Marketing: An Introduction

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[Audio] In the previous two chapters, you learned about engaging consumers and communicating customer value through integrated marketing communication and about four elements of the marketing communications mix: advertising, publicity, personal selling, and sales promotion. In this chapter, we examine direct marketing and its fastest-growing form: digital marketing (online, social media, and mobile marketing). Today, spurred by the surge in internet usage and buying as well as rapid advances in digital technologies—from smartphones, tablets, and other digital devices to the spate of online mobile and social media—direct marketing has undergone a dramatic transformation..

[Audio] This chapter discusses how companies use social media and mobile marketing to engage consumers and create brand community. Finally, the chapter identifies and discusses the traditional direct marketing forms and overviews the public policy and ethical issues presented by direct marketing..

[Audio] Down through the decades, Coca-Cola has been an undisputed master of mass-media advertising and marketing. Its huge advertising presence has made Coca-Cola one of the world's best-known brands—according to one source, the word Coca-Cola is the second most recognized word in the world, after okay. Long known for its classic mass-media advertising campaigns, Coca-Cola has shifted its communications to fit the digital times. It has now also mastered digital, social media, and mobile content that engages consumers directly and interactively. Thus, Coca-Cola is still a prolific traditional mass-media advertiser; its massive advertising campaigns position the brand and tell the brand story. But Coca-Cola is also a leader in creating digital, social media, and mobile content. Digital content doesn't just tell the brand story, it makes the brand part of the consumer's story. It engages consumers directly and personally, fuels brand conversations, and makes the brand a part of consumers' lives..

[Audio] Direct and digital marketing involve engaging directly with carefully targeted individual consumers and customer communities to both obtain an immediate response and build lasting customer relationships. Companies use direct marketing to tailor their offers and content to the needs and interests of narrowly defined segments or individual buyers. In this way, they build customer engagement, brand community, and sales..

[Audio] Direct and digital marketing involve engaging directly with carefully targeted individual consumers and customer communities to both obtain an immediate response and build lasting customer relationships. Companies use direct marketing to tailor their offers and content to the needs and interests of narrowly defined segments or individual buyers. In this way, they build customer engagement, brand community, and sales..

[Audio] Expedia Group is a huge collection of online-only travel businesses, including such familiar brands as Expedia, Travelocity, Hotels.com, Hotwire, trivago, Orbitz, and HomeAway. With combined revenues of US$10.1 billion in 2017, the company does business through more than 200 travel booking sites and over 150 mobile websites..

[Audio] Most companies still use direct marketing as a supplementary channel or medium. For example, Sears or Macy's, sell the majority of their merchandise off their store shelves, but they also sell through direct mail, online catalogs, and social media pages. For many companies today, direct and digital marketing are more than just supplementary channels or advertising media. They constitute a complete model for doing business. Firms employing this direct model use it as the only approach. For example, companies such as Priceline have built their entire approach to the marketplace around direct and digital marketing..

[Audio] Direct and digital marketing have become the fastest-growing form of marketing. Direct marketing continues to become more Internet-based, and digital direct marketing is claiming a surging share of marketing spending and sales. Total digital marketing spending—including online display and search advertising, video, social media, mobile, and email—now accounts for the largest share of media spending..

[Audio] For buyers, direct and digital marketing are convenient, easy, and private. They give buyers anywhere, anytime access to an almost unlimited assortment of goods and a wealth of products and buying information. Through direct marketing, buyers can interact with sellers by phone or on the seller's Web site or app to create exactly the configuration of information, products, or services they want and then order them on the spot. Finally, for consumers who want it, digital marketing through online, mobile, and social media provides a sense of brand engagement and community. For sellers, direct marketing often provides a low-cost, efficient, speedy alternative for reaching their markets. Because of the one-to-one nature of direct marketing, companies can interact with customers by phone or online, learn more about their needs, and personalize products and services to specific customer tastes. Direct and digital marketing also offer sellers greater flexibility. They let marketers make ongoing adjustments to prices and programs, or make immediate, timely, and personal announcements and offers..

