English is direct marketing. It is the product of personalized demand and the best channel to spread personalized products and services. Marketing experts of American Direct Selling Association (ADMA) define it as "an interactive marketing system that uses one or more advertising media to generate measurable response or make a deal anywhere".

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The origin of direct selling

Direct selling originated from mail order activities. 1498, Aldaz, founder of Ahldin Publishing House? Manuti Manutius published the first catalogue with price list in Venice. This is generally regarded as the earliest recorded mail order activity. 1667, William? William Lucas published Britain's first horticulture catalogue. Later, mail order activities developed in the United States, Italy, Britain and other places. 1926, Sherman and Sacheim founded the first modern book club in America-the book club of the month. They began to use the way of free trial, that is, to send books to consumers first until consumers stop ordering or paying. This is completely different from the traditional way of collecting money first and then delivering books. This is also the first time that marketers try to measure lifetime customer value. Lester wunderman, the founder of WCJ, the world's second largest direct reply company, said that 90% of the profits of manufacturers come from repeat customers, and only 10% comes from sporadic individual customers. Losing 5% less old customers can increase profits by 25%. Therefore, strategically speaking, enterprises must be clear about whether they should focus on competing for market share, retain customers or cultivate loyalty. According to experts' analysis, in the face of fierce market competition, the cost of maintaining an old customer is 0.5 times that of seeking a new customer, while the cost of making a lost old customer a new customer is 10 times that of seeking a new customer. How to retain customers who have received traditional advertisements and turn them into loyal customers is an important purpose of our direct sales.

Mr Wunderman first put forward the concept of direct selling in 1967. He believes that the transaction started by human society is direct, and the classic one-to-one sales (service) method is the most suitable and can best meet people's needs, while the mass production and mass marketing brought about by the industrial revolution are inhuman and immoral.

Especially at this stage, the product market is chaotic, and a large number of traditional advertisements flood the media, which is called "eyeball economy". It can be said that it caused public outrage. In today's social conditions, people are more pursuing personalized products and services, and no one is willing to accept the same products and services as others. This is the fatal weakness of mass marketing and the fundamental reason for the decline and end of the mass marketing era.

Just when consumers generally distrust certain products; Tired of a lot of advertisements is not out of date; Especially when health care products enterprises are at a loss and marketers are thinking hard and looking for new marketing methods, direct selling came into being, which swept all western countries with strong vitality and adaptability and set off a marketing revolution of 2 1 century. Most health care products and pharmaceutical enterprises in China have adopted direct selling, but the system has not been used yet. We take direct selling as the main means to enter the market, which can greatly reduce the risk.

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The manifestation of direct selling

As an interactive two-way communication channel and medium, the network can easily build a bridge between enterprises and customers. Customers can order and pay directly through the network, and enterprises can directly receive orders, arrange production and send products to customers through the network. Internet-based direct selling will be more in line with the concept of direct selling. This is manifested in the following four aspects:

First of all, direct marketing, as an interactive system, especially emphasizes the "two-way information exchange" between direct marketing and target customers to overcome the fatal weakness of "one-way information exchange" in traditional marketing. As an open and free two-way information exchange network, enterprises and customers can realize direct one-to-one information exchange and direct communication, and enterprises can make production and marketing decisions according to the needs of target customers, so as to meet the needs of customers to the greatest extent and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing decisions.

Secondly, the key of direct selling activities is to provide a channel for each target customer to directly respond to marketers. Enterprises can rely on customers' responses to find out the shortcomings and prepare for the next direct selling activities. The convenience and rapidity of the Internet enable customers to directly put forward suggestions and purchase demands to enterprises through the Internet, and also directly obtain after-sales service through the Internet. Enterprises can also find the shortcomings of enterprises from customers' suggestions, needs and required services, and carry out operation management according to customers' needs to reduce marketing expenses.

Thirdly, in direct selling activities, it is emphasized that enterprises and customers can realize "two-way information exchange" at any time and any place. The global and persistent characteristics of the Internet enable customers to directly ask questions and respond at any time and any place. Enterprises can also use the Internet to realize two-way communication with customers at low cost, because the Internet can automatically provide online information exchange tools at any time, and customers can access the Internet at will according to their own schedules.

Fourth, the most important feature of direct selling activities is that the effect of direct selling activities can be measured. As the most direct and simple communication tool, Internet can conveniently provide communication support and trading platform for enterprises to trade with customers. Through database technology and network control technology, enterprises can easily handle every customer's order and demand, regardless of the size and purchase volume of customers, because the communication cost and information processing cost of the Internet are very low. Therefore, through the Internet, customers' needs can be met to the maximum at the lowest cost, and at the same time, customers' needs can be understood, the target market can be subdivided, and the marketing efficiency and effectiveness can be improved.

