How to Use Direct Marketing Effectively

Direct marketing is attractive to many marketers because its effectiveness can be measured directly. The medium that you choose, to communicate directly to your prospects, is direct marketing.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Direct Mail Marketing
   
   One of the most commonly used mediums in direct marketing is direct mail. Direct mail marketing allows you to design marketing pieces in many different formats. Direct mail can include envelope mailers, catalogues, self-mailers, snap mailers, dimensional mailers, brochures, and postcards.
   
   • When you write your direct mail piece make sure you know your target market.
   • Know how you are going to appeal to your audience's wants and needs.
   • Write your objective for this marketing tactic and refer to it often.
   • Don't lose sight of where you want to go with the piece that you are writing.
   • Purchase a mailing list of businesses and services in your target market from a list company, or
   • Develop your own list by gathering email addresses on your web site.

2. Direct Marketing - Telemarketing
   
   Telemarketing is a direct marketing sales technique that has the advantage of speed in a marketing campaign. When you are a conducting a telephone solicitation you should
   1. Introduce yourself
   2. Offer an incentive in solving a problem that you know exists (to do this would require you to do some research on the business or what individuals would be looking for in your product).
   3. Ask questions that you know will lead to a yes answer (keep prospects on phone answering yes to your questions).
   4. Describe your product or service and how it solves the client's needs.
   5. Ask if they have any questions.
   6. You now can ask for a face to face meeting, or to get permission to send information via mail or e-mail, or make another brief follow-up call.
   7. If unavailable, ask what would be a good time to call back.

3. Direct Marketing - E-mail
   
   The most common medium today for direct marketers is e-mail because of its low cost and customer responses can be generated rapidly.
   • You must understand that the internet is a different medium.
   o The copy that worked for you in postal mail will not on the internet, not as e-mail.
   o In e-mail copywriting, the subject is the headline, you must write a captivating headline with 3 to 5 words.
   o Your subject determines whether your e-mail gets read or not.
   • Make it personal. People on the internet want personal notes.
   • Get to the point keep it short and simple.
   • Give them an incentive to act by giving them a reason to buy now. Urgency creates action.
   • Include a call to action to tell people what you want them to do.
   o Don't leave them wondering what to do next.
   • Drive people to your web site instead of trying to close the deal on the email.

4. Direct Marketing - Direct Response
   
   In direct response marketing the customer responds to the marketing message directly. Here are some techniques that have been used very successfully in increasing sales.
   • Infomercials, where prospects view a television presentation of a product offering, and can make a purchase with a credit card over the telephone or internet.
   • Place an ad in magazines, newspapers, radio, e-mail, and direct mail to solicit a response.
   • Include order forms or coupons in magazines and newspapers to purchase products, or receive discounts on products.
   • These same offers are distributed by e-mail which in today's marketing world, is more economical and faster.

5. Direct Marketing - Personal selling
   
   Making personal sales calls on prospects is another technique of direct marketing.
   You should first conduct research on the companies, or the target prospects, that you are trying to sell your product or service to.
   • Buy a list from a reputable list company.
   • If you take this route make sure that you have complete information on your target market.
   • When making a personal sales call you must write a sales presentation before hand.
   • This presentation should be written, practiced, and critiqued to fit the needs and desires of the prospect that you are presenting your product to.
   • Provide clear examples, or even demonstrations of how your product or service will accomplish this.
   • Include more that one way your product can be of service to your prospect.
   • Be prepared to handle objections and questions that the prospects will have.

Tips & Warnings

• Consider these five direct marketing tactics that you can use to obtain leads and increase sales.

Resources

• How to Draft Your Small Business Marketing Plan - Take The Time

[sonni57]

on 7/4/2009 Good article on direct marketing it takes a lot of work and persistence.