[Audio] Direct and digital marketing involve engaging directly with carefully targeted individual consumers and customer communities to both obtain an immediate response and build lasting customer relationships. Companies use direct marketing to tailor their offers and content to the needs and interests of narrowly defined segments or individual buyers to build direct customer engagement, brand community, and sales. Today, spurred by the surge in internet usage and buying and by rapid advances in digital technologies—from smartphones, tablets, and other digital devices to the spate of online social and mobile media—direct marketing has undergone a dramatic transformation. For buyers, direct and digital marketing are convenient, easy to use, and private. They give buyers anywhere, anytime access to an almost unlimited assortment of products and buying information. Direct marketing is also immediate and interactive, allowing buyers to create exactly the configuration of information, products, or services they desire and then order them on the spot. Finally, for consumers who want it, digital marketing through online, mobile, and social media provides a sense of brand engagement and community—a place to share brand information and experiences with other brand fans. For sellers, direct and digital marketing are powerful tools for building customer engagement and close, personalized, interactive customer relationships. They also offer greater flexibility, letting marketers make ongoing adjustments to prices and programs or make immediate, timely, and personal announcements and offers..

[Audio] The major forms of direct and digital marketing are shown in Figure 14.1. Traditional direct marketing tools include face-to-face selling, direct-mail marketing, catalogue marketing, telemarketing, direct-response television marketing, and kiosk marketing. In recent years, however, newer digital direct marketing tools have burst onto the marketing scene, including online marketing (websites, online ads and promotions, email, online videos, and blogs), social media marketing, and mobile marketing..

[Audio] This figure shows the major forms of direct and digital marketing. Traditional direct marketing tools include face-to-face selling, direct-mail marketing, catalogue marketing, telemarketing, direct-response television marketing, and kiosk marketing. A dazzling new set of direct digital marketing tools has burst onto the marketing scene, including online marketing (Web sites, online ads and promotions, email, online videos, and blogs), social media marketing, and mobile marketing..

[Audio] The main forms of direct and digital marketing include traditional direct marketing tools and the new digital marketing tools. Traditional direct approaches are face-to-face personal selling, direct-mail marketing, catalogue marketing, telemarketing, direct response TV marketing, and kiosk marketing. These traditional tools are still heavily used and very important in most firms' direct marketing efforts. In recent years, however, a new set of direct digital marketing tools has burst onto the marketing scene, including online marketing (websites, online ads and promotions, email, online videos, and blogs), social media marketing, and mobile marketing. The chapter first discusses the fast-growing new digital direct marketing tools and then examines the traditional tools..

[Audio] These days, people connect digitally with information, brands, and each other at almost any time and from almost anywhere. In the age of the "Internet of Things" (IoT), it seems that everything and everyone will soon be connected digitally to everything and everyone else. The digital age has fundamentally changed customers' notions of convenience, speed, price, product information, service, and brand interactions. As a result, it has given marketers a whole new way to create customer value, engage customers, and build customer relationships..

[Audio] Digital usage and impact continues to grow steadily. Roughly 89 percent of all Canadian adults use the internet daily, and the average Canadian internet user spends over 40 hours a week consuming digital media. Worldwide, more than 54 percent of the population has internet access. And 32 percent has access to the mobile internet. Digital and social media marketing is the fastest-growing form of direct marketing. It uses digital marketing tools such as Web sites, online video, email, blogs, social media, mobile ads and apps, and other digital platforms to directly engage consumers anywhere, anytime via their digital devices. The digital age has fundamentally changed customers' notions of convenience, speed, price, product information, service, and brand interactions. As a result, it has given marketers a whole new way to create customer value, engage customers, and build customer relationships. Some companies operate only online. They include a wide array of firms, from e-tailers to search engines and portals, transaction sites, content sites, and online social media. Omni-channel retailing involves creating a seamless cross-channel buying experience that integrates in-store, online, and mobile shopping. In fact, omni-channel retailing companies are having as much online success as their online-only competitors. Direct digital and social media marketing takes any of the several forms that include online marketing, social media marketing, and mobile marketing. We discuss each in turn, starting with online marketing..

