7 Ways To Make Direct Marketing Efficient

7 Ways of Decreasing Risks and Make Direct Marketing Efficient

Direct marketing means choosing various media channels – like text messaging, emails, websites, fliers, promotional letters or catalog distribution – to reach out directly to the customers. Most of the times, a direct marketing strategy is followed by an evaluation, which aims to measure the impact of reaching out.

It can be risky to launch a direct marketing campaign and many failures have driven business owners in an unhealthy state of uncertainty and disappointment, but there are ways of decreasing the risks and make direct marketing efficient. Here are a 7 strategies that will help you climb up the direct marketing ladder.

#1. Direct Marketing on Budget

A lot of thought is put into the creative side of a marketing and advertising campaign, but you always find yourself battling with tight budgets and schedules for the logistics part. Make sure to get in touch with a convenient, affordable printing shop that can do the job without ripping you off. You need to add value to your campaign, which means you have to stop wasting cash on promotions that don’t include rebates, sales or bonuses.

As a business owner, you must find a way to climb up the ladder and provide your audience with a reason to buy your product. Make your offer unique by providing value without going over budget. To maximize returns, it might be a good idea to have prospective customers redeem a coupon or code, thus helping you measure the success rate of your campaign.

Looking great on paper is a must – a well-crafted logo and brand design make you stand out. Your message will be delivered with a lot more ease, and your direct marketing campaign will have a bigger impact. Pay close attention to basic design rules, and follow them to the letter. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t get a little creative. If your skills in software and web design are limited, it might be a good idea to hire a graphic designer.

It is equally important to use an excellent quality printer. Look for a brand with a reputation and ask for a sample kit. It will help you see the quality of an ad or billboard prior to putting it out there. As for pricing, it should be negotiated. A nice deal will save you thousands, especially when you have a limited budget for printing flyers, emails, and ads.

#2. Choose Your Printing Partner Smartly

#3. Use Content Marketing To The Max

Every campaign you will do or research you did previously will teach you something. Don’t just use these lessons to meditate upon on a quiet beach, apply them as quickly as possible to your next campaign and learn actively from them. For example, if one of your previous campaigns received a lot of questions from your customers, be sure to include a FAQ in your next release and be a step ahead of them.

If you noticed that people have questions, be there to answer. Comment on social media and make an attempt to clear their doubts. The content that you publish online has to be transparent. Tell the truth and don’t beat around the bush. In the marketing environment, the goal may be to sell; but to do that you must first get attention and make visitors trust that what you have to offer is qualitative.

#4. Content Across Different Channels

You did your homework and you have a Facebook page, an email campaign, a Youtube blog and direct advertising put in place. Don’t think of them as separate entities, as they must work together in keeping your brand unitary and work in a symbiosis. If you have an email only campaign, promote it on Facebook! If you are giving free samples in a street corner, let Instagram users know about it!

Create a seamless experience by making use of both online and offline marketing channels. By blending Facebook campaigns with weekly brick and mortar advertising you get more people interested and you have better chances of looking trustworthy. Many people don’t believe in the power of the internet. They want to test a product before buying it, so an offline direct marketing campaign might be exactly what they want to be able to confide that your material is the real deal.

#5. Test Affiliate Marketing

Sometimes, it’s best to delegate instead of doing everything yourself. These days, there are plenty of companies specialized in bringing traffic to a website or creating SEO friendly content. Find out what your best partners would be and set a relationship with them to maximize your chances. Affiliate marketing can have a lot of benefits, but it must be done right.

They say you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer. In email marketing, it’s all about befriending the competition. Negotiate a deal and merge campaigns; offer your competitors something they can’t refuse and both of you will have a lot to gain.

#6. Remnant Print Ad Space

After you have found a good print company that partnered up with you, don’t just limit yourself to the printing orders; find out if they have any remnant space you could use. You can’t imagine how cost efficient this will be! Just asking your partners about any special offers or perks will give you more space to advertise and save you a lot of money.

#7. Do a Proper Segmentation of Your Customers

One of the main weaknesses of direct marketing is that it is often a trial and error strategy and you always have to follow up with an evaluation of your campaign. The smartest thing to do before actually starting to build up your strategies is to do a proper segmentation of your customers. Going out there blindly is incredibly expensive and risky. You will want to invest in focus groups and market research that will tell you who are the people you are addressing, what and how they like most. You will then be able to identify the main targets in your domain and treat them all individually.

Climbing up the marketing ladder is easier said than done. To make it this cut-throat business environment, ones must prove they can provide value. Both offline and online marketing techniques must work as a single entity for your business goals to reach the masses. A membership card print can help you appear trustworthy in front of current customers, but you need to grab more attention. This is where social media comes in. Share information they can understand and work with, and above anything else, be honest.

7 Ways of Decreasing Risks and Make Direct Marketing Efficient