What are direct marketing and interactive marketing? 573
All four of the TICC elements are critical. Direct
marketing is not direct marketing unless they
are all in place. Sometimes it is not possible to
data capture the identity of every customer and
sometimes it is necessary to record the transac-
tions of a sample of customers only. These condi-
tions apply in FMCG (fast moving consumer
goods) markets. Nevertheless, if the four TICC
elements are in place, it is possible to employ
direct marketing methods in these markets.
What is interactive marketing?
Interactive marketing is direct marketing
through new media. The intention of direct mar-
keting has always been interaction, if only in
soliciting and receiving enquiries and orders by
post and fulfilling these requests. Indeed, we
have just discussed interaction as one of the four
essential elements of direct marketing.
So why refer to new media direct marketing
as anything but direct marketing? There are two
reasons. Firstly, interactive marketing has
already developed a language of its own
because most of its pioneers never connected
what they were doing with direct marketing.
The thinking went, ‘Here is a new medium, so
we must invent a new way of marketing for it.’
Most of those who did are no longer in business,
whereas those who applied direct marketing
principles and expertise to the new media have
done much better. Remember the words of Steve
Bennett?
The Internet is just a new front end. Everything
at the back end, like delivery and logistics, is as it
was before.A new front end
To work effectively, the new front requires the
same disciplines that work in all direct
marketing.
The advertising agency creative asks, ‘How can I
make this brand famous?’
The direct marketer asks, ‘How can I make my
next offer irresistible?’
There’s no need to guess who will pull most
customers in. We know from the results.
If you can remember them still, contrast the
big dotcom spenders from 1998 and 1999 with
the 1995 vintage cash burner, Amazon. The later
entrants enriched the TV companies in senseless
bids to make their names famous with ill-tar-
geted and fatuous advertising that suggested no
good reason to visit their websites.
Now what do you remember about Ama-
zon? Here’s a guess:
Any book or CD you want.
Fast delivery.
Forty per cent off.
What you remember is what Amazon offers.
And what more could you want? Well, if you are
really demanding, Amazon also gives you
reviews, an easy site to negotiate, personalized
(tailor-made) suggestions on what you might
like to read next, easy ordering, etc.
Like the ‘make my brand famous’ dotcoms
who blew millions on untargeted TV, Amazon’s
high spending days are behind it. With a still
growing business but a huge debt burden to
carry, Amazon relies primarily on its affiliate
marketing network to pull in new customers.
You can visit amazon.co.uk to find out how to
become an affiliate.Affiliate marketing programmes
Affiliates place links on their websites to drive
traffic to the merchant. They are rewarded by
commission payments – usually a percentage of
sales. Premium affiliate sites (including portals
such as MSN) demand a tenancy fee as well as
commission.
A similar idea was pioneered in direct mar-
keting under the name of affinity group market-
ing. Direct marketers also pioneered PPI (pay-
ment per inquiry) deals with media owners
many years ago.