[Audio] Online marketing refers to marketing via the Internet using company Web sites, online ads and promotions, email marketing, online video, and blogs. For most companies, the first step in conducting online marketing is to create a Web site. Marketing Web sites are designed to interact with customers to move them closer to a direct purchase or other marketing outcome. In contrast, a branded community Web site does not try to sell anything but presents brand content that engages consumers and creates customer-brand community. A Web site should be easy to use and visually appealing. Ultimately, Web sites must be useful. When it comes to Web browsing and shopping, most people prefer substance over style and function over flash..

[Audio] Online advertising refers to advertising that appears while consumers are browsing online, including display ads, search-related ads, online classifieds, and other forms. The main forms of online advertising are display ads and search-related ads. Online display ads might appear anywhere on an Internet user's screen and are often related to the information being viewed. Today's rich media ads incorporate animation, video, sound, and interactivity. The largest form of online advertising is search-related ads or contextual advertising. In this form of advertising, text-based ads and links appear alongside search engine results on sites such as Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. Email marketing refers to sending highly targeted, highly personalized, relationship-building marketing messages via email. When used properly, email can be the ultimate direct marketing medium. But there is a dark side to the growing use of email marketing—the explosion of spam—unsolicited, unwanted commercial email messages that clog up our email boxes. Spam has produced consumer irritation and frustration. To address these concerns, most legitimate marketers now practice permission-based email marketing, sending email pitches only to customers who opt in..

[Audio] Another form of online marketing involves posting digital video content on brand Web sites or social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and others. Some videos are made for the Web and social media. Other videos are ads that a company makes primarily for TV and other media but posts online before or after an advertising campaign to extend reach and impact. Viral marketing is the digital version of word-of-mouth marketing. All kinds of videos can go viral, producing engagement and positive exposure for a brand. Marketers have little control over where their viral messages end up. They can seed content online, but that does little good unless the message itself strikes a chord with consumers. For example, in one simple but honest McDonald's video, the company answered an online viewer's question about why McDonald's products look better in ads than in real life by conducting a behind-the-scenes tour of how a McDonald's ad is made. The award-winning three-and-a-half-minute video pulled almost 15 million views and 15,000 shares, earning the company praise for its honesty and transparency..

[Audio] Blogs, or Web logs, are online journals where people and companies post their thoughts and other content related to narrowly defined topics. Blogs can be about anything—politics, baseball, haiku, car repair, or the latest television series. Most marketers are now tapping into the blogosphere as a medium for reaching their customer communities. Marketers can use insights from consumer online conversations to improve their marketing programs. As a marketing tool, blogs offer some advantages. They can offer a fresh, original, personal, and economical way to enter into consumer online conversations. However, blogs offer disadvantages too. The blogosphere is cluttered and difficult to control. Although companies can sometimes leverage blogs to engage customers in meaningful relationships, blogs remain largely a consumer-controlled medium..

[Audio] Viral marketing: Google Android's "Friends Furever" video went viral in a big way. It was shared more than 6.4 million times across Facebook, Twitter, and the blogosphere in its first nine months, making it the most shared video of all time..

[Audio] The internet and digital age have fundamentally changed customers' notions of convenience, speed, price, product information, service, and brand interactions. As a result, they have given marketers a whole new way to create customer value, engage customers, and build customer relationships. The internet now influences a large proportion of total sales—including sales transacted online plus those made in stores but encouraged by online research. To reach this burgeoning market, most companies now market online. Online marketing takes several forms, including company websites, online advertising and promotions, email marketing, online video, and blogs. Social media and mobile marketing also take place online. But because of their special characteristics, we discuss these fast-growing digital marketing approaches in separate sections. For most companies, the first step in conducting online marketing is to create a website. The key to a successful website is to create enough value and engagement to get consumers to come to the site, stick around, and come back again. Online advertising has become a major promotional medium. The main forms of online advertising are display ads and search-related ads. Email marketing is also an important form of digital marketing. Used properly, email lets marketers send highly targeted, tightly personalized, relationship-building messages. Another important form of online marketing is posting digital video content on brand websites or social media. Marketers hope that some of their videos will go viral, engaging consumers by the tens of millions. Finally, companies can use blogs as effective means of reaching customer communities. They can create their own blogs and advertise on existing blogs or influence content there..

