Direct Marketing

Direct Marketing

Direct marketing encloses all market-directed activities, which leverage themselves to single-step (direct) communication and the direct distribution or dispatch trade to reach target groups in individual single addresses straight. It furthermore includes activities, which facilitate and support multi-stage communication to establish a direct, individual contact. Direct marketing is often equated falsely with dialogue marketing or One-to-One-Marketing (comparable, but with other main focus - i.e., the form of the communication is also given there via media, but personal).

With direct marketing new customers can be won immediately and make first buyers regular customers by promoting loyalty. Different from the classical advertisements like announcements, TV ads or radio advertisements, direct marketing reaches the entire target group.

Mailings and phone marketing are directed exclusively at the well-chosen customer group or address list. And exactly here lies the cause for a successful action or a less successful direct marketing.

The direct contact with the potential buyer can only be successful if the information given about the customer is in a current stage. If the customers address data does not tune any more, i.e. he has moved, direct marketing is worthless. With e-mail to newsletters this is rarely the case in today’s society, since the costs entailed are relatively low. It is the contrary though with expensive Mailings or phone actions. Only who uses topical contact data of the highest quality, will be able to register as great success in direct marketing as in the classical marketing. In this case the expenditure of a generally professional Database marketing is always worthwhile. Nevertheless, the best results are achievable with direct marketing if direct marketing actions are combined with other marketing actions. The consumer encounters the product or the service on numerous ways and, through this, is more likely to make the...