Absolute Essentials of Direct and Digital Marketing

At the end of this course you will be able to:

• Identify why direct and digital marketing are fundamental to marketing planning
• Develop a fully integrated marketing plan to win and retain customers
• Get great creative
• Test on and offline
• Track, measure and evaluate your campaigns

Who should attend:

The course is designed for marketers new to direct and digital marketing. If your role involves the acquisition or retention of customers, and you work with both on and offline media, then this course is right for you.

Previous delegates include:

• Marketing Manager (Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery Europe)
• Sales Executive (Lloyd James Group)
• Marketing Executive (Holidaybreak)
• Account Manager (Caspa Marketing)

How digital marketing is changing marketing for good

• How direct and digital channels both play a vital role in marketing
• Understanding the ‘customer experience’ and ‘customer journey’
• Managing customer relationships across multiple on and offline channels
• Four key principles targeting, control, interaction and continuity
• Three different business models for success

Planning direct and digital integrated acquisition campaigns

• Setting realistic acquisition objectives
• The importance of profiling and segmentation of your customer database
• Understanding the buying process and customer behaviour
• Understanding the six steps for acquisition objectives, profiling/targeting, media selection, communication and evaluation
• Developing an integrated media and contact plan
• Evaluating which media works best for which task(s)
• The strengths/weaknesses of traditional media TV, radio, posters, press
• The different digital media channels and their effectiveness
• How to evaluate multiple integrated campaigns; the key metrics

Retaining and developing customers on and offline

• Understanding the commercial imperative of retaining customers
• Ten ways to analyse your customers
• Understanding the customer journey and customer touchpoints
• Five step approach to acquisition classification and analysing, programme streaming, communication, evaluation and testing
• The importance of up sell, cross sell, win back and renewal
• The language of loyalty eleven reasons to contact customers
• Measuring and evaluating your success

Digital marketing planning and the communications tools

• Consumer behaviour in the online age
• Understanding the impact of digital marketing on your business
• Building customer relationships online and permission marketing
• Planning a digital marketing plan
• Key digital marketing communications tools online advertising, search engine marketing, email and viral marketing, affiliate marketing, blogs and podcasting
• Testing, tracking and measurement web analytics

Great, engaging on and offline creative

• What opportunities does digital media present?
• Developing strong propositions through customer insights
• Fifteen offers that increase response
• The value of preparing a comprehensive brief
• Why tone, feel and style are vital to building the brand
• When and how personalisation can be effective
• The importance of testing product, media, timing and creative
• How to judge and evaluate outstanding creative work
• Award winning examples of mail, press, TV, inserts, email, banners, online advertising, viral, SMS and interactive TV

Our speakers are seasoned direct and digital marketing practitioners who between them have worked with some of the world’s biggest brands….

Mike Berry Dip DM, F IDM is an independent consultant and trainer, who draws on his extensive experience of online and offline marketing to work with a range of clients in B2B, B2C, Public and Charity sectors. He is also Partner at Aprais, a global agency/client relationship management consultancy and Adjunct Professor of Marketing at Hult International Business School. Mike is the author of 'The New Integrated Direct Marketing’, published by Gower, and writes a popular blog on marketing and technology. He is both passionate and knowledgeable about digital marketing and his classical marketing training and integrated background makes him ideally qualified to train marketers in digital skills.

Mike is also course tutor for the IDM's Complete Digital Marketing training course and the IDM Diploma in Digital Marketing.

Steve Walpole M IDM, Former Executive Creative Director, Clark McKay and Walpole has worked in response marketing for 26 years, the last 19 as a Creative Director. Prior to joining CMW in 1996 he was a founding director/partner of both GGT Direct Advertising and Lowe Direct.

At GGT he was responsible for the RAC’s first web site and on-line advertising. The use of technology to help consumers interact with a brand has always been one of Steve’s passions. To this end he has also been one of the driving forces behind two UK launches that revolutionised the financial services industry – First Direct and Marbles.

Steve believes in total integration, where customers can interact with a brand at any point and that their expectations are always exceeded. Each media used should maximise its potential whether it’s purely brand building or customer account management.

He also believes that, however good a marketing or communications strategy is, creativity is still the most important part of a successful campaign. And to make sure that creative work is the best it can possibly be, we should continually look outside advertising for stimulation. Creativity breeds creativity. Steve’s clients include Porsche, Peugeot, Renault Retail, The Partnership Card from the John Lewis Partnership, Greenbee, Beneficial Finance, marbles, Flybe, Cadbury, Transport for London, Littlewoods and Axa.

Besides receiving numerous awards both here and abroad, Steve has won the overall DMA Gold twice.

"An eye opening into digital marketing. I now feel confident to attack my customer database and how to get results."

Kathie Crane, Finance Director, Prosperon Networks

"If you would like an overview of digital marketing and direct marketing, then this is the course for you. It confirmed my existing knowledge but enhanced and gave food for thought! I now feel confident to go back and question my marketing."

Natasha Parmar, Marketing Manager, Royal Inst of RICS

"The case covered everything I needed as an introduction to all aspects of Direct and Digital marketing and certainly whetted my appetite for further in-depth courses."

Natalie Dorrington, Sales and Marketing Executive, The Cruise Portfolio

"An excellent introduction to the basics of direct and digital marketing - comprehensive and engaging."

Sophie Coleman, Assistant Product Manager, MBI

"IDM seem to know just how to make a training session enjoyable, fun and extremely beneficial."

Pip Tuttle, Guide Dogs for the Blind Association