Direct Marketing is the act of selling to an intended market. An effective Direct Marketing campaign brings your brand closer to targeted customers and creates customer action, through email, telemarketing or direct mail for example. Here’s a short summary to give you an idea of what this type of campaign is :

1. Why Direct Marketing?

Some marketing avenues reach out to a wider audience, where you won’t just be targeting the audiences interested in your product / service. These campaigns usually come at a higher cost and can result in a low ROI for your business. The beauty of a direct marketing campaign is that it is targeted so you are reaching out to those who are more likely to be interested in what you have to offer.

2. What Are the Advantages?

By using DM you can also build better relationships with your customers as you are serving them with information about products or services which are related to them and their needs. You are also addressing them directly by name, rather than a bulk mail out (for example), which is most likely to be deemed irrelevant & thus ignored by the recipient.

You will also build up customer profiles in your database – which may well lead to more sales in the future for other products / services and also creates a loyal customer as they know that you know them so you are more likely to be their first port of call in the future.

Another advantage of a direct marketing campaign is that the success of it is measurable. DM includes a ‘call to action’ – Let’s say that you send out 1,000 leaflets with a coupon to come in to your store and redeem it for a ‘buy one get one free’ deal, that coupon is your ‘call to action’. If you get 650 people come in and redeem their voucher then you have a 65% success rate on your campaign and from here you can work out your Return on Investment (ROI).
Direct marketing will give you the convenience of a low cost campaign which will deliver impressive results.

3. Who Will Be Your Customers in a Direct Marketing Campaign?

Databases of contacts are the key in a DM campaign. For instance if you are a car parts shop, you might invite customers to join your mailing list so that they can be informed of any upcoming sales in advance of the general public. By doing this you will create a database of customers who you can potentially contact in the future.

4. How Will The Customer Receive The Information?

In this day and age we have communication sources such as email and SMS, however some of the more simple methods such as letters & leaflets etc can still be just as effective. You can make your method of delivering your message as creative as you would like – if you are a perfume company you might like to send out a small imitation of your perfume box for instance, which a customer can unfold and read your offer on the inside. Or you can be as traditional as you like – a simple postcard with a personally addressed message and a photo of your product on it might be an idea.

With so many options and so many different target markets you have a whole range of ideas to explore. There are many marketing companies who can help you with a direct marketing campaign which will be creative and most of all effective.

The term marketing implies the single goal of profit. It is categorized into two, direct marketing and indirect marketing and there is a significant line of difference between the two. Direct marketing is basically business from manufacturer to consumer without the involvement of middlemen, whoever it is. This is generally done by mailing the consumer or contacting him directly, so he can know about the products. The use of media advertisements is very limited and whatever little use is made includes only the demonstration of their products with call back numbers. Direct marketing is a boon and a bane, both in some respects:

Advantages:

- Direct marketing involves direct business. So it is cost beneficial for consumers, as there is no price hike due to wholesalers or retailers.
- Marketing executives can state certainly of the exact response to their products.
- The profit or loss can be more accurately judged.

Disadvantages:

- Sometimes, direct mailing offends the customers and many do not endorse it as they say it inhibits their private lives.

But most marketing managers are in support of this kind of business. The various forms in which direct business is made are:

- Direct mailing: Here, paper mails are sent to the selected groups of people, who likely to give positive response e.g. the paper mails of latest food processor is sent to all homes where house wives are resident so that immediate response is seen. Also CDs can be used as demonstrating media.

- Email Marketing: Here, emails are sent to all the selected customer categories with repeated intervals of time. But most of these are put into trash and spams. So the effectiveness of this form cannot be predicted.

- Telemarketing: In telemarketing, calls are made directly to the consumers and the concerned product is advertised. People sit at call centers to sell products on behalf of their clients. But this form of direct business is quite unpopular and most people oppose the uninvited calls. It was initially made illegal but later on new laws were re-enforced and calls are now made only to those who don’t mind them.

- Voicemail: Telemarketing created a lot of consumer opposition and consumers would abuse the ones advertising on the phones. In order to avoid this, voicemail marketing was introduced, wherein; the entire advertisement is digitally recorded and presented.

- Use of coupons: Coupons are attached to direct mails and sent to the consumers. These generally advertise and give cost benefit to the consumers. So they avail these coupons and respond fast.

- Television marketing: Advertisements are given on the television and demos are with toll-free call back numbers or certain websites for the consumer to get in touch with the manufacturers.

- Broadcast faxing: This is the least popular form of direct marketing. The ads are directly faxed to the consumers.

Direct marketing can thus become successful only if the entanglements with the consumer are good. It can be B2B or B2C. It measures exact consumer response.