What is Direct Marketing?

Direct Marketing is a type of advertising in which companies and busnisess produce physical
materials in order for them to communicate to the consumers directly without using “middle
man” or the person or group of persons that connect the consumer to the company and its
product. Those physical material as what its name suggest is distributed in “direct” manner,
meaning its diperse in sniper way like leaflets rather than in shotgun way like TV, magazine
ads.

5 Objectives of Direct marketing

Raised brand awareness

It is the main objective of direct marketing. This campaign doesn’t lead to direct sale just like
in outdoor promotion, but it leads to consumer’s awareness about the Product.

Sales / lead generation

One of the main targets of a direct marketing campaign is to generate sales and leads. As
we’ve said, it’s important all parties win, so campaigns need to be fair to everybody. Here are
some ways that direct marketing campaigns generate sales and leads:

 New lead generation – A proportion of the database marketed to will naturally respond
to the campaign and by doing so generate leads for new customers

 Generating trial orders – A proportion of the database marketed to will also generate
trial orders of products and services. This is a target of many campaigns as it could lead
to regular repeat ongoing business

 Reacquiring lost customers – Some direct marketing campaigns will target past
customers considered “lost”, a good outcome would be to acquire these customers as
once again active

 Upselling, cross-selling and repeat selling – Many direct marketing campaigns aim to:
– Upsell: This aims to sell to an existing customer upgrades and add-ons to a previous buy to
make the overall relationship more profitable
– Cross-sell: This aims to sell a related product or service to an existing customer who has
previously bought another product or service from the organization
– Repeat sale: A campaign may target repeating a previous sale. This is particularly the case
when generating:
§ Charitable donations
§ Renewals (e.g. insurance) and
§ Subscriptions (e.g. to a magazine or to a member organisation)

Provide ROI that is measurable

Naturally, as a result of all of the increased sales discussed above, any organisation would
want to attain an ROI and even better one that is measurable:

 Increased profitability – Following the campaign, sales and profits should grow. Direct
marketing has a good track record in providing the increased profitability targeted

 Verifiable results – Tracking and monitoring techniques can be put in place to measure
the outcome of projects. For example:

– Marketing postcode: Use of a postcode which is only used to monitor postal responses
from a specific marketing campaign
– PURL: A personalised URL, which is only used to monitor campaign responses
– Telephone prompt: For telephone orders a telemarketing operative could ask “How did you
hear about us?” and the response monitored as a part of the measuring process
8 Methods of Direct Marketing

Direct mail encompasses a wide variety of marketing materials, including brochures,

catalogs, postcards, newsletters and sales letters.

Mobile marketing is the interactive multichannel promotion of products or services

for mobile phones and devices, smartphones and networks. Mobile marketing channels
are diverse and include technology, trade shows or billboards.

DIRECT RESPONSE ADVERTISING

Promotional method in which a prospective customer is urged to respond immediately and

directly to the advertiser, through the use of a 'device' provided in the advertisement. These
devices (called direct response mechanisms) include a (1) coupon to cut and mail, (2) business
reply card, (3) toll-free telephone number, or, on the internet, (4) hotspot to click. Most retail sale
advertisements are direct response ads in one way or the other.

ELECTRONIC MEDIA

Broadcast or storage media that take advantage of electronic technology. They may include
television, radio, Internet, fax, CD-ROMs, DVD, and any other medium that requires electricity or
digital encoding of information. The term 'electronic media' is often used in contrast with print
media.

CATALOG

List of goods or services on sale with their description and prices published as a printed
document, or as an electronic document (e-catalog) on internet or on a diskette, CD, DVD, etc.

DOOR TO DOOR SERVICE

hrough transport or shipping arrangement to ensure direct flow of goods from the exporter to the
importer (or from the point-of-origin to the point-of-sale) with a minimum of interruption and
delay. Also called house to house service.
 Web marketing

Internet marketing, or online marketing, refers to advertising andmarketing efforts that

use the Web and email to drive direct sales via electronic commerce, in addition to sales
leads from Web sites or emails.

Personal Sale

Personal selling process refers to a process that occurs when a sales representative meets
with a potential client for the purpose of transacting a sale The sales process can be used
in face-to-face encounters and in telemarketing.

2 factors of Direct marketing

1. Use creative and analytical talent to see the world through the target
consumer's eyes. "For example," she says, "I look at the current spate of
political advertising and I don't just see the message, I can envision the intended
audience and their reaction to the messaging."

2. Goal orientation. When Brandt was 5, she decided she wanted her own library card.
The librarian told her she should come back when Brandt could sign her name in
cursive, a library requirement. So Brandt spent the next week contorting her 5-year-old
fingers hour upon hour, tracing a signature her parents prepared for her. "I showed up
at the library and said to the shocked librarian, 'OK, I can sign my name now. I would
like my own library card now.'"