direct marketing and branding are two different marketing strategies that help to obtain customer attention and awareness by using intense advertising.

References

• Burrow, J., 2011. Marketing.  Stamford: Cengage Learning.
• Cheverton, P., 2006. Understanding Brand. London: Kogan Page.
• Haig, M., 2011. Brand Failures. London: Kogan Page.
• Henry, A., 2008. Understanding Strategic Management. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Kapferer, J., 2008. The new strategic Brand Management. London: Kogan Page.
• Knapp, E., 2000. The Brand Mindset. New York: McGraw Hill.
• Kotler, P., & Lee, N., 2008. Social marketing: Influencing behaviours for good. London: Sage Publications.
• Mueller, B., 2011. Dynamics of International Advertising. New York: Peter Lang.
• Pickton, D., and Broderick, A., 2005. Integrated marketing communications. London: Prentice Hall.
• Pride, W. and Ferrell, O. 2011. Marketing. Stamford: Cengage Learning.
• Solomon, M. R., and Bamossy, G. J., 2002. Consumer behaviour: A European perspective. London: Sage Publications.
• Stafford, M., and Faber, R., 2005. Advertising, Promotion, New Media. New York: M.E. Sharpe.
• Wenderoth, M., 2009. Particularities in the Marketing Mix for Service Operations, Berlin: GRIN Verlag.
• Wright, R., 2006. Consumer Behaviour. Stamford: Cengage Learning.
• Zarrela, D., 2010. The Social Media Marketing Book. Toronto: O’Reilly Media, Inc.