Technology Does Not Equate Marketing

Written By Ted Grigg

Direct Marketing suffers from an identity crisis. 

Not because direct marketing strategists do not understand the concept. But rather many marketing newcomers are not going through the learning discipline they need to see the big picture.

Indeed, a little knowledge about what direct marketing does in the wide world of marketing is a dangerous thing.

In a recent article from direct marketing leader Stan Rapp, he brings forward his case as astutely as ever with this statement.

At a time of great change, we reach for new words to describe what is happening, even though they later may prove meaningless. Marketers are no exception. While absorbing the shock wave of exponential connections to consumers (and consumers to one another), they have rushed to embrace digital marketing as the wave of the future. It's a combination of words – “digital” and “marketing” — that makes little sense. “Marketing” is about the efficient and effective movement of goods and services from producer to end user. “Digital” describes a powerful new communication technology. The marketing of the future is much more than a form of technology.

Mr Rapp thinks as I do that direct marketing envelopes all media including broadcast, print, direct mail, freestanding inserts, the online medium, email and cell phone marketing. All one-to-one selling defines the strategic playing field for experienced direct marketers.

Within direct marketing, there exists specialists such as direct response television, online, direct mail, CRM, database, catalogs and alternate media. But the experienced direct marketers knows how to use multiple media, or one medium alone, to maximize ROI.

Why do direct marketers keep harping on a purer definition of direct marketing?

The reason is quite simple. Clients who have a myopic view of what we do will not understand the depth of our potential contribution.

A good example is what happened to MDs. They had to fight -- and our continuing to do so -- to differentiate themselves from Optometrists, chiropractors, podiatrists and PAs. An MD has far more training and greater depth of knowledge of how to diagnose, treat disease and perform surgery.

There is a place for all of these practitioners. But an Optometrist is not the same as an Ophthalmologist. It is important for the patient to recognize the difference.

What say you?

Ted Grigg

Ted Grigg is a direct response strategist who helps growth-focused companies reduce risk by identifying weak assumptions before they become costly mistakes.

Over the course of his career, Ted has evaluated several hundred million dollars in direct response testing across direct mail, digital, print, television, telephone, and other channels. His work combines direct response strategy, acquisition economics, customer analysis, creative evaluation, offer development, and disciplined testing.

Ted has worked on both the client and agency sides of the business. That experience gives him a practical understanding of the pressures facing executives, marketing teams, agencies, and service providers—and of the problems that arise when activity, media volume, or creative preference replaces a clear economic objective.

His consulting work helps organizations examine such questions as:

  • Are acquisition goals economically realistic?

  • Is the allowable Cost Per Sale supported by customer value?

  • Are targeting, offers, creative, media, and response paths working together?

  • Are tests structured to produce reliable business decisions?

  • Are unproven assumptions being treated as facts?

  • Is the organization measuring sales outcomes rather than convenient proxies?

Ted’s experience includes the development of direct mail and multichannel acquisition programs for insurance, healthcare, financial services, technology, nonprofit, manufacturing, retail, transportation, communications, government, and business-to-business organizations.

For a national direct-to-consumer insurance company, he developed a direct mail format that defeated established controls and helped expand the productive use of compiled prospect lists from less than 10 percent to more than 30 percent of total direct mail circulation within one year. He also planned Medicare lead-generation programs for more than 60 regional and national HMO and PPO organizations, with some programs exceeding sales projections by as much as 60 percent.

Ted founded Wyse Direct, a direct marketing division of Wyse Advertising in Cleveland, where he developed acquisition programs and helped launch a new technology product for Seiko Instruments by generating a predictable flow of qualified sales leads for its national sales organization. As vice president of new business development for the Grizzard Agency, he helped broaden the agency’s strategic capabilities and pursue new commercial and fundraising opportunities.

He is the author of The HMO/PPO Marketing Plan—A Step-by-Step Guide, published by Executive Enterprises, and has written numerous articles and conducted webinars on direct response strategy, testing, creative development, and marketing economics.

Ted earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Abilene Christian University and completed two years of graduate study at Texas Tech University. He is the founder of DMCG, LLC.

http://www.dmcgresults.com
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