Direct/Interactive Marketing Campaign Research Paper Examples

Introduction

The internet has offered the worldwide audience instant information. Ideally, it has facilitated the broad connections to billions of individuals as well as a revolutionary form of communication. Marketing has turned out to be direct, highly focused, and more and more interactive due to the ongoing advances in communications technologies and database management (Hauser & Lewison, 2005). The marketers are now more and more able to interact with their clients directly. Interactive marketing is always evolving and developing at a very rapid pace. In essence, interactive marketing is more effective than the traditional direct marketing, and this explains its rapid growth. According to VanBoskirk (2011), the advertisers will spend 77 billion US dollars on interactive marketing by 2016. She goes on and states that the investment in display advertising, search marketing, social media, mobile marketing, and email marketing will represent 35 percent of all the advertising. Thus, this calls for thorough interactive marketing campaigns among the businesses to counter the increased competition within the market.
The ongoing advances in communications technologies and database management have hastened the capability to go direct. The organizations find themselves having trouble in both comprehending and adapting to interactive marketing due to the speedy pace of transformation in communication technologies as well as database management. Thus, organizations ought to develop unique direct/interactive marketing campaigns. Wong, Zhou Yang & Yeung (2005) state that direct advertising/marketing is one of the most measurable and efficient advertising methods available. For this reason, the paper develops a direct/interactive marketing promotional campaign for Thomson Company. In addition, the paper critically assesses how the company may use the promotional campaign to increase its brand awareness and customer retention along with creating competitive advantage.

Objectives and goals

Businesses are continuing to develop new marketing opportunities and methods on an almost everyday basis due to the speedy pace of direct/interactive marketing growth. However, there are a number of organizations that continue experiencing difficulties in their efforts to stay up-to-date on the current trends. Thus, there is a necessity for Thompson Company to remain up-to-date on the present trends so as to achieve its goals and objectives. Ideally, the primary goals of the campaign are brand awareness enhancement, creation of loyal/repeat customers, and creation of competitive advantage. A comprehensive marketing campaign will help the company in promoting Thomson Scene, a new brand into the market and capture customers forever. The company aims the new brand at the aspirational professionals between 20-30 years (Johnson, 2014). As a result, this will facilitate the enhancement of brand awareness, creation of repeat customers, and creation of competitive advantage. The other goal of the new campaign will be to introduce and promote Thomson Scene. In addition, the campaign aims to encourage both the company’s potential and existing customers to visit the new website and acquaint themselves with the other brands apart from Thomson Scene. Besides, the campaign aims to increase the holiday bookings.

Relevant segment

The widespread adoption of market segmentation by the organizations over an extended time is essentially the testimony of its reliable predictive capabilities. In an attempt to better comprehend the target audience and make the marketing more successful, Thomson Company needs to design as well as implement strategies that will target both the potential and existing customers. The company will use analytical process, which will put the clients first. As a result, the company will obtain a great advantage over its rivals. Specifically, the company will base its segmentation on the attitudes of the customers toward the use of the new brand, Thomson Scene hence the relevant segmentation will be the behavioral segmentation. The behavioral variables such as buyer status, benefits, buyer-readiness stage, attitude, and loyalty status will be the starting points for constructing the market subdivisions.
With regards to the behavioral variable of user status, the company will segment the market according to how the customers will use the new brand and other brands. Thus, the different groups will include first-time users, potential users, regular users, and non-users. For this reason, this will assist the Thomson Company in customizing its marketing for all the groups mentioned above as Kotler and Keller (2009) insist. The company expects the different users of the new brand to request different types of marketing approaches hence it is essential to divide its clienteles into various subdivisions and target them in different ways. In addition, the company will subdivide the market for its new brand according to the various benefits that the youths will seek from Thomson Scene brand. Specifically, the company will be trying to find the benefits that the clients will be looking for in the new brand.
The company will also subdivide the market according to the buyers-readiness stage. In simple terms, buyer-readiness stage is the customers’ awareness as well as interest in the brand. Kotler and Keller (2009), assert that some individuals are aware of the product, some are unaware, some are interested, some intend to buy, some desire to buy and some are informed. Thus, the company will aim to lead the customers along by segmenting the market according to the stage of customer readiness. Moreover, Thomson Company will subdivide its customers based on whether they will have an enthusiastic, indifferent, positive, hostile or negative attitude toward the brand. The company will obtain a wide-ranging view of its market as well as its subdivisions through considering the attitudes of the customers toward Thomson Scene brand. Furthermore, Thomson Company will segment the market according the customers’ loyalty. The different subdivisions will include hard-core loyals, split loyals, shifting loyals, and switchers. The marketing campaign will aim to convert the split, loyals, shifting loyals, and switchers into hard-core loyals.
The segmentation described above will help the company in acquiring a higher market share since marketing will be very much easier. The described segmentation will make the company a significant player in the industry. Thus, this interactive marketing campaign targets the various segments in the market and, as a result, this will make the company the market leader. Being the market leader will generate a comfort factor since the company will become more visible. The campaign will make the company’s PR easier and, as a result, it will establish credibility. Targeting the market subdivisions will help in growing the reputation of the company as the brand will be established.

