Direct Marketing Isn’t Dead, It’s Growing

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Kevin Price, Host of the Price of Business on Business Talk 1110 AM KTEK (on Bloomberg’s home in Houston)

 

Direct marketing, to contrary belief, isn’t a dying industry.  Many so-called marketers will speculate on the status of direct marketing, suggesting that – with the commercialization of the internet – the viability of the direct marketing product might perhaps be less useful than it once was.  Despite this, although many in the direct marketing industry have left and become web-based marketers, jumping on the net bandwagon, there’s still a lot of mileage in a strong direct marketing campaign.  In fact, the industry is growing.  So, if you want to effectively pursue a direct marketing strategy, here’s some strict advice that’ll help ensure your campaign works to its maximum potential.

Visibility

Direct marketing works when the marketing material you’ve produced stands out against that of your competition when it’s sat on the doorstep of your audience. There are two ways to make sure that your audience picks out your product over your competition’s, through: (1) colour, and/or (2) material.  In other words, a fluorescent green envelope will be immediately visible to your audience amongst the 20 or so other white or brown envelopes. Additionally, a thick corrugated card material would give the product a luxury edge. Look to a company like All Colour Envelopes for inspiration.

The Feedback Loop 

You might wonder about how to track the success of a direct marketing campaign, and the truth is that there’s direct tracking method like there is with online marketing. Instead, however, there are indirect methods which actually produce highly relevant information.  A great way to access these figures would be something like the following:  if your product is a catalogue, you could include a discount code on the back cover for your store, and then once the campaign is over, you could measure what percentage of the people who received a catalogue used the code. You can then use this information to better target the perfect audience for you.

A Unique Voice

The most well suited businesses and companies to a direct marketing campaign are those with strong USPs, and a relatively independent brand image. This is because the direct marketing space is so crowded, so it’s essential to be able to stand out. Besides the colour and material of your product, it’s important to also offer something unique. An eye-catching slogan or even something as simple as a risky word or joke will help your marketing to stand out.

Ultimately, quirkiness is cool, meaning that if you want to effectively direct market anything, don’t just stick to your guns.