OUTLINING DIRECT MARKETING FEATURES OF COMPANIES APPLYING THIS APPROACH WHEN MEASURING THEIR MARKET ORIENTATION

Relevance of research topic. The need of gathering of information and its analysis plays a crucial role when it is question about satisfying customer better than competitors. Planning and coordinating the company's activities according to customer's requirements in order to achieve long-term success are important themes commented and present in the article. Analysis of recent research and publications. The existing literature in the field of the direct marketing was analyzed on issues of Direct Marketing definition, communicating on individual level, a long-term relationship approach, keeping and analyzing the information related to the customer's reaction. Setting the task, the purpose of the study.Presenting a newly developed methodology of outlining direct marketing features of companies applying this approach, this article aims to offer a tool to distinguish these companies when evaluating their level of market orientation. Method or methodology for conducting research.The data has been collected by an Internet online survey. The market orientation of the companies is measured by the scale MARKOR. Presentation of the main material (results of work). This article represents one of the stages of a study taken in Bulgaria in 2018 aiming to evaluate the level of market orientation of companies applying direct marketing approach related to the interaction between the customer and the company, and aimed to collection, processing, presence, maintaining and storage of actual information. The respondents are companies operating on the Bulgarian market which actively apply direct marketing approach. The process of differentiating the companies passes through two consecutive and interrelated phases. The first phase aims to outline the direct marketing activities by checking if several of them are present and applied by the company. The second phase consists of analyzing the specifics of each activity. The set of questions to the respondents within the both phases is substantiated in the study according to the direct marketing approach. Conclusions according to the article. In Bulgarian companies the direct marketing and its application is guided by the principles of maintaining the information actual for customers; monitoring, recording and analyzing the customer's response; developing different proposals for different clients based on their value for the company.