Marketing strategy

Thomson Company should utilize a customer-driven marketing strategy in an effort to create value for its target customers. A customer driven marketing strategy will help the company in capturing customers for life. The major steps that the company ought to utilize in designing a customer-driven marketing strategy include market segmentation, market targeting, differentiation, and positioning. Thomson Company should understand that the buyers in the market are different in one way or more ways. Through the behavioral segmentation, the company will split the large and heterogeneous market into smaller segments. Specifically, the company should segment the market according to the buyer status, benefits, buyer-readiness stage, attitude, and loyalty status behavioral variables as already discussed in the previous section. As a result, it will be easier for the sales personnel to reach the different segments more effectively and efficiently.
After segmenting the market, Thomson Company should now assess the different segments and choose how many and the particular segments it will serve best. The factors that the company should look when assessing the various market segments include the structural attractiveness of a segment, size of a segment, and the overall resources and objectives. Finally, the company must choose which and how many subdivisions it will target. The company must use a segmented/differentiated marketing strategy in promoting the new brand after choosing the segments. Thus, the company should target different market segments and design distinct offers for each. Finally, the company must choose in what way it will create differentiated value for its target segments as well as the positions it desires to occupy in those segments. The management of a company is better capable of explaining to the clients the relationship of the value they obtain for the price they pay (Silver & Grant, 2005). For this reason, the management of Thomson Company must explain to the different segments the relationship of the price they will pay and the value they will obtain.

Online marketing components

Online marketing comprises the ads placed in e-mails, commercials on the search engine results pages, and other ways in which sellers use the internet (Stokes, 2013). The contemporary organizations need a robust digital footprint to thrive on the web. In fact, the advancement in communication technologies and database management has made marketing more direct, highly concentrated, and increasingly interactive. There exists a stiff competition for the organizations to overlook the potential and power of online marketing. In essence, businesses need the integrated marketing communication to thrive in the market as a result of the increase in competition. The integrated marketing communication aims to ensure that sales promotion, advertising, online communications, social media, and public relations direct marketing work together as a united force (Csikósová, Antošová, & Čulková, 2014).
The online marketing components help organizations realize their goal and objectives. The online advertisements pass viral messages that connect emotionally and facilitate the realization of the organizational goals (Kalyanam, McIntyre, & Masonis, 2007). Thus, this has resulted in the concept of viral marketing. Viral marketing campaigns can generate an instant buzz in the promotion and distribution of brands and products when executed effectively (Dobele et al., 2007). Thus, the online marketing components facilitate the generation of revenue, brand visibility, new customer acquisition, and more. For this reason, Thomson Company must engage in digital/online marketing to facilitate the enhancement of brand awareness and creation of both competitive advantage and repeat/loyal customers. The company must measure the trends and results of its various online marketing components to determine whether its online marketing strategy is successful. The following are the critical components that will make up a cohesive digital marketing strategy for Thomson Company:

Websites

Thomson Company ought to create a new website to facilitate the promotion of the new brand, Thomson Scene among the target customers and capture them for life. The company must design a website that is clean, professional, and easy for all the visitors to navigate since it will essentially be the face of the company. When designing its website, Thomson Company ought to focus on incorporating the applicable keywords to facilitate its search rankings. Additionally, the company should include calls to action on numerous pages so that the visitors will continuously think what it can do for them. What’s more, the Thomson Company should optimize the site on all the browsers even on the ones in smartphones. The metrics that the company must measure in its website include page views, site visitors, bounce rate, pages per visit, and top content.

Search engine marketing

The company should use the techniques of search engine optimization to help its social media accounts, blog, and website rank high in the search engines. In addition, the company should ensure that every page of the website is optimized for search engines. Moreover, the company should research particular keywords, which both the potential customers and existing most usually look for within the industry and use them through its social media and on its website. The metrics to measure include the number of indexed pages, page rank, number of inbound links, and many more.

Blog

The company’s website must contain an integrated blog that will facilitate the provision of useful and relevant information about the company. The blog should be easy to share through the social media. Additionally, it should be easy for the readers to subscribe through email. The company should measure the comments, visitors, social media shares, and rank, among other metrics.

Social Networking

Thomson Company should offer an opportunity through Google+, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin to create a community around it. Social networking will help the company in building and increasing the presence of Thomson Scene and other brands online. The company's presence in the social media will also allow the company to reach many individuals at less cost due to the viral nature of the networks mentioned above. The metrics to measure are the number of followers and likes.

References

Csikósová, A., Antošová, M., & Čulková, K. (2014). Strategy in Direct and Interactive Marketing and Integrated Marketing Communications. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 116, 1615-1619.
Dobele, A., Lindgreen, A., Beverland, M., Vanhamme, J., & Van Wijk, R. (2007). Why pass on viral messages? Because they connect emotionally. Business Horizons, 50(4), 291-304.
Hauser, W. J., & Lewison, D. M. (2005). Creating the Comprehensive direct interactive Marketing program. Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education–Volume, 6, 1.
Johnson, B. (2014, September 22). Thomson launches new brand aimed at stylish youth. Marketing Week. Retrieved from http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/sectors/travel-and-leisure/news/thomson-launches-new-brand-aimed-at-stylish-youth/4011702
Kalyanam, K., McIntyre, S., & Masonis, J. T. (2007). Adaptive experimentation in interactive marketing: The case of viral marketing at Plaxo. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 21(3), 72-85.
Kotler, Philip & Keller, Kevin Lane (2009). Marketing Management. Pearson Education International, 13. Edition
Silver, L., & Grant, C. T. (2005). Activity-Based Costing and the MBA Core Marketing Administration Course: A Cross-Disciplinary Case Approach. Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education–Volume, 6, 43.
Stokes, R. (2013). eMarketing: The Essential Guide to marketing in a digital world. Fifth Edition, Quirk eMarketing, v. 1.0. Pty [Ltd]
VanBoskirk, S. (2011). US interactive marketing forecast 2011 to 2016. BCAMA, Marketing Association of BC.
Wong, K. W., Zhou, S., Yang, Q., & Yeung, J. M. S. (2005). Mining customer value: From association rules to direct marketing. Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, 11(1), 57-79.