Monthly Archives: March 2011
Direct Marketing Network
Direct marketing is a way of advertising directly to the consumer through fliers, catalogues promotions
and street campaigns. Traditional methods of advertising such as radio, television and news papers are
not used in direct marketing. Telemarketing, email marketing, leaflet distribution, broadcast faxing and voice mail marketing are some of the methods considered as direct marketing.
Direct marketing has definite characteristics in its marketing style, which differentiates it from
other marketing methods, such as the ability to directly reach the consumer without the use of
intervening communication media, and the ability to be able to track and measure the positive
responses received by the consumer.
Direct marketing is mostly used by small to medium business enterprises, which may not have a well
recognized branding and also which run on limited budgets.
Direct marketing methods are generally very precise, with what it wants to convey to the consumer.
Direct marketing is mainly popular due to its ability to track and measure the positive responses.
Even though direct marketing is considered as measurable, in certain instances such as email marketing, it is not possible to measure how many of the emails were effectively read and how many were treated as junk or spam.
Network marketing which creates a direct marketing network is a popular method of marketing. It is a multi level form of marketing where the sales people or marketers reach out to the consumers through other known parties, creating a direct marketing network. The direct marketing network is based on a hierarchical structure where the company concerned is at the top of the direct marketing network. The marketers and the sales man, who are mostly employed by this company, are at the next level of the direct marketing network, where they are solely responsible for the marketing and sales of the products or services.
These marketers, unofficially, or in some instances officially, get the assistance of people outside
the company, to market through word of mouth, distribution of fliers, propagating emails and various other direct marketing methods thus distributing their work load to reach a large number of consumers. The direct marketing network is not static and can keep growing due to the number of marketers building up in the bottom level.
Taking into consideration promotional activities through email, it gives a clear picture as to how this direct marketing network is built up. Promotions are decided by the heads of the marketing team which is then distributed to the marketers for emailing. The marketers in turn send these promotional emails to consumers, whose email addresses, are available with them. For propagation purposes these emails are sent with a prize tagged to it, which in most cases offer, entry to a raffle draw, if the advertisement email is forwarded to a specified number of email addresses. Due to the attractive prizes on offer the receivers of this email forward it to many other recipient s, assisting the direct marketing network to grow.
Direct Response Marketing
When it comes to direct response marketing, remember that there is a great deal of information that you need to be aware of. Needless to say, this is something that you must ensure you learn if you want to gather all the positives regarding direct response marketing. The worst thing that can happen is that you end up learning about information that is erroneous and not that useful. So it is best that you refer the sites that promise you clarity and truthfulness when it comes to information on direct response marketing. Ensure that you thing of why exactly you need to know about direct response marketing as well.
All in all, you are assured of getting the entire information that you need thanks to the great degree of resources that are present within cyberspace. As a general definition, direct response marketing is all about eliciting a direct response from the audience. While this is different from direct marketing, you must remember that direct response marketing is something that is more quantifiable and therefore more specific. Also, remember that there is the prospect of finding out what the various forms of direct response marketing is. For instance, one form is known as the infomercial.
There are of course many companies out there that can help you when it comes to direct response marketing. You just need to ensure that you know what exactly your requirements are. This is of course easier said than done especially when there are so many factors that need to be considered. Just remember that you must think of being focused on the task at hand. It is the usual practice to call upon various companies and to get them to give you a proposal and a presentation on how they can make direct response marketing work for you.
Needless to say, this will take some effort since you need to do some research on what they can offer as well. What this means is that you cannot at any point be naïve when it comes to direct response marketing. So it is best that you do some reading and understanding when it comes to direct response marketing. Having said that, you are assured of making the right choice when it comes to choosing the right direct response marketing strategy. Last but not least, makes sure that you consider all these tips and advice before you plunge in and make an investment.
As a rule of thumb, make sure that you never rush into this. This is the worst thing that you can do since you are playing with money here. Go through a specific screening process when you are choosing a direct response marketing company.
