Direct and Database Marketing 321
Assignment #3
By: Elizabeth Kulin
June 2009
A new company must acquire customers in order to sell its products and/or

services. To acquire customers a company can choose various tactics to reach and
communicate with their target market. Based on the company’s business model and target
audience, they may choose to carry out direct marketing tactics, such as personal selling,
mail, or email. Over the past two decades indirect marketing tactics, such as online
contextual advertising and social media have been developed that also allow companies
to connect and communicate with their target audience. Once the specific marketing
tactics are chosen the exact media channel must be decided upon. For example, if a
company chooses to use marketing tactics to acquire customers, there are a number of
media channels to decide from, such as social networking sites, blogs, and social
bookmarking. It will be important for a company to align itself with, and place itself
within, the medium that is the most widely used by its target market. This can allow
marketers to match their messaging with different segments of their target audience
during their attempt to connect with and contact customers. In order to enable
communication with the target audience, a company must place themselves (their
marketing messages) where their consumers are located.
Once the company chooses the marketing tactic and medium, the communication
strategy is developed. The communication element and action, between the company and
the potential customer, occurs through the tactic’s media channel. In the example of
Social Media, the communication would occur within the specific online media channel.
Just as in other media channels the messaging is developed by the marker and used to
interact with, relate to, and evoke interest from the potential customers. The start-up
technology company, Wild Pockets, will need to perform this decision making process.
The company will need to research and strategize marketing tactics that best fit their
business model and efficiently reach their target audience. From here, the company will
need to decide exact marketing medias to use, design messaging, copy and additional
elements to most effectively communicate with their target audience, in order to acquire
new customers.
The target audience of Wild Pockets is the computer game developer (or content
developer). Specifically, they are people who develop online games for internet users to
play. In order to grow brand awareness among this target audience, Wild Pockets will
need to research the locations where such individuals reside and utilize, while also being

locations that will allow Wild Pockets to connect and communicate to them within. For
example, Wild Pockets could not meet this target audience at their personal place of
residence, but could meet them in a public (physical or virtual) location where game
developers congregate. The marketing tactic of Social Media, and specifically the
medium of social networking is one location where Wild Pockets could connect and
interact with game developers.
Social Networking is the fastest growing tool in online marketing. It
offers shared spaces for multiple visitors of a similar website to interact through real-time
SMS (Short Messaging Service) and email messages. It also allows visitors to view other
visitors profile and learn details about their characteristics, demographics, lifestyles and
hobbies. These websites are highly visited and trafficked by users all around the world.
For example, the social networking site Facebook grew from 70 million users in January
of 2008 to 150 million users in January 2009 (Insidefacebook.com). Due to its
popularity, wealth of member profile information, and ability to be penetrated by
marketers, social networking could be a successful source of locating and communicating
with concept developers for Wild Pockets. Actually, the social networking site
Facebook, is a popular online location where game developers congregate.
Within Facebook there are 411 “computer game” membership groups and 135
“game developers” membership groups. These are groups that members of Facebook,
from all over the world, can join in similar interests to post discussions, share
experiences, and email each other. Facebook is also a website that allows businesses to
advertise on a targeted basis with its members. Therefore, Wild Pockets place could
target advertisements on facebook that would be directed towards computer game and
game developer individuals. One such group has over 7,000 members (the International
Game Developer Association group on facebook), which means that a placed
advertisement by Wild Pockets on this group page would be reaching 7,000 potential
customers on a daily basis. Additionally, facebook offers businesses the flexibility to
implement customer copy and imagery within the ads. Thus, Wild Pockets could design
its copy and imagery in a way that communicates directly to their target audience.
The advertisements could be a first step to evoke interest in the Facebook group
member. This interest in the ad could then lead the member to click on the ad and

transfer them to another online location, chosen by Wild Pockets (for example, the Wild
Pockets website or a page on facebook). It is in this area that the customer would be able
to interact with Wild Pockets, learn about their business model, programming
requirements and become an acquired customer. Additionally, since the Wild Pockets
business model may be a new concept for game developers, and individuals learn in
various ways, this area could be interactive and include video tutorials. Therefore, social
networking could enable Wild Pockets to connect and communicate with their target
audience in an effective and efficient way.
Another online tactic that Wild Pockets could utilize is online advertising through
the medium of banner ads. It is reported that 4-5% of online users click on banners ads,
and that a standard website is 9% advertisement space (Bob Stone, page. 366). Banner
ads can be effective and efficient. They can easily measure click through rates and be
targeted through specific placement on sites that match a company’s specific target
market. In the case of Wild Pockets, banner ads should be placed on websites that relate
to the needs and interest of game developers.
In the book, Careers in Information Technology by Wetfeet, it is stated that,
“Technology changes rapidly” (Wetfeet, p.64). Along with general technology, “video
game technology is rapidly evolving” (Stephen bosch, p. 10). Since changes occur in the
industry of game development there are multiple websites that offer individuals in the
field up-to-date information, guidance, and community interaction areas. For example,
www.gdconf.com posts relevant and related information about industry conferences, held
across the country, that offer game developers insight to the latest hardware and software
products on the market. These conferences saw attendants of over 17,000 in 2009 and
the site received about 8,000 hits a day (Kotaku.com & statbrain. com). Another popular
website in the game developer industry is www.gamasutra.com, which is the industry
newsletter/online publication of the magazine “game developer”. This site receives over
500,000 visitors and over 2.5 million page views per month (tsgamegroup.com). A third
site is www.gamedev.net, which is a website for game developers to view product
reviews, job openings, and interact in a forum of over 150,000 posts. The site is strongly
optimized for search engines (#1 on Google) and received over 20,000 visits per day
(statbrain.com). Therefore, if Wild Pockets placed banner adds on these sites, it would be

