Direct marketing has been around for many centuries. The methods used continue to vary with every age and generation. Levinson et al., (2007) state, “Marketing continues to evolve and mature” (p. xi). As long as the need to place products and provide services to consumers exists, direct marketing will remain. As opposed to mass marketing, it provides marketers with an immediate response to their marketing efforts.
It ensures that marketing efforts target specific consumers. This increases the chance of getting business while minimizing waste associated with untargeted marketing. Direct marketing in the digital age employs digital technology to conduct marketing campaigns.
The internet is the media of choice. It however necessitates the development and maintenance of databases. These databases provide marketers with the necessary information from which they develop marketing campaigns.
The development of a database is a painstaking process. It requires that each consumer who interacts with the company leave certain information with the company. The companies then uses the database to, “locate potential customers and to generate sales leads” (Armstrong & Kotler, 2011, p.476).
The information collected and stored in such a database may include “a customer’s demographics (age, income, family members, birthdays), psychographics (activities, interests, and opinions), and buying behavior (buying preferences and the frequency, and monetary value – RFM – of past purchases)” (Armstrong & Kotler, 2011, p.476).
Once developed, the database is a very potent tool for targeting sales and promotion efforts to reach specific customers. Very advanced forms of analysis are necessary to take advantage of the information contained in the database (Porter, 1991). This acquisition and storage of large volumes of personal data is what creates concerns for many people.
The online environment is a new area of human experience. There are still many valid fears surrounding various issues regarding participation in it. The key privacy concerns internet users have include security concerns, and nuisance. Security concerns revolve around internet fraud and identity theft. Nuisance sources include spam, malware, and viruses.
The retention of private information in marketing databases makes individuals vulnerable to these forms of online privacy concerns.
Apart from unsolicited mails, promotions, and targeting by the marketing company, there are also issues relating to third parties accessing those databases, and using the information to reach a private individual for their own purposes. In authoritarian states, such databases may provide authorities with the information they need to crack down on personal freedoms.
For consumers to remain willing to share their personal information with online marketing companies there is need to develop and maintain stringent security and marketing policies that will reassure their clients. The companies keeping databases need to do everything in their power to ward off unauthorized access to the databases. This will protect consumers from malicious access.
In addition, their policies covering the use of the database for their marketing purposes must respect the privacy of consumers. This may include giving the customer the initiative to access their services, other than trying to reach them directly since this will make them appear bothersome.
The need for individual discretion when filling online forms may also help to reduce the amount of personal information that lies out there. This necessitates mass education of internet users to enable them to avoid internet frauds.
Reference List
Armstrong, G., Harker, M., Kotler, P. & Brennan, R., 2009. Marketing: An Introduction. 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Financial Times Prentice Hall.
Levinson, Jay Conrad, Jeannie Levinson and Amy Levinson. Guerrilla Marketing: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business. 4. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007.
Porter, M.E., 1991. Competitive Advantage. In C.A. Montgomery & M.E. Porter, eds. Strategy: Seeking and Securing Competitive Advantage. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing Division.