[Audio] As we've discussed throughout the text, the surge in internet usage and digital technologies and devices has spawned a dazzling array of online social media and other digital communities. Countless independent and commercial social networks have arisen where people congregate to socialize and share messages, opinions, pictures, videos, and other content. These days, it seems, almost everyone is buddying up on Facebook, checking in with Twitter, tuning into the day's hottest videos at YouTube, pinning images on social scrapbooking site Pinterest, or sharing photos with Instagram and Snapchat. And, of course, wherever consumers congregate, marketers will surely follow..

[Audio] Social media are independent and commercial online communities where people congregate to socialize and share messages, opinions, pictures, videos, and other content. Marketers can engage in social media in two ways: They can use existing social media or they can set up their own. Using existing social media seems the easiest. Thus, most brands, large and small, have set up shop on a host of social media sites. Such social media can create substantial brand communities. Niche social media cater to the needs of smaller communities of like-minded people, making them ideal vehicles for marketers who want to target special interest groups. Beyond these independent social media, many companies have created their own online brand communities. For example, in Nike's Nike+ running community, members join together online to upload, track, and compare their performances..

[Audio] Through its extensive online and social media presence, the JetBlue social media team reads and responds to every single one, with an impressive average response time of 10 minutes. Beyond engaging customers and keeping them happy, such social media interactions provide valuable customer feedback. "We're all about people," says JetBlue's Manager of Customer Commitment, "and being on social media is just a natural extension of that.".

[Audio] Using social media presents both advantages and challenges. On the plus side, social media are targeted and personal, so they allow marketers to create and share tailored brand content with individual consumers and customer communities. Social media are interactive, making them ideal for starting and participating in customer conversations and listening to customer feedback. Social media are also immediate and timely. They can be used to reach customers anytime, anywhere with timely and relevant content regarding brand happenings and activities. Social media can be very cost effective. Although creating and administering social media content can be costly, many social media are free or inexpensive to use. The biggest advantages of social media are the engagement and social sharing capabilities. Social media are especially well suited to creating customer engagement and community. Social media marketing also presents challenges. Most companies are still experimenting with how to use them effectively, and results are hard to measure. Social networks are largely user controlled. Marketers cannot simply muscle their way into consumers' digital interactions—they need to earn the right to be there. Rather than intruding, marketers must learn to become a valued part of the online experience by developing a steady flow of engaging content..

[Audio] Most large companies are now designing full-scale social media efforts that blend with and support other elements of a brand's marketing strategy and tactics. More than making scattered efforts and chasing "Likes" and Tweets, companies that use social media successfully are integrating a broad range of diverse media to create brand-related social sharing, engagement, and customer community. Managing a brand's social media efforts can be a major undertaking. For example, Starbucks is one of the world's most successful social media marketers. Its core social media team connects with its fans through 30 accounts on five different social platforms. Frappuccino drinks alone have more than 14 million followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Managing and integrating all that social media content is challenging, but the results are worth the investment. Customers can and do engage with Starbucks by the tens of millions digitally, without ever setting foot in a store. One recent study found that Starbucks tallied 17 times the Facebook and Instagram engagement of nearest competitor Dunkin'. But more than just creating online engagement and community, Starbucks' social media presence also drives customers into its stores. For example, in its first big social media promotion several years ago, Starbucks offered a free pastry with a morning drink purchase. A million people showed up. A more recent "Tweet-a-Coffee" promotion, which let customers give a $5 gift card to a friend by putting both #tweetacoffee and the friend's handle in a tweet, resulted in US$180,000 in purchases within little more than one month. And when Starbucks introduced the Unicorn Frappuccino last spring—a limited-time drink that changed colours when swirled—it was perfectly crafted to catch the attention of Instagrammers, who posted some 180,000 Instagram photos of the drink in only a week. Although offered for one week, many Starbucks locations ran out of supplies sooner. Social media "are not just about engaging and telling a story and connecting," says Starbucks's head of global digital marketing. "They can have a material impact on the business.".

