Direct marketing is a form of marketing that is based on the integration of customers with the generation of leads, sales and opportunities. Channels and tools used in this field of marketing have evolved from traditional means such as mailings, phone calls, sales cold calls, brochures, among others, to new formulas that facilitate today new technologies, as is the case of email marketing or advanced telemarketing.
These new techniques allow to reach customers in a more efficient manner, avoiding practices that they can be considered as spam, and communicate ideas by a more viable approach that has less of the looks of an unsolicited, repetitive communication that borders on online harassment. In addition, a direct marketing strategy, when well executed, can possess a series of very interesting advantages for enterprises, particularly SMEs:
It can be adapted to each client
Direct marketing actions are characterized by the adaptation to the customer. Customization helps break the ice and also to offer customers exactly the products and services they need, in order to get to the point where the action ends in a purchase that leaves the customer satisfied. It is therefore a key element of direct marketing to segment the target customer. This is done by identifying the key attributes of the offer that can potentially interests the target audiences, determining the offer’s position in the funnel of lead generation, and finally, finding the best way to put it forward so that the customer is not inclined to say no straight away.
This ability to adapt supply to each client does not mean that the company has to engineer an offer for each person, but rather this phenomenon centers on constructing offers that, when sent, correspond to the needs of the potential customer. This implies that the company should know how to forgo the temptation to make deals as mass mailings to avoid falling into practices of spam and drive away a potential customer from all future dealings.
Remember, that once the customer hits the spam button, they have shut their doors on you. In addition, frequent spam markings across a variety of targeted individuals can also mark your email server as a spam source by the e-mail program. Thus any future emails of yours are going to be automatically filtered out by the e-mail program in question – across the board.
It is easy to measure its impact and generate feedback
Direct marketing should be measured through the responses of the customers each type of action can be measured quantitatively somehow (emails opening\reply rate, purchase by phone call made, etc.).
The measurement objective is to determine the effectiveness of each campaign and to take corrective actions in order to maximize results (stop, increase budget, vary the supply, extend the period of implementation, etc.). Measuring the performance of each action serves to determine which campaigns should be repeated in the future and which campaigns would have their parameters modified.
In addition, feedback is used to generate data files and lessons learned, to implement similar actions in future direct marketing, and to assess the impact of marketing campaigns. Have in-house data collection and analysis is a very important tool to have, since recourse to third parties to run or analyze campaigns can be effective to attract new customers but will not give effective information and tailoring the campaigns by paying heed to the factors exclusive to your own organization.
Arrives wherever the customer is
Another advantage of direct marketing is that it arrives wherever the customer is. Thereby by providing the option to purchase products and services right off the bat. This takes the effort put into buying something out of the question for the customer and they can often make an impulsive decision that can prove quite beneficial for the party behind the direct marketing campaign.
It contributes to customer loyalty
Direct marketing when carried out appreciably, helps build customer loyalty. The direct relationship established in a marketing action makes it possible to better understand customers and make different decisions in real time to get to find a product or service that meets their needs or, if not possible, create a sales opportunity for the future.
A good direct marketing is always based on bidirectional communication, not only just send an informing message. They key lies in the expectation of a response – either in the form of a purchase or an input that allows better adjustment of price, product, service, etc. Hence it can be said that direct marketing is also serves as an interactive feature that is critical to getting customer loyalty and avoiding looking like a cold practice that is after fast cash.
It is available through multiple channels
Direct marketing have multiple channels for execution. New technologies have allowed companies to communicate their offers to customers in new ways; placing digital channels as a reference to generate sales. The major advantage of these new channels is the high capacity of interaction provided between business and the potential customers. You are only limited by the leads \ registered users you have and the human resource and the focus of the marketing department.
In conclusion, the type of marketing strategy that you employ is entirely up to your organization needs but direct marketing can prove quite a beneficial and cost-effective resource if put to use in an efficient and proper manner.