Direct And Digital Marketing

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Direct and Digital Marketing

How can customer behavior be measured and influenced in internet and direct marketing?

There are several tools that can be used to measure customer behavior and the communication level between the organization and its target consumers. The most common tools employed in this aspect include advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and personal selling. Some tools also include product package/design, internet communication, and point of purchase displays. The first model is advertising, which is a very important tool that can be used to evaluate customer behavior. It is more often used in the earlier stages of response hierarchy models. Because of its persuasiveness, public presentation, and amplified expressiveness, as well as its ability to help reach high awareness levels about the company product, advertising is a very vital tool in determining how the target consumers react to the organization’s brand product (Ivanov, 2011; p.78). Advertising creates a long term image of a product to the consumer, either through direct marketing or through internet marketing.

Compared to other tools such as sales promotion, advertising is relatively cheaper although it has certain limitations such as its ability to evoke negative feelings like anger, annoyance, and distrust. The next tool is that of sales promotion which offer a very distinctive invitation for purchase. It also involves the use of free samples and discount and mostly preferred in cases of sales stagnation and product launching. It helps in measuring customer behavior by noting the response of the target customers during the process of sales promotion. The only limitation of using sales promotion as tool for measuring customer behavior is that its effect or impact on the target customer is normally short lived and do not for that matter build long term brand preference. The next tool in this aspect is the use of public relations, whose major characteristics include high credibility, dramatization, and off guard. The fact that people normally consider PR campaigns as news rather than as paid publication makes public relations a very superior tool for brand promotion as well as a measure for customer behavior. Consumers often have the tendency to trust messages conveyed through public relations thereby making it a very reliable tool for measuring customer behavior. However, the only problem associated with the use of public relations is that the PR campaigns is associated with low levels of control on where, what, and when the activity should be carried out. The tools for marketing communication should be combined in a well balanced and solid campaign to realize the effectiveness of the performance of the organization.

How can performance be measured for internet and direct marketing?

Internet Marketing is the aspect of using the internet to sell and market goods and services. A great deal of internet marketing activity is aimed at driving customers to the website of the company, whereby hey are encouraged to buy the organization’s products online. Internet marketing entails a very broad and growing range of strategies that are useful in interacting with consumers and other stakeholders. The most common activities involved in internet marketing include: preparing a website for the company, placing the advertisements on the website, and sending email messages. According to Bughin, Doogan and Vetvic (2010; p.87), the measurement of customer behavior and the effectiveness of internet and direct marketing are very important for professionals in the public, private, and non-profit sectors who evaluate and plan internet marketing investments. Measurement of customer behavior is also very important in the sense that it can assist the managers understand how marketing strategies are can affect the organization’s profitability and corporate image. Measuring customer behavior is also important as it helps financial professionals, internet marketing managers, general managers, and marketing managers to seek to understand how the resources allocated online can contribute to high performance of the organization (Peter & Olson, 2014; p.45-6).

There are two general categories used to evaluate or measure customer behavior and the performance of internet marketing. The first and most common approach to evaluation is the customer activity related approach. This approach, which is also known as “clicks-and hits”, involves the organization tracking internet marketing related user behavior. For example, the organization would be involved in enquiring the number of users who click and visit the website. The second approach, which has evolved and become prevalent, is described as “measurement-driven approach”. The approach entails measures going beyond the user behavior and combines very sophisticated analysis and rudimentary financial indicators. The first approach (“clicks-and-hits”) discussed above involves taking a look at the number of unique customers or the visitors who view the website and the time they spend viewing the web pages (Krishna, 2005; pp.127). This provides the marketers with an insight into the number of people assessing the site, as well as how they use the website and the kind of comments and feedback posted. However, as much as the web site may assist the managers may assist the managers in knowing how the customers interact with company through the web; the major challenge that has persisted is the lack of information and knowledge important to make the managers use the data on user behavior to increase business value and profits.

Many organizations that use web analytics collect and store large amounts of information and create wide and complex data bases to store it. The only problem is that such information is never normally put into use. The other approach, which is the measurement driven approach, involves assigning arbitrary values to several intermediate actions, and then uses such values to calculate and estimate the organization’s returns. For example, the organization can estimate the value of a visit to a website by approximating the number of visitors who become the organization’s customers, then multiplying the number by the value of all the organization’s customers in order to estimate returns (Peter & Olson, 2014; p.51). What the “measurement-driven” and the “clicks and hits” approaches have in similarity is the failure for both of them to (a) to link the organization’s performances to its strategic objectives, and (b) to provide a quantified model that can be used to plan and track the investments of internet marketing from intermediate results to financial results. Internet marketing activities must be in line with the general strategies of the organization in order to contribute to a competitive advantage of the organization, as well as the marketing strategic objectives and information technology functions.

Reference List

Bughin J, Doogan J, & Vetvic, J, 2010, A new way to measure word-of-mouth marketing. Retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/a_new_way_to_measure_word-of-mouth_marketing” http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/a_new_way_to_measure_word-of-mouth_marketing

Ivanov, H, 2001, Economics and Organization.”Some Aspects of Measuring Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)” pp 78-93. Retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CFgQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cimaglobal.com%2FDocuments%2FImportedDocuments%2FTech_MAG_Evaluating_Internet_Marketing_April06.pdf&ei=BlYlU6_mD5CQhQe6rYCICg&usg=AFQjCNGNYuhIn1jC3sEG5WIiz52VKZzY5g&sig2=mpOdBuP2xMxHQF0eZMiCjQ&bvm=bv.62922401,d.ZG4” http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CFgQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cimaglobal.com%2FDocuments%2FImportedDocuments%2FTech_MAG_Evaluating_Internet_Marketing_April06.pdf&ei=BlYlU6_mD5CQhQe6rYCICg&usg=AFQjCNGNYuhIn1jC3sEG5WIiz52VKZzY5g&sig2=mpOdBuP2xMxHQF0eZMiCjQ&bvm=bv.62922401,d.ZG4

Krishna, G. R, 2005, Consumer behavior: Effective measurement tools. Hyderabad, India: ICFAI University Press. pp. 120-134.

Peter J, & Olson, J, 2014, Consumer Behavior and Promotion Strategy. Retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://answers.mheducation.com/business/marketing/consumer-behavior/consumer-behavior-and-promotion-strategy” http://answers.mheducation.com/business/marketing/consumer-behavior/consumer-behavior-and-promotion-strategy