[Audio] Mobile marketing features marketing messages, promotions, and other content delivered to on-the-go consumers through their mobile devices. Marketers use mobile marketing to engage customers anywhere, anytime during the buying and relationship-building processes. The widespread adoption of mobile devices and the surge in mobile Web traffic have made mobile marketing a must for most brands. Retailers can use mobile marketing to enrich the customer's shopping experience at the same time they stimulate buying. With the recent proliferation of mobile phones, smartphones, and tablets, mobile device penetration is now greater than 100 percent in Canada and the United States (many people possess more than one mobile device). More than 88 percent of Canadians and 75 percent of Americans own a smartphone, and more than half of all U.S. households are currently mobile-only households with no landline phone. However, only about 33 percent of Canadian households have mobile-only connections while 67 percent maintain a landline. The mobile apps market, little more than a decade old, has exploded globally: There are millions of apps available, and the average smartphone owner uses nine apps a day. Most people love their phones and rely heavily on them. According to one study, nearly 90 percent of consumers who own smartphones, tablets, computers, and TVs would give up all of those other screens before giving up their phones. On average, people check their smartphones 80 times a day and spend five hours a day on their mobile devices using apps, talking, texting, and browsing the web. Thus, although TV is still a big part of people's lives, mobile is rapidly becoming their "first screen." Away from home, it's their only screen. For consumers, a smartphone or tablet can be a handy shopping companion. It can provide on-the-go product information, price comparisons, advice and reviews from other consumers, access to instant deals, and fast and convenient avenues to purchase. One recent study found that more than 90 percent of smartphone-toting shoppers have used their phone while shopping and 62 percent of shoppers have made a purchase using a mobile device. Mobile buying now accounts for nearly 40 percent of all e-commerce sales.3332 Mobile provides a rich platform for engaging consumers more deeply as they move through the buying process with tools ranging from mobile ads, coupons, and texts to apps and mobile websites. As a result, mobile advertising spending is surging. Globally, mobile ad spending is expected to exceed US$250 billion by 2021, surpassing TV ad spending. It is projected to continue to grow rapidly and account for more than 75 percent of all digital advertising spending, which has overtaken traditional ad spending as of 2019. Almost every major marketer—from Nike, P&G, and Macy's to your local supermarket to nonprofits such as the Red Cross—is now integrating mobile marketing into its direct marketing programs..

[Audio] In the digital age, countless independent and commercial social media have arisen that give consumers online places to congregate, socialize, and exchange views and information. Most marketers are now riding this huge social media wave. Brands can use existing social media or they can set up their own. Using existing social media seems the easiest. Thus, most brands—large and small—have set up shop on a host of social media sites. Some of the major social networks are huge; other niche social media cater to the needs of smaller communities of like-minded people. Beyond these independent social media, many companies have created their own online brand communities. More than making just scattered efforts and chasing Likes and tweets, most companies are integrating a broad range of diverse media to create brand-related social sharing, engagement, and customer community. Using social media presents both advantages and challenges. On the plus side, social media are targeted and personal, interactive, immediate and timely, and cost-effective. Perhaps the biggest advantage is their engagement and social sharing capabilities, making them ideal for creating customer community. On the down side, consumers' control over social media content makes social media difficult to control. Mobile marketing features marketing messages, promotions, and other content delivered to on-the-go consumers through their mobile devices. Marketers use mobile marketing to engage customers anywhere, anytime during the buying and relationship-building processes. The widespread adoption of mobile devices and the surge in mobile web traffic have made mobile marketing a must for most brands, and almost every major marketer is now integrating mobile marketing into its direct marketing programs. Many marketers have created their own mobile online sites. Others have created useful or entertaining mobile apps to engage customers with their brands and help them shop..