Direct Mail Statistics
Direct mail is a form of marketing that entails the delivery of advertising material and promotional pamphlets to the postal address of chosen recipients. The efficacy of such campaigns needs to be monitored, and direct mail statistics provides an ample benchmark for entrepreneurs to work with.
The industry average for direct mail statistics is approximately 2%. To elaborate further, this means that every hundred promotional mails sent, elicit just two responses, on average.
Direct mail statistics should not be held up as a target to be achieved. Instead, it should be used for comparative purposes, only. Also, when making comparisons, entrepreneurs should take into account, the fact that different products, different industries and different markets, command varied response rates that may fluctuate from the industry average.
When comparing direct mail statistics, it is also important to pay attention to the context of the leaflets sent out, when judging the response rate and its efficacy. For instance, direct mail advertising which offers free promotions, discounts, prizes and such like, would command a far higher response rate than others which merely describe a product or service.
The efficacy of a direct mail campaign can be gauged by measuring the cost of conducting such a promotion against the value of sales generated from the afore-mentioned campaign. Therefore, at the planning stage, direct mail statistics can help entrepreneurs gauge an approximate breakeven point of such a campaign.
Some say that the internet is a goldmine of information. This is never more true than in the case of obtaining direct mail statistics via the Web. This is because direct mail statistics, be it direct mail marketing statistics, direct mail advertising statistics or direct mail response statistics can be obtained, with a mere click of a button, now. Updated direct mail statistics for the annum too, could be obtained without too much difficulty, if the entrepreneur wishes to do so.
Opponents of direct mail advertising campaigns, now, even offer direct mail statistics with regard to its impact on the environment. For instance, thought provoking statements with regard to the amount of trees felled and landfills created as a result of direct mail, is highlighted by certain environmentalists.
Direct mail statistics are of particular use to small and medium sized business organizations. This is due to the fact that it is such organizations that generally engage in direct mail marketing; which in turn, is partly due to the limited resources they possess to carry out more conventional advertising campaigns.
As can be clearly seen, direct mail is a form of advertising that is popular even today. Therefore the importance of obtaining direct mail statistics reverberates within such interest groups; as it provides valuable data, which can be used for comparative purposes, fine-tuned to suit different circumstances, whatever they may be.
Direct Marketing Plan
Choosing the right direct marketing plan can actually be a real pain especially when you know that there is a whole heap of plans out there. Yet this should not deter you at all since the right direct marketing plan all depends on what exactly you want to achieve. If you are an executive in a company then you must remember that you do need to get the proper help or assistance from an organization that is well versed in this subject. This is of course easier said than done when you know that there are so many companies out there that offer you success but really do fall short of expectations.
The best thing that you can do is to learn about your business well and then try to come up with a direct marketing plan on your own. This way you will be forced to understand the whole concept of what a direct marketing plan is and what your requirements are. The reason as to why you should do a research on your own is because it will help you understand the subject of inbound and out bound marketing. This would surely be beneficial to you in the long term.
Also as far as theories go, there is a whole list of plans out there that will certainly benefit you. However, if you consider yourself an amateur then you do need to make sure that you are on top of things. There are many resources present online that will help you understand what a direct marketing plan is all about. Needless to say, it is this self-learning that will help you understand the whole aspect of marketing. Moreover, you must also think of expanding your knowledge by discovering more about direct marketing plan. This does not mean that you should run off to do a double degree in marketing; rather what it means is to be abreast of the latest happenings in marketing.
Once you have sufficiently understood what a direct marketing plan is then you can go on to refer many companies that would offer you some form of support. This would certainly be helpful for you. One tip that you should consider is to state your requirement and then get an outsourced company to do a direct marketing plan presentation for you. This will go a long way in helping you find out whether you both are on the same page.
Finally, make sure that you do play Devils Advocate so that you can iron out any possible wrongs that may be present in the direct marketing plan. This would certainly be beneficial to you in the long term when it comes to accepting that final direct marketing plan.