Although the advantages of direct marketing are innumerous, we have doubled down on 6 of the prominent ones to get you started.
Aside from being measurable and effective, direct marketing is also very popular among brands, regardless of their size.
But what makes it so special?
Before we get into that, let’s first understand what direct marketing is. This explainer article aims to cover everything about direct marketing. Read on…
Direct marketing is a type of advertising campaign that seeks to achieve a specific action in a selected group of consumers (such as an order, store or website visit, or a request for information) in response to a communication action done by the marketer.
It takes place in different formats: postal mails, telemarketing, email marketing, etc.
To understand direct marketing, you must understand indirect marketing as well. Indirect marketing includes all the tactics that promote your brand on a general level. These could be billboards, commercials, newsletters, blog posts, radio ads, google ads, brand awareness campaigns, or newspaper ads.
These ads are not personalized to the individual but aim to capture a target audience that shares similar interests.
Having said that, there are some elements that you cannot ignore when building a campaign. Every campaign with the following elements has always been successful:
Now, that we have covered direct marketing, we must address the elephant in the hypothetical room: how is digital direct marketing different from traditional direct marketing. While the latter refers to directly communicating with the audience using any means, the former refers to directly communicating with the audience using electronic mediums especially.
The arrival of the internet and other technological advancements have changed consumers’ buying behavior. Advertisements, brochures, flyers, and other physical forms of marketing are becoming less effective as consumers have embraced online shopping.
Albeit a newer form of the centuries-old concept, digital direct marketing has allowed showing ads in emails, social media posts, etc, and thus, directly to the audience who can take action with just one click. How amazing is that?
The direct connection is a pretty big benefit in itself but direct marketing doesn’t stop there; it has more benefits to offer. Some of them are listed below:
This takes the first spot because this benefit of direct marketing lets you reach a specific type of audience with personalized messages. It’s not easy to set the right audience though, which is why an extensive amount of thorough research is always encouraged.
Once you have identified them and targeted them, it will be a piece of cake to convert the leads you garner. A well-targeted direct marketing campaign will also provide you with an accurate understanding of how your customers are responding to your product and service offers.
One added advantage of conducting thorough research is that it will help you set realistic goals and that will further improve your sales. Remember a big budget doesn’t always guarantee a big return. If you know how to do direct marketing right, even a small budget will be enough for you.
Moreover, if you optimize your direct campaigns properly, you will outdo the traditional advertising easily. Most direct marketing will be more cost-effective for SMEs than mass media advertising campaigns.
Direct marketing lets you build connections with your clients by communicating with them directly which builds trust in your brand and thus brings value.
Moreover, being open to conversation, lets you stay in touch with your existing clients. Let us spell out the new sales opportunities it could result in: LIMITLESS!
When it is a familiar person contacting the customer and making an effort to understand their needs; the sales are seen spiking on the graph. Keeping your existing customers has proved to be quite difficult for a lot of people. This is why maintaining and using reliable customer records are crucial for brands.
With direct marketing, you have the advantage of re-establishing relationships with your customers who haven’t bought your products or used your service for a while. However, this is a slippery slope so we would advise you to tread carefully and see where your efforts for rekindling a relationship go.
Direct marketing allows customizable promotions, emails, and offers that create an instant bond that lasts.
Additionally, if you create an immediate link with your customer, their connection to the brand will strengthen and they are more likely than not to return to buy your product or service again, maybe even more than once.
Many businesses send out birthday cards, discount offers, etc. to their customers that combine direct marketing and customer loyalty strategies. This instills a level of loyalty in your clients that they can never break free from.
Always adapting to market demands and responding more efficiently is a tell of direct marketing. This has always paved the way to create new business opportunities. On top of that, if you use techniques for sourcing new customers, you will be able to effectively grow your sales in a fast and flexible way.
All your efforts will go to waste if you are not keeping an eye on your results and analyzing them.
With so many advantages of direct marketing available at your disposal, measuring your campaigns is all that much easier. As with direct approaches you get direct results and hence, direct feedback. Use this feedback to gauge your audience’s preferences for your products and/or services.
Since we’re done discussing the advantages of direct marketing, let’s now discuss the disadvantages of direct marketing.
Many people find direct marketing to be intrusive and just plain annoying. Especially in the case of telemarketing and door-to-door sales, direct marketing can really be annoying.
Email marketing doesn’t either have a good reputation as it is usually viewed as junk mail or spam. If your audience gets too annoyed by your direct marketing tactics, there is a chance that they might unsubscribe from your service or quit buying from your brand altogether.
It’s not a secret that with the number of collaterals being produced for brands under direct marketing, it is very damaging to the environment.
Not only is direct marketing relying on natural resources but it is also producing content that is non-biodegradable. This can also have a very negative impact on your brand in return. So, be careful!
Direct marketing response rates tend to be around 1-3%. Even with a well-researched list and a targeted audience set in your mind, there is still a chance of a very low response rate from the audience.
With direct marketing and its tactics, it can be hard to stand out from other brands’ campaigns.
Now, put yourself in a customer’s shoes; he’s probably receiving emails from all brands in the city. It is too easy for your email to simply get lost in the sea of other emails because on the outside (in the inbox), they all look the same.
Although it is cheaper than traditional marketing, digital marketing is still very expensive and puts a strain on a brand not only financially but also resource-wise.
There are laws regarding the audience’s data protection and privacy that sometimes brands don’t like to take into consideration because the opposite would bring them great leads and sales.
This is why it is crucial for brands to make sure they only have consented individuals in their email or messages lists.
It’s time that we prove our words right by presenting you with examples of brands that did well after making use of striking imagery, impactful content, and reliable digital marketing.
One of the big names on the list is Toyota, the popular car manufacturer. Using direct marketing, they have embedded their creativity in the digital strategy that usually leaves an impact on their audience. Mostly, it is the shocking advertising techniques that are to blame for this impact.
Those who can’t use Photoshop, use Canva.
Albeit somewhat true, some professionals always use this software for their all design needs. It features millions of ready-made themes that require minimum tweaking and voila! You are good to use them wherever you want to.
Touch Branding Co. as a branding agency has done wonders for its clients by maximizing the potential they hold. Based in Prague and with 15 years of experience of global campaigns under their belt, we can trust their word for using direct marketing.
They once ran a campaign that left a print on our memories forever (wait for the pun to unravel). In that campaign, they wrote ‘We’ll give our blood for good branding’ and paired it with a stellar graphics design. While sending a direct mail, they attached the letters a blood bag (fake, of course), and the rest is glorious history.
They were able to ‘hook’ so many potential companies to be their customers due to this campaign. All in all, it was a big success!
To summarize, direct marketing is when a brand markets itself to the audience directly.
If it’s through digital means, then it is called digital direct marketing and it can include social media marketing, email marketing, and much more.
While it is very popular and comes with a lot of benefits, it is not without faults – like most things in the world. Therefore, if you are decided to use direct marketing for your brand, this article might be a good way to start getting to know all about the topic.
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