Direct Marketing

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Introduction

Direct marketing is a communication and sales technique that includes a broadcaster a personalized message and incentive to a question of individual or business, with the aim of obtaining an immediate and measurable response. In other words, direct marketing is the one that directly affects the target.

Direct marketing is based on two principles:

• The use of databases to establish personal and differentiated (personalized) contacts between the company and its customers or prospects;
• The use of any communication technique that has the effect of:

• To elicit an immediate or short-term response
• To provide the target audience with the means of transmitting this response directly to the company

In travel sector, use direct marketing may provide a potential substitute for face to face personal selling:

Traditionally, travel is offered to customers via travel agencies. In these travel agencies, the client has at his disposal several people who are there to advise him and to guide him to choose the destination that suits him best and at the lowest possible price.

However, with the current context and the financial crisis, more and more people are turning to direct marketing, which seems to be a coherent substitute for personal selling.

Through this report, we will see the benefits and drawbacks of the tools used for direct marketing in the travel agency sector

The different tools of direct marketing

Mailing

• Advantages

Reduced cost, speed, personalized communication, possibility of argumentation, precise targeting.

• Disadvantages

Target fatigue, low return rate (1-3%), one-way communication

• Use

It is necessary to study beforehand the needs and behaviours of the prospects, determine the advantages of the proposed product and its price, eventually who will be the person to contact. For travel agencies, it is necessary for example to know the habits of the customers concerning its destinations, what are its preferences ...

The mailing must put forward a response to a need, desire, expectation of the prospect, so that the client feels at once aim by the message, that he feels that it is done for him.

To be effective, the mailing must present a quality product or service, a cleverly thoughtful promotional offer but also use a client file with reliable and exhaustive information for a personalized and nominative mailing.

E-mailing

• Advantages

Updating databases: Return of reply coupons filled in online by your customers who are listed on Excel file

Statistics available - number of emails

Open, number of wrong addresses, listing of unsubscriptions

Quick to set up, very low costs

• Disadvantages

Saturation due to the amount of advertising messages received daily.

Risk of virus.

Difficulty passing the anti-spam, anti-advertising barrier.

Low life-span of email addresses, much shorter than a physical address. It is strongly recommended not to keep inactive addresses more than three, four months

• Use

As for mailing, e-mailing must be thoughtful and personalized to satisfy the customer by offering him what he expects. E-mailing can be used as soon as a customer places an order for a trip or looks at the website, per his preferences an e-mail is sent to him proposing various offers that may suit him

Prints and catalogs

• Advantages

Possibility of targeting geographical areas (very broad or very precise), low cost per contact, implementation Value of products (catalogs)

• Disadvantages

Low rate of return, lack of customization, design, manufacturing and distribution costs for large catalogs

• Use

Impressions and catalogs can be used as newsletters, but can also keep customers informed of a wide range of choices offered by the travel agency. The risk is that the customer does not feel concerned by this pallet, and that it does not even look at its contents.

Asylum packages

• Advantages

Targeting of the offer according to the customer's order or profile, very low diffusion cost

• Disadvantages

Unsuitable for some products, reduced format limiting argumentation, cost of leasing addresses to the mail order company

• Use

Direct marketing tool not necessarily adapted to the travel sector. However, it can be useful if the travel agency wants to start distribution operations of gift box or equivalent. Nevertheless, the cost remains high.

Phoning

• Advantages

Individualized message, sometimes high return, good targeting, possibility to argue and deal with objections