The Dictionary in the American Marketing Association website defines Direct Mail as, “The use of the mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service or other delivery services as an advertising media vehicle.” Direct mail was the original channel for direct marketing, and as such, the two terms have become somewhat interchangeable.
However, direct marketing has evolved to cover a specific discipline of marketing designed to solicit a response from a prospect of customer using media that can be personally addressed and delivered to an individual. Because direct marketing is a much broader area of expertise, this section will focus on direct marketing, with direct mail representing a very important channel within that discipline.
Direct marketing is defined by the AMA as:
- Retailing Definition. A form of non-store retailing in which customers are exposed to merchandise through an impersonal medium and then purchase the merchandise by telephone or mail.
- Channels of Distribution Definition. The total of activities by which the seller, in effecting the exchange of goods and services with the buyer, directs efforts to a target audience using one or more media (direct selling, direct mail, telemarketing, direct-action advertising, catalog selling, cable selling, etc.) for the purpose of soliciting a response by phone, mail, or personal visit from a prospect or customer.
Direct marketing is different from traditional advertising in its ability to be measured. Sales generated by traditional advertising are typically measured by “awareness” surveys, which measure whether or not someone remembers the ad or remembers the company associated with the ad. A direct marketing advertisement, however, has a specific response device – call this toll-free number, visit this website address, or return this form – which can precisely measure the effectiveness of the advertisement. Additionally, direct marketing can go further and match the specific responder to the original list to determine what offer and list generated that sale. This type of scientific measurement allows for very precise testing in which you can clearly show that one direct mail campaign or one advertisement sold more products or generated more inquiries than another … versus “awareness” measurements in traditional advertising that may or may not translate into sales.
There have been many cases of people remembering and ad, but not the company or brand represented in the ad … just the overall product category. In such a case, your ad might just as easily be promoting the competition’s product as yours. Additionally, there have been measured cases where a person liked an ad, remembered the ad, and even remembered the company, but didn’t or wouldn’t buy the product. It’s hard to measure the effects of traditional advertising in terms of sales generated.
Direct marketing provides proof of the results of your marketing expenditures, and is often favored as a tool for generating sales versus simply raising brand awareness. Marketing has evolved to consider both direct marketing and advertising as important tactics in a well-rounded marketing campaign. However, for those on a limited budget, the return on investment is much higher when you use direct marketing.
Direct mail is to grow 7.5 percent to $64.4 billion and Internet advertising 15 percent to $10.7 billion, according to a 2007 forecast by Universal McCann.
Source: http://www.dmnews.com.
Both of these represent direct marketing channels, which continue to be the most cost-effective tools for generating direct sales through marketing efforts.
If you have a direct sales force, you may not need to use direct marketing to sell your products and services (although direct marketing can be used quite effectively to generate qualified leads for a sales force with a combination of direct mail, email marketing, and telephone follow-up).
If you are selling products to consumers, and you don’t have a retail sales channel, then you will likely need to rely on direct marketing to generate your sales. Let’s face it, consumers won’t come visit your website or call your toll-free phone number unless you give them a compelling reason to do so. Direct marketing provides the push that drives consumers into your organization to purchase and inquire about your products. The truth is, even retail companies are using direct marketing channels – email and direct mail solicitations – to drive traffic into their stores.
The bottom line is this – if you’re selling products to consumers, then you ought to consider direct marketing as a strong part of your overall sales strategy.
Selling to businesses instead of consumers? Direct marketing can also work well in supporting lead generation for a business to business sales force … and, believe it or not, in generating direct sales. In general, if your business to business product is very high end cost wise, then you probably want to use direct marketing to support a sales force and generate qualified leads. However, if your product is more affordable, you might find it cost-effective to sell via direct marketing channels … even to your business customers!
Like many other areas of marketing addressed in this sight, if you’re wanting to leverage some of the more sophisticated direct marketing techniques, you should get some professional help. Creating the right list, selecting the right channels, and developing the right creative message are all areas where experts can leverage their years of seeing what works for different product categories – and they can help you avoid common pitfalls and immediately see positive results from your direct marketing efforts. This is an area where the experts are highly specialized, and the savings you justify by generating higher sales for every direct marketing campaign will justify the expense of getting professional help.
However, don’t be intimidated by having to generate a big budget before you start using direct marketing tactics … you can achieve success by leverage some simple, proven strategies that are relatively low cost.
Low-Cost Direct Marketing Strategies:
- You can’t go wrong with a simple postcard. If you have a small geographic footprint, try targeting a postcard to just a few zip codes. Be sure to suppress your current customers from the list. Your creative should be simple and direct – it should make a promise to the consumer that conveys a value proposition – what’s in it for them? Be sure you tell them what to do to respond and what action you want them to take – visit your website, call for an appointment, call for information, etc.
- Multi-channel efforts can work very well, and can be cost-effective. Pair a postcard with a unique website/landing page for this specific campaign – and pair the design and creative message together, providing the call to action on the postcard and website address and providing the fulfillment of that response via the landing page. Don’t be afraid to use personalization and address the postcard to John Smith – it’s much more powerful to say “Hey John Smith – I’ve got a great offer for you” than to say “Hey Resident!” Carry the personalization through to the web landing page by using a “PURL – Personal URL”, which is a unique website address that uses your company site, and ends with a unique combination of the person’s name and a tracking code so each customer has their own … this allows you to carry personalization through to the website landing page. Many printers are now offering this kind of service as they expand in to electronic as well as print services.
- Send a combination letter and response card in an envelope. A strong solicitation letter can be much more effective than mailing a brochure … and you can still address all the valuable services you can provide. Be sure to personalize, make it look like a letter, and sign it personally from an officer in your company. Use a personal, letter-writing tone, but don’t forget that your goal is to convince your reader to take the desired action. However, don’t oversell. If all you want is someone to return a request card for more information, don’t give them all the information about your product – just tease them enough to get them to response.
There are many more ways that direct marketing can be used effectively to generate leads and sales … if the low-cost tips above read like another language, then you should probably find a qualified direct marketing agency to help you. If you followed everything in the tips above, then you should probably consider a career in direct marketing!!!
The American Marketing Association publishes an annual directory of direct marketing services. The link below will take you to a page on their website where the annual directory can be viewed and downloaded: http://www.marketingpower.com/ResourceLibrary. This directory is a comprehensive guide to US companies providing direct marketing and direct mail services.