Direct marketing is used by every brand around us to expand their sales and to reach the right audience. Without a proper connection between a brand and the audience, what is the point of social media and marketing?
Below is the list of companies who conduct direct marketing for various reasons; and because every time we hear a success story, we want to know what the person or the brand did and how did they do it, we have included sections detailing just that below each example.
Instacart is an online grocery delivery service that is loved by the customers who use it by outsourcing their shopping lists. This is the fastest online grocery delivery service which is why it has gained such respect (and sales) from customers.
It is known to deliver groceries in as little as an hour. Instacart was founded in 2012 and received its Series A status in the next year. The company is now valued at over $7.9 billion and has raised approximately $1.2 billion.
With the help of direct marketing, even a lean budget didn’t stop Instacart from achieving two main goals. One, improving the customer experience and two, building customer awareness. As a brand that is just starting, what else do you need?
Now the next question in everyone’s mind is probably a big, fat, one-word: HOW?
Well, mainly through word-of-mouth did Instacart manage to achieve its success. At first, they were just servicing the state of San Francisco – that is where they had initiated their operations – but later they began service in other states as well.
Meanwhile, they were networking with investors and showcasing their brand T-shirts as they went about making grocery runs and deliveries all over the state.
It was these very T-shirts that got a lot of people curious in finding out about them when they frequented the stores that their target audience frequented usually. Talk about direct marketing done right!
The main takeaway from this example is that word-of-mouth is a solid way to make an impression and do direct marketing by placing your product or service in an area where your target audience either resides or frequents.
Instacart, the fast grocery-delivery service app, created a buzz in both the arena of B2C and tech.
Next up on our direct marketing examples list is Casper, a memory foam mattress company.
With free delivery and simple options that just made its customers’ lives easy, Casper became a fan-favorite in very little time. That and the fact that they have a generous refund policy in place that lets all their customers try out the mattress for a total of 3 months (100 days) before fully committing to the purchase.
This has helped the sales go up because people faced less hesitation with Casper.
After all, this was so much better than a 10-second check-up in stores. This brand uses influencer marketing that has proven to be ground-breaking for them – seeing how they started over $100,000 in debt and is now worth $1.1 billion.
We have no choice but to give it to Casper. They went and spent $370 million on content marketing strategy.
Are we surprised to see that they did so well as a result of that decision?
No.
Are we surprised at the amount and a little curious as to what this strategy entailed?
Heck, yes!
Nonetheless, it is still a little surprising how well their direct campaigns performed, because let’s face it: sometimes the best marketers and marketing experts still fail to deliver the results they promise, no matter how much you have spent on the strategy with them.
If you think about it, mattresses are something that will always remain a need. No matter what century it is, or what country it is – people are always going to want to sleep better.
Guaranteed, until and unless, there is a launch of better technology – we are thinking floating bed-less clouds-like mattresses. Pray, do tell, what all of you are thinking.
It’s fairly simple and easy for other brands to replicate as well the way Casper did it. Regardless of the industry, their technique is unrestrictive and will help all brands approach direct marketing more positively. So, Casper and direct mail was an interesting concept.
Their brightly colored envelopes encased high-quality paper which brought forth a message of intangible offer (have your card charged and then get to meet your new mattress).
So, each of their mailers presented this offer to their target audience and revolutionized the world of direct marketing with creativity.
Online companies often lack a sense of credibility but with direct mail involved, the companies then start to appear more real than before. A paper with the company’s name on it, arriving in your mailbox, instills a level of trust in you for the brand.
Moreover, they have made the whole process of buying and receiving the mattress so much easier – online and then through the mail! You can all imagine what it must do for their sales!
Further down on our direct marketing campaigns list, we have Hollar, a virtual dollar store that allows bargain shopping to mobile phones.
Let’s pause to think that all three examples discussed in this article are for needs that people can’t simply ignore – grocery, mattresses, and now mobile phones, and let’s face it, in this decade, mobile phones ARE a need.
Okay, now back to Hollar; they have brought fun and excitement to the bargain shopping but offering large discounts – as much as 90%(!!!!!) on brand names – and a large variety of products.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Hollar won Series C financing of about $35 million. Wow, just wow.
So, here’s their game plan: Hollar launched a Pinterest marketing strategy that allowed them to communicate directly with their ideal audience – the thrifty millennial mothers.
The strategy was successful and aided in spreading the word in their already-researched demographic.
This can also be called an exemplary form of market research. Hollar app’s UX design is also based on this market research and is inspired, in terms of design, by the Pinterest social media platform.
It features similar boards and features that help its customers navigate the app with ease and ultimately, increase sales.
Their direct marketing strategy relied on creating a highly detailed and intelligent target audience profile.
Once they knew who their ideal customer was, they were able to focus their marketing efforts with laser precision on the virtual spaces these customers liked to hang out in.
The main takeaway from this example is that the better you research your audience, the better and more effective will your direct marketing approach/strategy will be. In the case of Hollar, it was the underrepresented audience in the e-commerce startup world and the consumer’s intent to shop that made the whole concept such a big success.
Update: Hollar isn’t functional anymore as per last year’s updates. However, we felt it necessary to showcase some of the direct marketing campaigns that they used in the past.
At least from inspiration point of view, most of their marketing strategies were right on the dot!
The company’s new name, after the acquisition is: ‘Five Below’
Also Read: Hollar No More, As Five Below Rebrands Site
Harry’s is known for selling products of the personal grooming variety, including but not limited to the shaving tools.
They market themselves on both, digital and physical retail stores. Based on the person’s unique profile and skincare needs, Harry’s subscription model offers weekly or monthly delivery of the recommended products.
The brand has grown tremendously since its initiation in 2013; from acquiring a razor factory in Germany to running many effective direct marketing campaigns. Harry’s has worked hard to ensure that its direct-to-consumer (DTC) product is a hit. Currently, it is valued at $1.4 billion.
Harry’s accomplished this feat in three main steps:
Step #1: By focusing on their immediate network, they knew the leads will have a guaranteed high ROI, so they sent messages to their networks first.
Step #2: By setting a landing page through a referral link. The page, although simple, got the job done of collecting the data and introducing the brand to the people.
Step #3: By hosting a giveaway, in which, anyone sharing the landing page on social media won a gift. The gift was never specified which only added to the mystery of the brand.
The main takeaway from this is that it’s not always about the money. Even if you can’t afford to host a giveaway, you can always start by using the resources you already have. In this case, it was the products and the network.
Moreover, they were also able to develop a direct marketing funnel without making much effort that provided them with the data they needed: email, landing page, and social media details.
Yep, you guessed it. It is a subscription service for your dogs that has different memberships.
Each membership is categorized based on the number of products you would like to receive from the company. BarkBox was founded in 2011 to ship a curated and themed collection of full-size dog products. Since then it has amassed over 600,000 monthly subscribers and has a value of $150 million to $200 million.
BarkBox made use of both, conventional and modern, direct marketing methods that helped them double their yearly revenue within a year. For the conventional method, they put up a TV ad in 2018, and for the modern method, they heavily invested in Facebook ads.
They cash happiness – precisely, dog’s happiness. BarkBox is known to put up ads that feature happy owners and dogs and that’s enough to tell you something.
Also, their final call-to-action (CTA) engages the audience by asking them to sign up to receive free shipping on orders and that incentive alone has helped them sell quite a lot.
Finally, the takeaway from this is that video creation should not be overlooked; considering how it accessible and affordable – now more than ever. Furthermore, a CTA always goes a long way.
