How is a direct marketing campaign developed?

[Reyed Mia (Apprentice, DIU)]

How is a direct marketing campaign developed?

Effective direct marketing begins with data. Marketers examine categories of customers or prospects they think will be interested in their product or service, and develop or procure lists for making contacts.

Lists can be obtained through public or commercial sources, and may represent all the people in a particular neighborhood, all the people who entered a contest drawing, all the people who opted in to a newsletter, a customer list from another business, etc. Such lists should not be used indiscriminately; instead, the data should be analyzed to create messages and offers that are likely to be relevant to these customers or prospects.

A direct marketing campaign may use multiple communications channels including mail, e-mail, phones, and face-to-face contact (See also Direct Mail Marketing). Different channels will be selected based on the target group. For example, a new restaurant might prefer distributing flyers or leaflets door to door, which saves money on mailing costs, targets the restaurant's immediate neighborhood, and provides an opportunity for person-to-person engagement. Face-to-face engagement might also be used for in-store marketing. Home Depot In-Home Services, for instance, uses direct marketers in their stores to generate leads for various home improvement programs, such as cabinet resurfacing.

Often different communications channels can be combined. For example, a direct mail advertisement may include a QR (quick response) code, allowing recipients to immediately follow and engage the message online.

Every direct marketing campaign should feature a specific call to action. Often this is for an immediate purchase ("Pick up the phone and call right now to order"), but it doesn't have to be—it could be a preliminary step leading to a sale. A direct marketing effort might acquire stronger leads for a particular sales force, perhaps calling customers to schedule appointments for consultations. Other calls to action might involve a "sale" that isn't a financial one, such as when a non-profit organization uses direct marketing to recruit volunteers.

All direct marketing communications must include some method with which to track responses. A call to action might direct customers to call a specific number exclusive to that campaign, or to click on a link to a website with a landing page that exclusively handles responses from a given campaign (See also Post-Click Marketing). Direct marketers use the response-rate data to gauge how effective their communication is, and whether or not it needs to be changed for the next release. Such data is not only used to adjust the immediate campaign, but is also coordinated with data from other campaigns in order to present the direct marketing team with a better overall picture of their target markets. The data can then be used to more effectively optimize communication for specific market segments.

Acting on feedback from a campaign is essential for effective direct marketing. Poor direct marketing only wastes resources on a low rate of return and annoys prospective customers. In fact, an overabundance of blanket marketing has resulted in laws that make all direct marketing more difficult. For example, laws require direct marketing communications to include an opt-out option, and entirely prohibit certain methods or times of contact. Besides such legal actions, private industry has also responded to customer annoyance with spam by providing e-mail filters that block such marketing. Therefore, wise direct marketers must be careful to avoid frustrating prospective customers, and work to target them with relevant and useful messages and promotions that will be received not as "spam," but as good business information.

http://www.marketing-schools.org/types-of-marketing/direct-marketing.html#link4