Jargon buster

Marketing objectives

Before spending time and money on any marketing campaign, it is important to be clear about exactly what you want to achieve. For example, is it to increase sales by 10 per cent with a targeted direct mail campaign or is it to raise brand awareness, perhaps by a strategic advertising campaign in the national press? Once you've defined your marketing objectives you can decide on the best form of marketing to achieve them, and then measure the effectiveness of your campaign.

Direct marketing

Direct marketing involves building and exploiting a database of contacts and developing relationships with them. The approach can include any promotional activity which creates a relationship between you and your prospect or customer. It can involve mailshots, telesales, loyalty schemes for customers or even stopping people in the street to complete questionnaires. The most effective direct marketing happens when you help to solve a problem for an existing customer. Think Amazon and its recommendations that appear on the website: "Customers who bought that book also bought this book..."