What is direct marketing?
What is direct marketing?Direct marketing occurs when businesses address customers through a multitude of channels, including mail, e-mail, phone, and in person. Direct marketing messages involve a specific "call to action," such as "Call this toll-free-number" or "Click this link to subscribe." The results of such campaigns are immediately measurable, as a business can track how many customers have responded through a message's call to action.
In contrast, general advertising—for example, a billboard promoting a brand concept or product awareness—while seen by the customer, does not call for a specific response, and therefore cannot be easily measured. A marketer doesn't know exactly how effective such a billboard is, or how many people are thinking about and buying the product because of the billboard. However, because of the specific call to action, he or she does know exactly how many people responded to a direct mailing.
http://www.marketing-schools.org/types-of-marketing/direct-marketing.html