Reach your customers directly with these low-cost techniques
Direct marketing is one of the most effective means of promoting your business and reaching potential clients. It’s especially popular among small startup businesses, whose goal is to gain customers without spending too much on publicity and advertising. In some ways, it’s even a better alternative to using the media, not only because it’s cheaper, but also because it lets you talk directly to your customers and monitor your progress.
However, direct marketing may not work for every business, and it takes skill and strategy to get the most out of the process. Here are some things to keep in mind if you’re interested in using direct marketing to promote your business:
- Using direct mail – This is the most commonly used form of direct marketing. In direct mail, you send promotional material to potential clients via post, usually providing contact information so they can get in touch with you if they’re interested. People are more inclined to take action if you give them the tools to do so, so you may want to include an order form or a postage-paid envelope which they can send back to place their orders.
- Know your market – Don’t just send mail to everyone on your list – this is not only expensive for you, but annoying for your recipients as well. Send your material to people who are interested in your product and most likely to respond. If you’re selling life insurance, for example, you want your mail to reach executives and working adults, not high school students. Knowing and targeting the right market will increase your chances of getting positive response and keep your material from getting labeled junk.
- Direct mail vs junk mail – There’s a fine line between direct marketing and “spamming,” or sending large volumes of unsolicited material to a large number of recipients. Junk mail is usually sent to people from a general mailing list, while direct mail involves market research to identify which recipients are eligible and genuinely interested in your business. But most people don’t notice the difference and just discard everything that appears mass-mailed. To keep yours from passing off as junk mail, make it look personalized – include your recipient’s name and address, mention common interests with your business, and use a warm, friendly tone.
- Using other media – Another way to reach your target market is to use magazines and newspapers. Look for publishers relevant to your field that will let you enclose coupons, mailing forms, and brochures in their publications. This eliminates the need to look up listings and rate consumer eligibility, and helps you cut down on mailing costs. Most publications will charge you for the service.Promotional email can also be considered direct marketing. It works the same way as direct mail, except that you point recipients to online forms or websites. It’s easier to personalize and design email content, but most email programs today have spam blockers that filter out such messages and label them as junk mail.
Conclusion
Direct marketing offers great potential as a PR tool. With the right knowledge and proper planning, any company can use direct marketing to enhance their business and gain more clients.