growing its brand awareness in locations that relates to its target audience and also, it
would be potentially connecting with 4-5% of these sites visitors. Also, since banner ads
are custom designed, Wild Pockets could use these spaces to strategically communicate
with the visitor.
Through the banner ad, Wild Pockets could write inviting copy that attracts the
target markets attention. It could also imbed the banner with a link. This link should
bring the clicker to a landing page specifically designed for game developers. This
landing page should include educational information about the Wild Pockets revenue
model, programming requirements, and possibly additional links to sources of more
information on these topics. For example, links on the landing page could bring visitors
to tutorial videos.
Finally, another way that Wild Pockets could reach their target audience of game
developers is through direct email marketing. Since game developers need a computer to
program games, it is likely that the target audience owns a computer and has access to the
internet, and thus, a personal email account. E-mail is one of the most effective tools in
the internet marketing arsenal (Stone & Jacobs, p.375). It offers high rates of ROI, in
relationship to other direct marketing programs, and can receive a response rate of
10-20% click through rates (Stone & Jacob, p.375). In efforts to use e-mail to acquire
new customers Wild Pockets would rent a list from a list owner or broker that could
better ensure email addresses of individuals whom may be game developers. List broker
InfoUSA sells lead generation email addresses. It offers its customers the ability to select
specific types of leads at variable such as, professional title or consumer habits. InfoUSA
even has a category of consumer email addresses that are specified as “high-tech
enthusiastic” individuals.
Once a list is obtained, the content and design should be strategically developed
following email marketing best practices. According to David Daniels, Jupiter Research
VP, the average reader takes 2 - 5 seconds to decide whether to read or delete an email
(www.demc.com). Everything from the email’s subject line to the links landing pages
should be strategically developed and designed to retain interest and lead the recipient to
the marketers desired action. Within these specifications, Wild Pocket can and should
integrate the information it wishes potential game developers to know and understand

about their business model and programming needs. For example, it could spark interest
among the high-tech enthusiasts by portraying the benefits of being a Wild Pockets
content developer (payment and recognition). It could also imbed a button/link titled
“click here to start now” and bring the visitor to a landing page that offers information
about the Wild Pockets business model and programming requirement of its developers.
Finally, this landing page could include links to various other locations within the Wild
Pockets website, such as the “create new account” or “support” page.
Using the marketing tactics and mediums of social networking, banner ads and
email marketing Wild Pockets will be able to strategically develop specific marketing
campaigns, and targeting tactics, specific to its target audience. These mediums would
also allow Wild Pockets flexibility in the style of communication it chooses to use once
the target audience is reached and interaction is engaged. Additionally, these mediums
also allow testing, measuring, and tracking by the marketer because they are web-based.
For example, online analytic tool Google Analytics could report how often the Wild
Pockets email links were clicked on and the exact click through path each recipient took.
With this statistical information, Wild Pockets could develop a modeling system for
future marketing campaigns. Through analytical tracking, these initial attempts to
acquire consumers will provide Wild Pockets the ability to alter its future contacts and
communication approaches more effectively and efficiently in order to achieve higher
customer growth.
Reference:
1. Insidefacebook.com, Facebook Growth Continuing, Surpasses 150 Million Monthly Active Users,
January 7th, 2009
2. Bob Stone, Successful Direct Marketing Methods, page 366
3. Wetfeet, Careers in Information Technology, published by wetfeet, 2004, p.64
4. Stephen bosch, guide to licensing and acquiring electronic information, published by
rowman & littlefield, 2005, p. 10
5. (http://kotaku.com/5192348/gdc-attendance-slips-in-2009, GDC Attendance Slips In
2009, By Mike Fahey, 11:40 AM on Tue Mar 31 2009.

6. http://www.statbrain.com/www.gdconf.com/.
7. http://www.tsgamegroup.com/pdfs/Gama09_MicrositeWebcast.pdf.
8. http://www.statbrain.com/www.gamedev.net/.
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9. stone & jacobs, 8 Edition, Successful Direct Markeing Methods, McGraw Hill,
New York, 2008.
10. Abbie Drew, Your email has 5 seconds, 2008, www.demc.com.