19 November 2021
By Roger Jones
roger@TheCork.ie
How can your business benefit from direct marketing?
Direct marketing is consistently one of the more reliable methods when it comes to effective promotion. Whether you have a small business, an event, or a new product to promote, you’ll find that direct marketing is a way of getting consistent results.
But what is it, and why does it work so well?
What is direct marketing?
Direct marketing, as the name implies, is a form of marketing that involves sending something to a pre-selected customer or individual. This could be an existing customer of yours, or someone whose details you have gathered through any number of legitimate means.
So, for example, you’ve had new brochures printed detailing your range of products. You decide to put your brochures in secure padded envelopes and mail them to a handful of pre-selected customers who have spent over a certain amount of money at your business, chosen from your records. Along with the brochure you include a limited time offer thanking the customers for their loyalty. That is a direct marketing drive.
Direct marketing can be an element of any other marketing campaign. So for example, you can have a direct marketing drive inform your marketing mail, your sales calls, or even your advertisements.
Why is it so effective?
Direct marketing is so effective for a number of reasons, but one of the main ones is that it introduces a personal element that is so often missing from larger marketing drives. Nobody likes the feeling that they’re just a number or viewed as an anonymous customer. When you do a direct marketing drive you address customers by name and tailor the offering you make to the interests you know your recipient has. This makes it feel more like you’re genuinely interested in providing value to that individual, and as a result they’re more likely to respond positively.
Customers always appreciate a business that’s seen to be going the extra mile to provide them with a personalised service. Customers have never responded positively to a business they deem to be “faceless”, and this is a growing problem with the rise of technology limiting human interaction in many elements of daily business functions. Direct marketing serves to bring some of that human element back into the equation. This is why it continues to be highly effective.
Is direct marketing expensive?
No! Direct marketing is highly effective, yet it can be perfectly affordable. All you need is the right resources to ensure you have the information required to tailor your marketing efforts. With that, if you’re willing to invest a little time making sure your offers are properly matched with the right potential recipients, you stand to benefit.
This means that direct marketing can be used to great effect by all manner of businesses, both large and small, who are looking to introduce the personal element back into their marketing drives.
Now you know more about direct marketing, it’s time to begin implementing it and see for yourself just how effective it can be.