Learn About Direct Marketing
October 9, 2009 by admin
Filed under Advertising
To really learn about direct marketing and how you can use it to better your business you should first understand what direct marketing is.
According to Wikipedia, direct marketing is defined as “a sub discipline of marketing focused to driving purchases that can be attributed to a specific call to action”. This marketing discipline can include and medium that allows you to communicate directly with customers. Some examples of direct marketing include, direct mail, email, newspaper, radio, television, and of course the internet.
The main focus of any direct marketing strategy is to increase the number of customers that respond to your marketing campaign or “response rate” while also trying to decrease the cost of advertising. Increasing customer response to your advertising will accomplish two very important things. One, increase the number of sales leads generated by advertising, and two, further establish business name recognition.
The ability to properly communicate with your business’s target audience is an extremely important factor in your overall business success. As you learn about direct marketing; keep in mind that persistence really does pay.
One of the most important aspects of designing a successful direct marketing campaign is in targeting your audience. Developing a marketing campaign that speaks directly to your potential customer’s wants and needs will mean the difference between creating quality sales leads for your business and utter frustration at a lack of customer responsiveness.
Several important questions to answer when developing any direct marketing campaign are:
* Who..? Who are you targeting with your particular business message? Who are the people who would be most interested in hearing what you have to say?
* Why..? Do you just want people to review a few helpful products..or do you want them to retain your services?
* What…? What specific benefits are you offering through your message?
* When…? Are you looking for a more immediate response from your reader…or are you providing food for thought and building your relationship?
* Last but not least…How? How do you intend to present and distribute your message to your potential customers?
Your study of direct marketing will be an on going process. It’s important to understand what works for you and your business, what doesn’t, and why that is. The key to success will be in continuing to try different strategies and techniques in order to perfect a particular combination of things that work well for you.
Marketings Greatest Secret
Do you know what the best type of Marketing is for your company?
How about a Yellow Pages advert? Pay per click? Maybe some direct mail followed up a telemarketing campaign?
Well whilst each of these are perfectly valid marketing routes and one’s any forward thinking company should at least test the very best type of marketing for all types of business is the type that is FREE!!!
That’s right Ladies and Gentlemen, if you’re working with a tight marketing budget (or indeed with no set marketing budget at all) then you can now get exposure for your product, service or company in the form of PR (or Public Relations).
For large companies PR is big business. They will think nothing of employing staff with the sole intention of getting the name of their company in the media (be it written press, television, radio or online). And because the PR market is seemingly dominated by the larger companies small companies shy away from using PR in their marketing mix.
If this applies to you then good times could well be ahead as PR is a vital part of the marketing mix for smaller companies in particular as they often don’t have the time or money to spend on often expensive advertising or other marketing.
Successful businesses of all sizes use PR to promote their business, build their reputation and become a recognised expert in their particular field. And the beauty of PR is that everyone is an expert in something. And by passing on your expertise in a particular subject in the right way you become newsworthy.
And that is the real secret when it comes to good PR. It has to be interesting and newsworthy. Nobody cares that you’ve just launched a new website or that Mrs Jones in Accounts has just become a Grandmother for the second time (both subjects I’ve seen in press releases and both subjects I’ve seen in journalist’s bins!!). And if you’ve ever attempted PR only not to have it published then I wouldn’t worry too much about it as you’re amongst the 99% of companies who send out PR that isn’t newsworthy or interesting.
Here are a few words on Why PR is important.
Communication lies at the heart of today’s modern society. Be it on the internet, television, pod casts or whatever medium you choose. And with so many firms competing for the same business as you, how do your customers differentiate between you and your competitors?
The answer lies not particularly in the size of your Yellow Pages advert but how you project yourself and what your firm has to offer.
PR has a huge sway in the minds of consumers as the perceived third party endorsement that comes from editorial coverage can be substantial, maybe even more so than advertising that can cost hundreds or thousands of pounds.
PR done well can result in increased exposure, increased business and increased profits. And if you want your business to be the best it can be then becoming good at PR is something you want to do.
And remember, it’s FREE!!!!
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The Building Blocks of Effective Marketing
Whether you’re starting a new business or attempting to grow an existing one, it’s easy to spin your wheels when it comes to effective marketing. Often times, business owners will try to make a big splash by running a large ad in a local newspaper or a television commercial during the most expensive time slot. While these will probably be seen, they probably won’t have much impact because there is often no repetition. The business owner runs them once (or a few times) and then simply stops with the conclusion that advertising doesn’t work. In order to achieve results from any form of advertising, you need repetition of your message. This has always been true, but it’s even more important with the number of marketing messages that today’s consumers are presented each day.
If you’re ready to start marketing your business, begin with the basic building blocks to form your foundation and grow from there.
Network — many networking events can be found in just about any city or town. If you, like most business owners, are short on time, focus on the ones that are during the evening hours. In many cases, these events are free, so the only cost is your time. Networking is a great way to make face to face contact with prospects without the distractions you would normally face during the work day. All you need is a handful of business cards, a winning smile and a great attitude.
Business cards — Obviously, you’ll need them for networking and sales calls. Don’t forget all the other ways you can distribute them. Business cards a an easy and inexpensive way to generate exposure for your business.
Direct mail — You don’t need to mail to a list of 50,000 for direct mail to be effective, you just need to be consistent. You can have 1,000 postcards printed, affix postage and labels yourself, and mail out 50 or 100 to the same targeted list each week. As you begin to generate revenue from this, you can increase the size of your mailing list.
Web site — If you don’t have a web site, you are wrong. Plain and simple. Web sites aren’t just for e commerce, nor are they just for large companies. These days, people use the internet for comparing companies and without a web site, you’re out of the running. You don’t need all of the bells and whistles, but you do need an effective and professional web site.
There you have it. The basic building blocks you’ll need to effectively market your business. With these blocks in place, you can begin to add additional things, such as search engine optimization, television and radio advertising, or billboards. The idea is to build a foundation, and as you achieve results, add more to your marketing campaign.
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