International direct marketing efforts

Abstract

Understanding the effectiveness of various marketing efforts in the international marketplace is a growing need for United States businesses. Unfortunately. many businesses, especially small ones are not consistently successful in exporting their products. Although many factors can contribute to exporting o n a consistent basis, this study analyzes the various international marketing methods utilized by small businesses and determines which methods, especially direct marketing, can significantly contribute to consistent exporting of products. The data used in the study are provided by small businesses in the United States, and a logit choice model is formulated. Among various marketing methods, direct marketing is found to be a significant predictor of exporting o n a consistent basis, in addition to such factors as prior experience and extent of preparation to enter foreign markets. Further analysis revealed that among the direct marketing approaches, both the letter and salesman campaigns were found to be more effective than the phone campaign. Therefore, direct marketing efforts may be targeted toward more efficient approaches, such as developing contacts through mail and salesmen.

Challenges and pitfalls for direct mail across borders: The European example

“…Its market is growing and encompasses all types of customers: not only big senders such as catalog and mail-order houses and subscription campaigns for magazines, but also a lot of smaller firms (3). Most of the time mailings are not business to business but business to end consumers.…”

The use of international direct marketing by small businesses in Canada, Mexico, and the United States

“…Small businesses typically do not have the financial resources or strategic planning to circumvent tariff barriers (6). Small businesses should be ideally suited to capitalize on the export opportunities arising from NAFTA because the flexibility inherent in small businesses provides them with the ability to adapt to environmental changes more quickly than larger enterprises (1,12,17).…”

“…EXPORT EXPERIENCE. Direct marketing efforts require an understanding of national markets, lan-guages, and life-styles (1,5,13,21), since direct marketing must be tailored to the specific target audience. A firm's prior experience in dealing with foreign markets not only affects export performance (8,9,19), but is necessary for the effective utilization of direct marketing techniques.…”

Borderless direct marketing? Status quo, trends and outlook

“…Generally, risks can be limited effectively by controlling the scope of market entry . International direct marketing's fast, simple implementation also makes it a cheap form of internationalization and particularly attractive to small and medium-sized enterprises (Iyer andHill 1996, Albers andGelb 1991) . In the long term, the potential acquisition of regular customers offers a substantial source of growth and shareholder value for the company .…”

“…In combination with an effective risk control, it offers an especially attractive strategic option for small and medium-sized enterprises Campbell 1994, Albers andGelb 1991) . The following section describes in detail the classical procedure for implementing international direct marketing .…”