99 Tips for Direct-Mail Marketing

Direct mail is one of the most important pieces of your marketing plan. Developing and executing the campaign can many times be a thankless job. Today's mailing regulations can get complicated--postage rates are changing and the flood of mail makes it harder to stand out. The right message is very important and must get to the target prospect in the right way on a frequent basis. Capturing your reader has to happen fast and your reader must be motivated to take action. By opening the below link you can get 99 direct mail marketing tips to ensure that you get the right message to the right target--in the right way.

Source:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/guerillamarketing/article193436.html

An inside view of Direct Marketing

target your customers

Many people have the misconception of grouping advertising and direct marketing as the same thing, yet they are so fundamentally different. Advertising is a form of marketing communications, it is not a method of selling or a channel distribution. With advertising you seek to create, build or maintain awareness of a product or service, when done well it supports the selling process. Advertising is used to gain attention, stimulate interest and provoke desire. Advertising when done in conjunction with direct marketing can be very effective.

Direct marketing on the other hand is not only a form of marketing communications, but is also a channel of distribution. There are many forms of direct marketing including direct mail, radio, catalogs, and opt-in emails. With advertising you create awareness with a potential customer, with direct marketing you provoke action. You need the action to make sense of your advertising dollars. With direct marketing you are taking the opportunity directly to the consumer, if you have the right message you will see real time result.

Source:

http://www.smg2020.com/

Direct Mail Marketing

The term "direct marketing" was coined in the 1970s by Lester Wunderman who honed direct mail marketing techniques with brands such as Amex and Columbia Record Company. Direct marketing is a practice within marketing that utilizes planned recording, analysis and tracking of individual customers' responses and dealings for the purpose of fostering protracted mutually profitable customer rapport.

Direct mail advertising is a form of marketing in which messages are sent directly to consumers using "addressable" media such as mail and email rather than via third party media like a public billboard. Target mailing lists are used in business to business direct mail marketing and business to consumer direct mail marketing so that the service or commodity marketed is appealing to the recipient. Direct mail begs a response and it is this direct mail lead (reply mail, phone call, fax back) that allows the marketer to continue on with the direct mail campaign, whether through a follow-up call or future direct mail letters.

Employing a direct mail company or direct mail services such as a direct mail printer is very attractive to marketers because the direct mail response can be closely measured.

Source: http://www.directmailmarketing.com/direct-marketing.html

Direct Marketing.

What is Direct Marketing?
Direct marketing is a channel free approach to distribution and/or marketing communications. So a company may have a strategy of dealing with its customers 'directly,' for example banks (such as CityBank) or computer manufacturers (such as Dell). There are no channel intermediaries i.e. distributors, retailers or wholesalers. Therefore - 'direct' in the sense that the deal is done directly between the manufacturer and the customer.

As mentioned above, 'direct' also in the sense that marketing communications are targeted at consumers by the manufacturers. For example, a brand that uses channels of distribution would target marketing communications at wholesalers/distributors, retailers, and consumers, or a blend of all three. On the other hand, a direct marketing company could focus upon communicating directly with its customers. Direct marketing and direct mail are often confused - although direct mail is a direct marketing tool.

There are a number of direct marketing media other than direct mail. These include (and are by no means limited to):

• Inserts in newspapers and magazines.

• Customer care lines.

• Catalogues.

• Coupons.

• Door drops.

• TV and radio adverts with free phone numbers or per-minute-charging.

• . . . and finally - and most importantly - The Internet and New Media.


Reference: http://www.smartplanet.com/people/