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Main characteristics of direct selling

The main features that distinguish direct marketing from other marketing methods are:

1. Target customer selection is more accurate.

Direct sellers can select people who may become their own customers from the customer list and relevant information in the database as target customers, and then directly communicate with individual target customers or specific enterprise users. Therefore, the target customers are accurate and the communication is targeted.

2. Emphasize the relationship with customers

In direct selling activities, direct sellers can carry out targeted marketing activities according to the different needs and consumption habits of each customer. This will form one-to-one two-way communication with customers, and will form and maintain a good relationship with customers. Various studies show that consumers' purchase behavior mostly belongs to planned purchase. Direct sellers know that customers will not passively stay at home and wait for the arrival of advertisements. Therefore, they always concentrate on stimulating consumers to make unplanned or impulsive purchases, and provide all possible conveniences for consumers to respond immediately.

3. Encourage customers to respond immediately.

By focusing on encouraging advertising recipients to take some concrete actions immediately, it provides customers with convenience and ways to reflect immediately, so as to realize humanized direct communication immediately.

4. The concealment of marketing strategy

Direct selling strategy is not carried out with great fanfare, so it is not easy to be noticed by competitors. Even if competitors notice their own marketing strategy, it is too late, because direct selling advertising and sales are carried out at the same time.

5. Pay attention to customers' lifelong value and long-term communication.

Direct selling regards customers (including end customers, distributors and partners) as the most important enterprise resources, and meets customers' needs through perfect customer service and in-depth customer analysis, paying attention to and helping customers realize lifelong value.

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Types of direct marketing:

As a part of marketing activities, direct selling is more and more closely connected with modern consumers. On the one hand, the accelerated pace of life in modern society has reduced consumers' shopping time. On the other hand, the development of information and communication technology and the continuous improvement of credit system provide an opportunity for the development of direct selling.

Now, with the rapid development of credit means and information technology, the form of direct selling has developed unprecedentedly, and its form is no longer limited to mail order activities. With the emergence of telephone, television, internet and other media, the forms of direct selling are becoming more and more abundant. Common forms of direct selling mainly include:

1. Direct mail marketing:

A marketing activity in which marketers send letters, samples or advertisements directly to target customers. The target customer list can be leased, purchased or exchanged with other non-competitive enterprises. When using these lists, we should pay attention to the repetition of the lists to avoid sending the same stamp products to the same customer more than twice, which will cause resentment.

2. Directory marketing:

Marketers mail the catalogue to the target customers, or keep the catalogue for customers to ask for at any time. Comprehensive mail-order stores that operate complete production lines often use this method, such as Montgomery? Montgomery ward, sears? Roe deer, etc.

3. Telemarketing:

Marketers conduct marketing activities to target customers by telephone. The popularity of telephone, especially the opening of 800 toll-free telephone, makes consumers more willing to accept this form. Nowadays, many consumers ask for information about products or services by telephone and make purchases.

4. Direct response to TV marketing:

Marketers carry out marketing activities by introducing products on TV or sponsoring a special program to promote goods. Television is the most popular medium in China, and there are many TV channels. Many enterprises have started marketing activities on TV.

5. Direct reaction print media:

Direct-reply print media usually refers to direct-reply advertisements in magazines, newspapers and other print media to encourage target members to order by phone or reply, so as to achieve the purpose of increasing sales and providing customers with knowledge and other services.

6. Direct response broadcast

Broadcasting can be used as the dominant media for direct response, and it can also be used as the cooperation of other media to let customers give feedback on broadcasting. With the development of broadcasting, the number of radio stations is increasing, and their professionalism is becoming more and more comprehensive. Some radio stations even aim at a special or highly subdivided small group, which provides opportunities for direct selling operators to seek accurate target positioning.

7. Network marketing:

Marketers carry out marketing activities through electronic communication means such as Internet and fax. At present, books, computer software and hardware, tourism services, etc. have been widely marketed online. In addition, marketers also use newspapers, magazines, radio and other media for marketing activities. The above direct selling methods can be used alone or in combination.

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Characteristics of direct selling

Although direct selling has existed as a marketing concept for a long time, it was still considered as a distribution method until the 1980s. The accepted definition is Stan? Stan Rapp and Tom? Tom Collins' definition: "Direct selling is a form of distribution that directly completes the transactions between buyers and sellers without going through stores." Although the above definition summarizes the basic essence of direct selling, it is difficult to comprehensively summarize the purpose of direct selling as its functions become more and more extensive.

