What is direct marketing? And is it relevant online?

Thursday, February 16, 2012

The internet is a fascinating commercial landscape to operate in. Search engines test numerous new variations of their search algorithms every day. Online businesses rise and fall. Social networks spring up then die back. New technologies, tools, platforms and widgets pop up and take us by surprise. It's a proper moveable feast. 

Luckily, whatever the marketing medium, us humans behave in much the same way when we're buying stuff. Which means direct marketing is just as relevant online as it is offline. 

So what is direct marketing? 

Direct marketing drives attributable sales. The words and design push readers towards a buying decision. You provide at least one response mechanism in your campaign. You include strong calls to action. People buy as a direct result of seeing your advert or email, auto-responder message or web page. And you can track them back to their origin, establishing what return on investment you have or haven't made on a campaign by campaign basis.  

Brand advertising is about creating brand, service and product awareness and nurturing desire, in the hope that you'll eventually fall in love with a brand and buy what's being advertised. TV adverts are usually about brand building, as are posh ads in glossy magazines. If there's no 'ask', it isn't direct marketing. Car, cosmetic, retailer, food and fast moving consumer goods adverts don't usually end with an appeal for the viewer to 'call this number and buy now'.

When you think about it, every business website is a miniature exercise in direct marketing. Most online businesses want people to respond directly to the site's content by either phoning, emailing or buying instantly. Very few business websites these days are simply 'brochure sites' with no purpose beyond passive brand support.     

One of the best things about today's best content and customer management platforms is the way they take direct marketing principles and practices into account up front. You don't need to set up a separate account elsewhere to run email campaigns and set up a suite of auto-responder messages. There are facilities for data capture and manipulation. You get a load of integral stats so you can track exactly what's happening, when and why. All in one place. Which goes a long way towards getting your business in good direct marketing shape. 

Ask Chris about Adobe Business Catalyst. When your business sits on ABC, it's as easy as one, two three!