The use of comparative advertising in business-to-business direct mail

Article Abstract:

More than twenty years ago, the Federal Trade Commission began to encourage the use of comparative advertising, the aggressive tactic of comparing two or more named or unnamed products in an advertisement. Although numerous articles have been written about this practice since the early 1970s, none has addressed the use of comparative advertising in the direct mail medium, in general, or specifically in business-to-business direct mail. Because sales from direct mail advertising now exceed $120 million annually, and direct mail use in industrial marketing is increasing, this void in the literature needs to be filled. Therefore, this study examined hundreds of pieces of current year business-to-business direct mail advertising to determine the frequency of use and nature of comparative advertising employed in business-to-business direct mail. The results indicate that the incidence of use of comparisons in business-to-business direct mail is less frequent than that found in other business periodicals. Moreover, the nature of direct mail business-to-business comparisons is different in several other respects from those seen in the business print media. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Research, Direct marketing, Direct mail advertising, Business-to-business advertising, Direct-mail advertising, Business to business advertising

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Comparative advertising in horizontal business publications

Article Abstract:

Comparative advertising, the practice of comparing two or more named or unnamed products in an advertisement, is well known to industrial marketers. This article focuses on the use of comparative advertising in the three leading business publications: Business Week, Forbes, and Fortune. The authors studied approximately 2900 full-page advertisements from 1970 through 1985. It was found that there was a significant increase in the use of comparative advertising during this period; in fact, the use of comparative advertising nearly tripled from 1970 to 1985. Although the predominant use of comparative advertising involves implied comparisons, there has been a continuing increase in the use of the more aggressive strictly comparative format. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Methods, Analysis, Advertising

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Evaluating sales training programs

Article Abstract:

Industrial marketers spend millions of dollars annually training new sales people. An important aspect of effective training is the evaluation of such training. The purpose of this article is to provide information on how such evaluations are conducted and to understand managers' attitudes toward evaluating sales training. Findings indicate that only a small number of managers focus attention on measuring the results of training programs. An analysis of why this is true and suggestions for managerial actions to deal with this problem are provided. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Evaluation, Training, Business-to-business market, Business to business market, Employee training, Sales personnel, Salespeople

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