How To Do Direct Marketing The Right Way

Direct marketing is a strategy that ties appeals to actions. If you've ever received a mail item with a coupon tied to a specific purchase, you've been on the receiving end of a campaign.

Companies interested in direct marketing services need to think about how they'll conduct their work. These five tips will help you do a better job of marketing directly to consumers.

Know the Target

You need to know who you're selling what to. A good direct marketing campaign should focus on a handful of high-value customers. These don't have to be people with tons of money. Instead, they need to be people who are highly interested in your products or services. Likewise, they need to be motivated to make purchases immediately.

If you don't have an existing customer list, it's not time to panic. A direct marketing services provider will maintain lists with demographic breakdowns. While you won't have a fine-tuned campaign on day one, it gives you a better starting point than blindly mailing things and hoping you hit your market.

Individual Tracking

Every appeal should have an accompanying unique identifier. If you send emails to customers, for example, each email should include a way of tracking who specifically followed up on it. Also, apply a unique identifier to the campaign. You want to be able to say for sure that customers X, Y, and Z felt activated by campaign A or B.

Durability

Printed direct marketing items should be part of every campaign. The argument for printed goods is simple: they are durable. If you have an appealing mail item, for example, few recipients will throw it away. They might save it for when they wish to shop. Also, they might pass it along to someone who they think would want it.

The physical durability and pass-along value of printed items makes them direct marketing darlings. There's a reason that even the most hardcore digital political campaigns, for example, still send printed mailers.

Loyalty Strategies

Direct marketing is focused on proven customers or folks who have the strong potential to join that group. You want to give these folks long-term benefits. In addition to an immediate appeal, such as a coupon, you might also offer a customer a percentage off their subsequent order. The goal is to get loyal customers into the habit of regularly buying from you.

Call to Action

Ultimately, a direct marketing item is about action. The recipient should know what they need to do and how the offer makes doing it easier. State your case clearly and quickly.

Contact a local marketing company to find out about your direct marketing options.


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