[Audio] Although the fast-growing digital, social, and mobile marketing tools have grabbed most of the headlines lately, traditional direct marketing tools are very much alive and still heavily used. We now examine the traditional approaches shown on the right side of Figure 14.1. The major traditional forms of direct marketing are face-to-face or personal selling, direct-mail marketing, catalogue marketing, telemarketing, direct-response television (DRTV) marketing, and kiosk marketing. We examined personal selling in depth in Chapter 13. Here, we look into the other forms of traditional direct marketing..

[Audio] Even though new digital forms of direct marketing are bursting onto the scene, traditional direct mail is still heavily used by most marketers. Direct-mail marketing involves sending an offer, announcement, reminder, or other item directly to a person at a particular address. Direct mail is well suited to direct, one-to-one communication. It permits high-target market selectivity, can be personalized, is flexible, and allows the easy measurement of results. Although direct mail costs more per thousand people reached than mass media such as television or magazines, the people it reaches are much better prospects. Using highly selective mailing lists, direct marketers send out millions of mail pieces each year—letters, catalogues, ads, brochures, samples, videos, and other "salespeople with wings." Direct mail expenditure in Canada has seen a steady decline of roughly 2.9 percent per year from 2014 to 2019 and was estimated to be $1 billion in 2019. U.S. marketers spend an estimated US$42 billion annually on direct mail (including both catalogue and noncatalogue mail), which accounts for 26 percent of all direct marketing spending. Direct-mail marketing offers some distinct advantages over digital forms. It provides something tangible for people to hold and keep, and it can be used to send samples. It creates an emotional connection with customers that digital cannot. It can be an effective component of a broader integrated marketing campaign. Direct mail may be resented as junk mail if sent to people who have no interest in it. For this reason, smart marketers are targeting their direct mail carefully so as not to waste their money and recipients' time. They are designing permission-based programs that send direct mail only to those who want to receive it..

[Audio] Advances in technology, along with the trend of personalized, one-to-one marketing, have resulted in exciting changes in catalogue marketing. Catalogue marketing is a form of direct marketing through print, video, or digital catalogues that are mailed to select customers, made available in stores, or presented online. With the stampede to the Internet and digital marketing, more and more catalogues are going digital. They eliminate printing and mailing costs. They can offer an almost unlimited amount of merchandise. They offer a broader assortment of presentation formats, including search and video. They allow real-time merchandising; products and features can be added or removed as needed, and prices can be adjusted instantly to match demand..

[Audio] Even in the digital era, printed catalogues are still thriving. Somehow, turning actual catalogue pages engages consumers in a way that digital images simply can't. And most of today's catalogues are much more than just big books full of product pictures and prices..

[Audio] Telemarketing involves using the telephone to sell directly to consumers and business customers. Marketers use outbound telephone marketing to sell directly to consumers and businesses and inbound toll-free numbers to receive orders from television and print ads, direct mail, or catalogs. In Canada, telephone marketing is controlled by the National Do Not Call List. Canadian consumers can reduce the number of telemarketing calls they receive by registering their residential, wireless, fax, or VoIP telephone number through the website at DNCL.gc.ca. The website, maintained by the CRTC, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, also provides online forms for consumers to register complaints against telemarketers. Canadian marketers must register with the National DNCL, and are required by law to periodically verify that any consumer on the DNCL list is removed from their telemarketing database. Marketers who violate the rules are investigated by the CRTC and can face fines of up to $15 000 per violation. And even when marketers abide by the DNCL rules, they must follow certain procedures when making legal telemarketing calls. For example, at the beginning of a call, telemarketers must tell you why they're calling; they must identify on whose behalf the call is being made; and they must make their calls only within certain calling hours. Do-not-call legislation has hurt parts of the consumer telemarketing industry. Outgoing consumer telemarketing has dropped off substantially in recent years. However, two major forms of telemarketing—inbound consumer telemarketing and outbound B-to-B telemarketing—remain strong and growing. Telemarketing also remains a major fundraising tool for nonprofit and political groups. Interestingly, do-not-call regulations appear to be helping some direct marketers more than hurting them. Rather than making unwanted calls, many of these marketers are developing "opt-in" calling systems, in which they provide useful information and offers to customers who have invited the company to contact them by phone or email. The opt-in model provides better returns for marketers than the formerly invasive one. Direct-response television (DRTV) marketing refers to direct marketing via television, including direct-response television advertising (or infomercials) and interactive television (or iTV) advertising. DRTV ads are often associated with somewhat loud or questionable pitches for cleaners, stain removers, kitchen gadgets, and nifty ways to stay in shape without working very hard at it. A more recent form of direct-response television marketing is interactive TV (iTV), which lets viewers interact with television programming and advertising. As the lines continue to blur between TV screens and other video screens, interactive ads and infomercials are appearing not just on TV, but also on mobile, online, and social media platforms, adding even more TV-like interactive direct marketing venues..

