Toward “marketing” the image of direct mail marketing among promotional managers of financial institutions

Abstract

The following “research in brief” summary relates to an exploratory research study of the promotional managers of a small number of financial services firms. It was conducted to determine the overall image of direct mail marketing and other promotional media. Participants assessed the suitability of the various media to perform certain advertising tasks. Although direct mail marketing was evaluated relatively favorably in terms of the selected “suitability” measures, as well as in terms of cost, it was not viewed as positively in its perceived effectiveness in communicating the advertising message. Thus, while direct mail marketing might actually be capable of fulfilling timely communication objectives, its overall image among the relevant promotional decision makers may have hampered its acceptance. Implications for the providers of direct mail marketing services are discussed.

Direct marketing in de banksector

“…Als gevolg van de in de vorige paragraaf beschreven ontwikkelingen maakt direct marketing binnen de banksector een enorme groei door (Pettit, 1987). Il lustratief hiervoor is het feit dat de respondenten van het in dit artikel beschreven onderzoek aangeven dat de bestedingen aan direct mail, advertenties met responsmogelijkheid en dergelijke zullen groeien van 25% van het reclamebudget in 1990 tot 60 a 65% in het jaar 2000.…”

Conjoint experiments for direct mail response optimization

“…Marshall and Vredenburg, 1988;Voorhees and Coppett, 1983). Developments in information technology, individualization tendencies, rising distribution costs and the increase of dual-income households have been identified as the responsible factors for the increased reliance on direct marketing (Pettit, 1987).…”

The banking industry and the media

“…A study among consumer advertisers and business-to-business advertisers in 13 European countries (16) shows that, with regard to the specific direct marketing instruments, for the year 1991, direct mail had the highest usage (56 percent), followed by unaddressed direct mail (24 percent) and telephone (21 percent). Selection of a medium over other alternatives depends on the perception by marketing decision makers of the characteristics of the medium, such as relative cost and effectiveness, and the anticipated effects on corporate image (15). If decision makers were to believe that direct mail would irritate consumers and damage corporate image, direct mail might not be included in their evoked set.…”