Direct Marketing: What Are The Best Tools To Use? |
Direct Marketing:
What Are The Best Tools To Use?
What is Direct Marketing and what tools can you use for an
effective communication strategy? Find out all the details on the PMI Blog
Direct Marketing is one of the most effective tools a
company has at its disposal to achieve its communication objectives. In
particular, its strength comes from the ability to be able to measure results
and understand if a certain strategy is getting feedback.
What is meant by Direct Marketing? This definition identifies a type of advertising campaign that seeks to have a specific action carried out by a small group of consumers, in response to a communication action carried out by the seller.
This communication can take different
formats: ordinary mail, telemarketing, operations within the point of sale. A
fundamental aspect is that the way in which the consumer responds is
measurable: if you offer a discount coupon for a purchase on your e-commerce,
you should include a pixel to know if the user has used that code to make
purchases.
· Improvement of loyalty strategies
· Direct Marketing, the tools to analyze
· Three (effective) examples of Direct Marketing
· How to start a Direct Marketing campaign
· The advantages of Direct Marketing
Direct Marketing allows you to promote your product or
service directly to your audience of results, and to quickly measure the target
audience for buyer personas. This is a fact, but it is not the only advantage
that such a strategy offers. Indeed, six can be identified:
· Segmentation and elevation targeting
·
Budget optimization
·
Increase in sales from current customers
·
Improvement of loyalty strategies
·
Creating new opportunities
·
Verification and analysis of results
·
Segmentation and elevation targeting
One of the main advantages of Direct Marketing is the
ability to reach different audiences through personalized messages. If you want
to be successful, you need to invest time to find those consumers who are most
likely to turn into customers. Therefore, you must direct your efforts towards
advertising / communication tools that reach them and that are attractive to
them.
Budget Optimization
Target a specific audience to allow for non-impossible goals
and increase sales for a reduced spending possibility. If you want to properly
optimize your direct campaign, get results with only a small percentage of the
cost of traditional advertising.
Increase In Sales From Current Customers
Direct Marketing allows you to communicate with your current
customers to live the relationship, and allows you to get back in touch with
the "old" ones, generating new sales opportunities.
Improvement Of Loyalty Strategies
If you have direct contact with your customers you can study
personalized promotions, e-mails and offers to create an instant bond.
Creation Of New Business Opportunities
Direct Marketing allows you to keep up with market demands,
and to respond more effectively to various needs.
Verification And Analysis Of Results
Direct response campaigns allow you to measure results in
real time. Take the opportunity to get the most out of your tests and to make
decisions in real time.
Direct Marketing, The Tools To Analyze
But what are the ideal tools to carry out Direct Marketing?
What can set your strategy in motion?
- Commercial break
- database
- Internet Marketing
- Telemarketing
Commercial Break
Advertising creates awareness and strengthens brand
recognition by attracting customers to physical or online stores. The forms of
push advertising typical of Direct Marketing are: flyers, coupons, direct mail,
email, social media, telemarketing (door-to-door visits, once very popular, are
now reserved for very limited sectors).
Database
A database of names and information of people and companies
is probably the most important direct marketing tool, because it requires
contact - in fact, direct - between company and customer.
Businesses can create their own database by compiling a
customer who visits their stores or shopping online, directory by collecting
the email addresses of visitors who have signed up to receive product
information or company news by email, and by using company directories
available in the Chambers of Commerce: all the precious data to set up data
driven campaigns.
Internet Marketing
The Internet is an important direct marketing tool due to
its ease of use, low advertising costs and the ability to reach a global
market. Email remains the main vehicle for delivering personalized marketing
messages to individuals and companies: this is the so-called email marketing,
to be completed with advertising on social media (equally direct, but capable
of reaching even those who are not already customer). Social media can in fact
connect a company with new fans and followers, who can then be converted into
customers using a direct marketing campaign via email.
Telemarketing
Telemarketing is an affordable direct marketing tool for
businesses. Call lists are extracted from phone and cell phone lists, and an
automated system dials the numbers in random order. calling scripts, callers
typically try to sell products or services, such as mobile phone plans or cable
subscriptions, such as asking if the person responding to has seen ads for a
particular supplement and is aware of its potential benefits.
Three (effective) examples of Direct Marketing
The most powerful and innovative marketing strategies will have
to provoke a reaction in the target audience, using content delivered directly
to the consumer, both Direct Marketing and via email. A very striking graphic
design, a product that amazes or a video that touches the heartstrings of the
listener, can elicit a direct response from the consumer.
Advertising Spot
The commercial is a great opportunity for companies, if used
in the right way, but it is also a good way for agencies to show their skills.
If they put all their creativity into strategy and use truly effective
advertising techniques, the campaign will be remembered for a long time by the
public. A commercial that leaves its mark is a great example of Direct
Marketing.
Copyright
A Prague branding agency with over 15 years of experience in
global campaigns has devised a direct marketing plan with impactful copy
("We'll give our blood for a good brand") and graphic design that it
lived up to the message. It truly is one of the greatest direct marketing
examples of recent times. Especially since, the agency mailed bags of blood
(obviously fake) and emails on the same line, and placed an image of two
doctors carrying a blood bag as the main photo of its website.
Canva
The beauty of Canva emails lies in their simplicity. When
Canva creates a new design concept, it advertises it to all its subscribers by
sending them an email, so they know and can start applying the new template in
their presentations and infographics.
How To Start A Direct Marketing Campaign
To study a Direct Marketing Campaign you must first of all
know and understand who you are targeting. You can find many mailing lists by
industry on the market, but you always have to put your personal touch on them
to find users who are really interested in your product.
To get started, you can attempt a content-based inbound
marketing campaign (such as a downloadable pdf of a recipe). Don't forget,
however, that all you need to do is segment your contact list. Like?
For example, by
identifying how often they visit your site or the products / services they are
interested in. Do you want to try to do an email campaign? Take care of the
details: object, copy, images and call to action. Nothing in your email
marketing campaign has to be random. Align creativity and segmentation, and
enter a pixel: only then can you accurately measure how effective that campaign
will be. Finally, use campaigns to carry out A / B testing, and to find out
what really works with your audience.
Once you've built your email, it's time to launch your Direct Marketing campaign: send a test email to make sure everything runs smoothly, and start the campaign. But be careful: as with social networks and other digital advertising tools, you must send the email at the ideal time and day to avoid downtime and not fall into oblivion.
Once sent, leave a reasonable window of time before drawing
conclusions, since not everyone looks at their e-mail immediately. Next,
analyze the results of the campaign: how many people have opened the mail,
clicked or converted? If you've tried multiple versions, what worked best and
why? Use these conclusions for the next campaign. Remember: good planning and
preparation is the key to success for digital marketing professionals.
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