Direct selling and its database focus on the behavior of every consumer and potential consumer. They predict the future behavior according to the past purchase behavior of consumers. This information is handled by individuals, even if there are tens of thousands of consumers, it can still be used to analyze personal behavior and make decisions. This does not mean that marketing research is out of date, but if we only rely on the information obtained from marketing research, we will make a hypothesis that is generally applicable to consumer behavior, which may be wrong when applied to personal situations. In short, direct selling emphasizes analysis and decision-making based on personal information, and ultimately maximizes the lifetime value of customers.

The characteristics of direct selling can be summarized as interconnection, pertinence, control and sustainability.

1. Interaction refers to the interaction between the marketer and the consumer, which contains two meanings: (1) How the marketer provides the stimulus aimed at arousing the consumer's response in the target market. (2) How do consumers react to this? In the interaction with consumers, marketers can get information that can be effectively directed and controlled, and how to keep in touch with consumers. Therefore, among the four characteristics of direct selling, interconnectedness is at the center.

2. Target positioning refers to the process that marketers choose the information of products or services to obtain income. The target consumers can be consumers who have already purchased products or services, potential consumers who may become customers, or potential consumers. Marketers can regularly check the results of the last marketing campaign in order to obtain more accurate targeted information.

3. Control refers to the management of marketing activities, including setting goals and plans, making budgets and evaluating results. It is a cyclical process, and marketers will generally make future plans according to the results of past control processes.

4. Sustainability refers to retaining the existing customer base and selling other products and more advanced products to them. In an enterprise, a lot of profits come from the existing customer base, so sustainability is very important. The important data obtained from the interaction with customers can enable marketers to better communicate with customers, gain customers' interests and preferences in time, and understand customers' views on previous marketing activities. Although many enterprises don't realize the importance of sustainability now, research shows that the cost of reselling products to consumers who have already bought them only accounts for a small part of attracting new customers. For example, in the new car market, the ratio of the above two costs is 1/5.

The above four characteristics of direct selling are interrelated, and its overall goal is to retain old customers, attract new customers and maximize customers' lifelong value by establishing a database. Customer lifetime value refers to the total net income that customers bring to the enterprise for life, that is, the total expected future income that customers will bring during their loyalty to the enterprise.

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The shortcomings of traditional marketing and the advantages of direct marketing;

Traditional marketing involves promotion expenses, advertising media expenses, storage expenses and channel expenses. And the management and sales costs are high, while the direct selling costs are lower and the efficiency is improved to a certain extent.

1, direct selling reduces the overall customer acquisition cost. Direct selling saves the link of middlemen's price increase, thus reducing the price of goods; At the same time, customers can not go out shopping, so their time, physical strength and mental cost are almost reduced to zero.

2. Direct selling conforms to the trend that customers pay attention to time efficiency. Compared with shopping, modern people are more willing to devote precious time to work, study, communication, sports, leisure and other more meaningful things, and the advantages of direct telephone (or network) ordering and home delivery provide great convenience for customers to shop.

3. The popularization of network communication technology promotes the development of direct selling. Media is the key to the success of direct selling. Today, developed communication facilities, especially the application of internet technology (according to statistics, there are 50 million mobile phones and 654.38+0 billion fixed phones in China; The number of computers exceeds 6.5438+0.2 million, and the number of people surfing the Internet exceeds 4 million), making e-shopping a trend.

4. Direct selling conforms to the trend of customers' personalized demand. Through direct marketing, manufacturers can customize products according to the special needs of each customer, thus providing customers with completely satisfactory products. The new century calls for direct selling, but the change of marketing strategy has its economic reasons. Traditional image advertising is too aimless for many companies.

For example, most of Coca-Cola's income comes from 8% Americans, but Coca-Cola is doing hundreds of millions of TV advertisements for 100% people. This is a very unreasonable ratio, and Coca-Cola tries to find a suitable ratio. Coca-Cola understands that it is necessary to establish a closer relationship with every customer, because no one has ever seen a customer group buy Coke, and it is always a single customer.

Traditional advertising faces a structural crisis. In order not to be forgotten, enterprises must advertise more. But just being famous and making a good impression is not enough. Statistics show that a consumer has to face 1600 advertising messages every day. If nothing happens, he will forget a large part in the future, and the other part will be wrong.

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Present situation and development prospect of direct selling in China

As a form of retail without stores, direct selling has developed rapidly in some developed countries such as the United States and Europe. Take the United States as an example 199 1 year, the direct sales in the United States is140 billion dollars, accounting for 80% of the total retail sales without stores. In recent years, the average annual growth rate of direct sales in the United States is 10% ~ 15%, which is twice that of the traditional retail industry.