[Audio] As consumers become more and more comfortable with digital and touchscreen technologies, many companies are placing information and ordering machines, called kiosks, in stores, airports, hotels, college campuses, and other locations. Many modern smart kiosks are now wireless-enabled. Some machines even use facial recognition software that lets them guess gender and age and make product recommendations based on that data. ZoomSystems creates small, free-standing kiosks called ZoomShops for retailers ranging from Apple, and The Body Shop to Macy's and Best Buy. For example, 100 Best Buy Express ZoomShop kiosks across the country, conveniently located in airports, busy malls, military bases, and resorts, automatically dispense an assortment of portable media players, digital cameras, gaming consoles, headphones, phone chargers, travel gadgets, and other popular products..

[Audio] Retailers can also use kiosks inside their store to improve the customer shopping experience or assist their salespeople. An example is Home Depot's in-store Appliance Finder virtual inventory kiosk..

[Audio] Direct marketers and their customers usually enjoy mutually rewarding relationships. Occasionally, however, a darker side emerges. The aggressive and sometimes shady tactics of a few direct marketers can bother or harm consumers, giving the entire industry a black eye. Abuses range from simple excesses that irritate consumers to instances of unfair practices or even outright deception and fraud. The direct marketing industry has also faced growing privacy concerns, and online marketers must deal with internet and mobile security issues..

[Audio] Direct marketing excesses sometimes annoy or offend consumers. For example, many customers dislike direct-response TV commercials that are too loud, long, and insistent. Their mailboxes fill up with unwanted junk mail, and their computer, phone, and tablet screens flash with unwanted online or mobile display ads, pop-ups, or pop-unders. Some direct marketers have been accused of taking unfair advantage of impulsive or less-sophisticated buyers through television shopping channels, enticing Web sites, and program-long infomercials targeting television-addicted shoppers. They feature smooth-talking hosts, elaborately staged demonstrations, claims of drastic price reductions, time limitations, and unequaled ease of purchase to inflame buyers who have low sales resistance. Fraudulent schemes, such as investment scams or phony collections for charity, have also multiplied in recent years. One common form of Internet fraud is phishing, a type of identity theft that uses deceptive emails and fraudulent online sites to fool users into divulging their personal data. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) collects information and criminal intelligence on mass marketing fraud (telemarketing), advanced-fee fraud letters (Nigerian letters), Internet fraud, and identity theft complaints from Canadian and American consumers and victims. Most complaints made to the CAFC relate concern spam and telemarketing. For example, one of the largest scams reported in 2018 related to the Canadian Revenue Agency. The CAFC reported over 22,000 complaints about CRA scams alone. By the end of 2018, the centre recorded 1,492 victims, who lost $6.4 million in the CRA scam. In November of 2019, thirty people at a call centre in New Delhi were arrested in scams specifically targeting Canadians. Many consumers worry about online and digital security. They fear that unscrupulous snoopers will eavesdrop on their online transactions and social media postings, picking up personal information or intercepting credit and debit card numbers. Another Internet marketing concern is that of access by vulnerable or unauthorized groups. For example, marketers of adult-oriented materials and sites have found it difficult to restrict access by minors..

