Telemarketing

TELEMARKETING AS A PROMOTIONAL T O O L ITS EFFECTS AND SIDE EFFECTS
Kenneth C. Schneider

Abstract—Telemarketing has added a new medium to the marketer's bag of tricks. This article briefly discusses the benefits and limitations of telemarketing as part of an overall marketing campaign. It then proceeds to discuss (via some new findings) the potential side effects that telemarketing may have on the image of the firm using it.

Introduction
Telemarketing—conducting direct marketing campaigns with the use of telephone systems— has become very popular among marketers over the past ten years. The Direct Mail Marketing Association ranks telemarketing as the "fastest growing marketing medium today." 1 Telemarketing has assumed a position of new respectability in the marketer's mix for communicating with customers. Should such growth continue unabated much longer, and there is no evidence of a letup, telemarketing could become the marketer's "li'l darlin' " by the end of the 1980's.

That trend, coupled with similar growth in other forms of direct marketing, has spawned a new breed of consulting specialists to train marketers in the use of telemarketing and, where appropriate, provide one-on-one consulting in the design of specific campaigns.32 In addition, many leading advertising agencies have tooled up to assist advertisers in their attempts to explore telemarketing. According to Bernard Cohen, media specialist with New York Telephone, thirteen of the top twenty advertising agencies have established special direct marketing units. But despite that response, says Cohen, "a lot of people including advertising agencies are not up on [telemarketing]. And if they're not familiar with it, then how familiar would their clients be?"14 Marketing specialists, corporate or agency, can no longer afford to ignore this innovative communication medium. Nonetheless, the popularity of telemarketing is unprecedented, having reached the $10 billion mark by the early 1980's.14,15...