Are you’re considering the idea of direct marketing to reach the right customers? While direct mail marketing is considered a traditional type of marketing, direct marketing doesn’t have to be the post office mail distribution.
Direct Marketing provide benefits because it is a very targeted approach. You’re reaching out to potential customers and clients who are predisposed to your service offerings or products.
There are 3 components to direct marketing: 1) the Creative 2) the Offer and 3) the LIST.
For what ever reason it seems most people spend too much time writing and editing the creative.
They put hours into the brochure, switching photos around and rewriting every each word.
In general, they spend just a fraction of the time working on the offer, the reason someone will contact them back. The offer may have a deadline or special price or extra value.
Unfortunately many business people who are marketing directly to their target market don’t realize how important the list they use is until it is time to send it. So they rush out and buy any old list.
Unfortunately, that’s all backwards. The most important part of a direct marketing program is your list. You should be creating your own in house list. One that you OWN. It should be your best customers, your “hot” leads, your potential customers and acquaintances of your business. A house list is the best list and an investment in your business.
Using a rented list that was compiled from a phone company list or even a chamber of commerce will not provide a good return on investment (in general). You’ll want to work to get a strong list of your customers and potential customers for marketing.
So, you can reap the benefits of direct marketing by really focusing on the list, making the offer important and just get the creative done without working on it over and over. Remember who you are marketing to is the most important component.
How do you cultivate your list? Have you fully defined your target market?