Spring is the perfect time to begin a direct marketing campaign. The excesses of Christmas and the attendant dose of New Year’s blues that affect that affects many consumers is over. The over-optimistic New Year Resolutions have given way to more serious plans for self-improvement over the rest of the year. Longer days and shorter nights make people feel more positive and better-inclined to buy products and services. The key is getting them to buy yours.
This is where direct marketing comes in. If you’ve never attempted a direct marketing campaign before, this handy beginner’s guide will give you everything you need to know:
Direct marketing is an umbrella term that covers various methods of getting physical promotional material (leaflets, brochures, mailshots, and the like) into the hands of people who are likely to be interested in your product or service. It’s the ‘in real life’ equivalent of online marketing campaign, but with several advantages all its own.
This is a common misconception. People look at the difference in investment between putting together an email or social media post and creating an attractive and eye-catching piece of marketing literature and assume that direct marketing will be a costly enterprise. While it may require more money upfront, studies have shown that direct marketing offers a greater return on investment than the online alternatives.
The answer is simple: a targeted audience. Using a variety of customer databases and analysis tools, an experienced direct marketing firm like Smart Distribution Solutions can produce valuable insights into your target market. We’ve all seen online ads in our Google search results or our social media feeds that bear no relation to our interests. It’s because online marketing relies on a scattershot approach. Your ad might be seen by thousands of people, but might only resonate with the smallest percentage of them.
In contrast, we use our detailed data analysis and insight to strip away those people who are unlikely to be interested in what you have to offer. This leaves a core audience that is predisposed to pay attention to your marketing literature. Your leaflet might only reach a fraction of the people that an Instagram or Facebook post might, but you can expect a far higher conversion rate.
That, of course, is the big question. Our team will work closely with you to determine what makes your perfect customer tick. Are they young or old? Married or single? With kids or without? An impulse buyer or a cautious consumer? Do they live in a town or a city? White-collar or blue-collar? There are dozens of questions we can ask to narrow down your potential customer list and optimise your campaign.
There are plenty of metrics we can look at to determine the success of your campaign. These include Response Rate, Conversion Rate, Cost per Acquisition, Average Order Size, Revenue per Order, and Return on Investment. We recently wrote an entire article on the subject, which you can find here.
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