In China, after nearly 20 years of slow development, direct selling has begun to take shape, but its popularity has been very low. At present, its main forms are direct mail marketing, magazine marketing, newspaper marketing, TV marketing and network marketing. Nowadays, many enterprises have changed their direct selling methods. For example, the development of direct marketing of Tiannian Company's customers and the community activities of health care products and medical devices in China will all go through the stages from big cities to small and medium-sized cities and rural areas. Although the development of direct marketing in China is difficult, it will be favored by enterprises and consumers in the near future as an attractive retail method without stores. The following trends show that the development of direct selling in China has already met certain conditions:

(l) With the continuous improvement of consumers' income level, the acceleration of life rhythm, the aggravation of work pressure and the upward shift of demand level, consumers cherish their leisure time more, and their consumption concepts and lifestyles are quietly changing. Especially in the past two years, the rise of fashion and book mail order, which are deeply loved by young people, reflects this change.

(2) The joining of well-known direct selling enterprises at home and abroad, such as Dell Computer Company and China Bookstore, will enhance the reputation of direct selling and help consumers change their preconceptions about direct selling.

(3) The nationwide financial settlement system and credit system have been initially formed, providing an exploratory answer to the long-standing shopping payment problem.

(4) The popularity of telephone, especially the opening of 800 toll-free telephone and the richness of TV media, has provided great convenience for Chinese consumers to respond to direct selling.

(5) The high advertising expenses and huge inventory funds provide opportunities for enterprises to explore ways to save money in retail.

Direct selling in China is in the leading-in period of its life cycle, and it will take some time for it to flourish. As long as enterprises strive to cultivate this market, it will lead to a retail revolution, and the direct beneficiaries of this revolution are enterprises and many consumers.

There are so many customers in China market that traditional methods can't meet the requirements of accurate customer analysis and timely feedback for direct selling. Therefore, it is imperative to establish a direct selling system!

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Example: How did the direct selling of ancient companies operate?

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(A) How to carry out direct marketing

1, operating steps of direct selling mode

The first step is to establish the system: after the CRM system is completed, build an advanced platform. As the database is empty, how to enrich the database is a key issue.

Step 2: Get the data

We can take several ways:

First, positive and negative advertising

B, buy other people's ready-made data that meet our target population.

C, cooperate with relevant units of the company to obtain

Step 3: Establish a one-on-one communication relationship.

With the data, we can send DM to customers, communicate with customers directly through the call center, and form a purchase intention.

Step 4: Form a realistic purchase.

Through good communication with consumers, consumers can go to our exhibition center, designated pharmacy shopping malls to buy, or deliver goods to their doors through express delivery companies.

Step 5: Follow up the service with the customers who have purchased the products through the call center, so as to understand the pickup situation and form a re-purchase.

2. What does the change of traditional advertising bring?

Accurately lock the target:

DM: Our direct marketing is through the accurate analysis of the target customers, directly put into the hands of customers.

Call Center: Communicate directly with customers through the call center.

Professional media: Advertising in professional media.

Mainstream media: publishing images and encouraging advertisements in traditional media.

These changes greatly save the cost of advertising (about two thirds), and bring benefits and long-term benefits through long-term communication with consumers.

Simplification of layout

Because we changed the theme of product advertising, we can greatly reduce the plane (by half) and shorten the time for placing in mainstream TV media to 5 seconds. The advertisements of traditional health care products are all 15 seconds or more, about 3 minutes. In this way, our TV advertising saves 60% of the cost compared with the traditional health care product advertising festival.

3. What does the change of sales channel bring?

Limited traditional distribution channels: By strengthening communication with consumers (one-on-one), the channel trap existing in health care products and China business circle can be avoided: manufacturers occupy a large amount of commodity funds.

The establishment of the exhibition center saves many dealers' profits and can realize their own losses.

It is convenient for customers to adopt express delivery channel, and we also save channel expenses.

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(B) the relationship between the existing network and group marketing

1, the relationship between the direct selling system and other industries in the group

Because the CRM system we have established has good expansibility, we can realize marketing support for all products of the group through this system.

Can realize the modernization of group customer management.

It can realize the modernization of group market management.

It can realize the modernization of group sales management.

It can realize the modernization of group product management.

It can realize the modernization of group marketing channel management.

It can realize the modernization of group supplier management.

It can realize the modernization of group inventory management.

It can realize the modernization of group order management.

Can realize the modernization of group decision-making management.

2. Direct selling system, international contact and industry transformation.

By establishing a direct selling network, we can easily connect with the world-class companies. If after two or three years of operation, we have established high-end crowd data in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and we will become the most powerful direct selling company in China. We have the conditions to negotiate with first-class foreign companies.