[Audio] Invasion of privacy is perhaps the toughest public policy issue now confronting the direct marketing industry. Consumers benefit from database marketing. However, too much knowledge about consumers' lives may lead to marketers taking unfair advantage of consumers. Some consumers and policy makers worry that the ready availability of information about consumers may leave them open to abuse..

[Audio] To curb direct marketing excesses, various government agencies are investigating not only do-not-call lists but also do-not-mail lists, do-not-track online lists, and Can Spam legislation. In response to online privacy and security concerns, the federal government has considered numerous legislative actions to regulate how online, social media, and mobile operators obtain and use consumer information. In Canada, the federal the government passed the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) in 2001. It came into full force in 2004. The act is based on four key principles: - Consumer knowledge and consent. Consumers must know that information about them is being gathered and they must provide consent before firms can collect, use, or disclose consumers' personal information. - Limitations. Firms can only collect and use information appropriate to the transaction being undertaken. For example, if a firm needs to mail you something, it can ask for your home address, but it may not request additional information unrelated to this task. - Accuracy. Firms must be sure that the information they gather is recorded accurately. Firms must appoint a privacy officer to be responsible for this task. - Right to access. Finally, individuals have the right to know what information is being held about them. They can also demand that errors in their personal information be corrected, and they may request that their personal information be withdrawn from a firm's database. In 2009, the Government of Canada announced that it was delivering on its commitment to protect consumers and businesses from the most dangerous and damaging forms of spam. It proposed the Electronic Commerce Protection Act (ECPA), legislation designed to boost confidence in online commerce by protecting privacy and addressing the personal security concerns that are associated with spam, counterfeit websites, and spyware. The proposed legislation also amended PIPEDA, which covers online privacy in detail and contains many provisions relevant to email marketing. Much-needed amendments to PIPEDA finally passed in 2015 with the Digital Privacy Act, which includes business transaction exemptions, mandatory breach notification requirements, enhanced powers for Canada's privacy commissioner, and various other updates..

[Audio] Marketers are required to call for strong actions to monitor and prevent privacy abuses before legislators step in to do it for them. Self-regulatory principles call for online marketers to provide transparency and choice to consumers if Web viewing data is collected or used for targeting interest-based advertising. The ad industry has agreed on an advertising option icon, a little "i" inside a triangle, that is added to most behaviourally targeted online ads to tell consumers why they are seeing a particular ad and allowing them to opt out. Of special concern are the privacy rights of children. Many companies have responded independently to consumer privacy and security concerns. Still others take an industry-wide approach. For example, TRUSTe, a nonprofit self-regulatory organization, works with many large corporate sponsors, including Microsoft, AT&T, Facebook, Disney, and Apple, to audit privacy and security measures and help consumers navigate the Internet safely..

[Audio] Although the fast-growing digital marketing tools have grabbed most of the headlines lately, traditional direct marketing tools are very much alive and still heavily used. The major forms are face-to-face or personal selling, direct-mail marketing, catalogue marketing, telemarketing, direct-response television (DRTV) marketing, and kiosk marketing. Direct-mail marketing consists of the company sending an offer, announcement, reminder, or other item to a person at a specific address. Some marketers rely on catalogue marketing—selling through catalogues mailed to a select list of customers, made available in stores, or accessed online. Telemarketing consists of using the telephone to sell directly to consumers. DRTV marketing involves television advertising that persuasively describes a product and gives customers a toll-free number or an online site for ordering. Kiosks are information and ordering machines that direct marketers place in stores, airports, hotels, and other locations. Direct marketers and their customers usually enjoy mutually rewarding relationships. Sometimes, however, direct marketing presents a darker side. The aggressive and sometimes shady tactics of a few direct marketers can bother or harm consumers, giving the entire industry a black eye. Abuses range from simple excesses that irritate consumers to instances of unfair practices or even outright deception and fraud. The direct marketing industry has also faced growing concerns about invasion-of-privacy and internet security issues. Such concerns call for strong action by marketers and public policy makers to curb direct marketing abuses. In the end, most direct marketers want the same things that consumers want: honest and well-designed marketing offers targeted only toward consumers who will appreciate and respond to them..