What Are The Three Major Forms of Digital Direct Marketing?

Now, that we have direct marketing out of the way, let’s dissect the concept of digital direct marketing.

The internet has become a highly reliable place for companies to promote their products and thus, bloomed the idea of shifting direct marketing online.

Digital direct marketing combines three media outlets to connect with your target audience, namely cellphones, web browsers, and email.

Some tactics are always paired with them to make campaigns more relevant and effective. For example:

1. Search Engine Optimization

Also commonly referred to as SEO, it is a strategy that uses social psychology and data to match online content.

It aims to provide people with content that is more enjoyable for them. Leveraging on a set of proven principles, SEO is the reason why companies grow organically.

2. Email Marketing

This has to be the hardest one to conduct since people are always being spammed with emails. It is hard to make your email stand out when they all look the same on the surface.

Contrary to popular conception, you can get the best results through email campaigns.

3. Google Ads Management

Alongside SEO, there is a PPC technique that is just as important. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising works with search engines to boost online traffic.

It is a bit more complex than SEO as it requires proper strategy and is more automated. Just as the name suggests, you only have to pay per click if people click on the link you have provided them with.

Seeing how Google rules the search engine world, the best PPC is practiced using Google Ads Management.

While direct marketing is when you offer your potential customers to buy from you, indirect marketing is when leads come their way.

In the latter case, you are building awareness and a loyal client base that will eventually buy from you.

Now as for the question of which is better for your brand?

To that, we say BOTH!

Here’s why.

With direct marketing, you get quick results and generate a profit quicker.

With indirect marketing, on the other hand, you have to wait a lot but you get a loyal customer base that continues to generate business for you.

So it is up to you.

But that’s not all! The most effective approach to promoting your business lies in targeting the three major forms of digital direct marketing.

The aforementioned three tactics are in some way the major forms we’ll be talking about below.

Cellphones + Phone Applications

Cellphones have become a need. Look around in your circle and you won’t find a single person without a phone. Mobile applications are predicted to generate $189 billion in revenue in 2020.

This is why phone applications marketing has become the most acclaimed form of direct digital marketing.

Types of Mobile Marketing

There are two types of mobile app marketing: app user acquisition and app user engagement. With the former, the goal is to increase app downloads and with the latter, the goal is to keep the user engaged.

1. Push Notifications

Phone applications are then used to send push notifications which is a constant reminder for your customers about the latest happenings, products, etc.

They are like text messages that are used to grab the customer’s attention even if it is for a few seconds. There are many kinds of push notifications:

• Informational – This is used to tell the user about new features on the website.
• Updates – This is used to tell the user to update the application.
• Offers and Discounts – This is used to tell the user of any sales, promotions, etc. happening.

2. Web Experience/ Web Browsers

Next up are the web browsers or search engine browsers.

Through website cookies, one can easily find the targeted audience. The data derived from this can be later used to approach the audience directly.

Cookies are the small fragment of coding that is added to the visitor’s behavior, once he/she accepts the cookie policy on the website.

From that moment onwards, it collects information like age, behavior, and behavioral interests and retains it to use for retargeting advertisements.

These ads are more useful than the primary ones as they are more useful in grabbing the audience’s attention.

Remember when we talked about SEO and Google Ads Management? 

That’s where those two come to play.

3. Emails

Lastly, we have emails. We have already discussed email so you must already have a rough idea of what we’re about to talk about.

Not everybody knows about your brand, which is why you need to introduce them with the right tools.

Now, through emails, you can message your potential buyers on one of the three topics: sales news, coupons, and newsletters.

Some brands even get email addresses from their prospective clients by offering a discount on their products/services. Emails, hands down, is the most effective digital marketing strategy as it gives information about your business to the customers.

Moreover, you can reach your audience for only a fraction of the cost for the email marketing tools that will in return provide you with the metrics you need: click-through rates, open rates, bounce rates, etc.

Direct marketing’s advantages are very, well, direct. They are very obvious and you just can’t miss them. For example:

1. It Is Inexpensive

It is hard not to notice how much direct marketing is affordable. Seeing, how it removes all the middle-man and the miscellaneous costs, you get to save a lot of money.

Direct marketing’s famous for being cheap out of all the marketing techniques and it is probably why most brands heavily rely on it as well.

2. A Very Personal Form of Marketing

Since you are engaging with your audience directly, you are forming a relationship with them that makes this the most personal and effective form of marketing out there.

It is the bond that you make with them that will keep them coming back and back to you in the future as well so it is always advisable to build a relationship with them and connect with them from time to time to introduce new offers and products to them.

3. Allows For Immediate Responses

There is no waiting around in this form of marketing, as opposed to indirect marketing.

As soon as you carry out your campaign, you almost immediately start getting a response and feedback on it. You should keep analyzing your campaign to know what kind of response you are getting and use it to improve your brand accordingly.

4. Requires a Simple & Concise Approach

Direct marketing usually doesn’t involve any technical and difficult to grasp concepts and is pretty much ‘direct’ for people to understand. The strategy using direct marketing is almost always very simple, concise and to the point so, that’s an additional benefit as well.

To summarize, the three types/forms of digital direct marketing can help a business devise a strategy that complements their needs and most importantly, their business model.

As a business owner, it is entirely your decision whether you do direct marketing, digital direct marketing, or indirect marketing.

While there are many advantages to direct marketing and especially digital direct marketing, you must be very sure why you are going for this form of marketing in particular.

Whatever way you choose, you can use it your way to highlight the targeted audience and get potential clients by approaching them strategically.