The lines between direct marketing and brand marketing have all but disappeared, according to a new survey by the Direct Marketing Association.
The report, “The Integration of Direct Marketing and Brand,” shows how direct marketing’s versatility and measurability have led marketers to integrate direct marketing tactics into all brand marketing efforts across multiple channels.
“Direct marketing’s scalability, measurability and undeniable ROI has moved it to the forefront of all marketing, including branding,” Eugenia Steingold, senior research manager at the DMA and author of the report, said in a statement.
“The findings of our latest report show that direct marketing tactics designed to increase consumer awareness and action are ubiquitous – from URLs on all marketing materials to 800 numbers, to calls-to-action in TV, radio and print ads – and across every other type of marketing media,” the report said.
The report examines how direct marketing and brand building are being integrated in today’s multichannel environment to increase response rates, sales, profitability, and brand awareness.
The report also benchmarks current branding practices, direct marketing’s impact on brand marketing, measurement of brand campaigns and the impact of brand marketing on direct marketing.
Following are the report’s key findings.
Overall, 56 percent of respondents use one or more direct marketing channels with their brand awareness advertising.
Fifty percent use Web marketing with response mechanisms; 48 percent use trackable offers; 43 percent practice list building; 45 percent include calls-to-action on Web pages; and 32 percent use response analyses and modeling.
E-mail marketing is also commonly combined with a range of direct marketing tactics. For example, 52 percent use calls-to-action in their e-mails; 50 percent use targeting; 47 percent include trackable offers and response mechanisms; and 46 percent practice e-mail list building.
Search engine optimization and search engine marketing show significant use among respondents with 28 percent pairing SEO and SEM with response mechanisms; 31 percent using SEO with targeting; and 25 percent using search engine data for list building.
Respondents report 64 percent of their marketing dollars are allocated to DM and 36 percent go to mass marketing. Nearly 70 percent of brand marketers rate personalization as having a positive or strong positive effect on brand, and 64 percent rate targeting as having a positive or strong positive effect.
Thirty percent target their TV ads; 28 percent include a call-to-action; and 26 percent include response mechanisms such as a toll-free number or URL.
