Practical Ideas For Direct Marketing

Direct marketing is not just about brochures, emails and coupons. It requires creativity. Regardless of the communication channel, the key is to ask for a response by any means. One of the major difficulties in trying to define the specificity of direct marketing consists in choosing the most complete definition. Here’s one of the definitions proposed by Direct Marketing Association (DMA): “Direct marketing is an interactive system of marketing that uses one or more means of communication to obtain a measurable response that can lead in some cases, to acquisition.” The most popular tools used in direct marketing are: door to door leaflet marketing, radio, television, direct mail, the Internet, call centers, coupons, voicemail, direct sales, etc.

Direct marketing focuses on a particular audience, promoting products, services and ideas through various channels of communication. Its main advantage is that the results achieved are measurable.

Thus, by analyzing the results, the company becomes aware of the success or failure registered by different marketing campaigns and about what works well and what must be improved.

Other further benefits are derived directly from the fact that direct marketing is less expensive and that you can make accurate predictions.

This type of marketing brings many benefits to companies and organizations worldwide. Thus, a product can be tested in real conditions, providing relevant results related to its efficiency and impact on a particular audience. In case of failure, the campaign can be improved or stopped, process that requires lower costs.

Receiving feedback from clients is another advantage of using direct marketing campaigns. The company can improve the products and services, based on the reactions and opinions provided by customers.

This type of marketing, like other activity, has its own rules that must be considered:

Setting clear objectives is essential. Theodore Levitt, the famous marketing guru, describes the process of direct marketing as a way of “attracting and keeping customers.” In fact, direct marketing, being based on mail or phone messages, represents a way to build marketing relationships between company and clients.

Analysis of customer behavior is a key component of marketing research. Understanding the client’s behavior helps the company to anticipate his reaction and may influence the services structure and planning. Often, to obtain a more complete picture of the marketing process, the company uses information collected through direct research methods, contributing to a better foundation of marketing decisions. These methods involve collecting information directly from the source: individual customers, institutional users, providers of goods or services, intermediaries, etc.

The customers must understand clearly why the company’s products are more desirable than those provided by others. They must be attracted by the product’s efficiency and not only by the way in which it is presented.

The platform used to receive feedback (websites, surveys, etc) must be friendly and easy to use, because people are looking for fast solutions.

April Kerr owns website Ecometrist which is all about subjects in the area of tips of direct marketing, tools for marketing your business and such like.