Direct Marketing

For some businesses, direct marketing is another traditional way of reaching clients. It involves sending promotional pieces through the mail, making phone calls or sending email messages directly to your potential customers. Be sure that you know what you want the direct marketing campaign to achieve — for example, to get people to try out a new product you’re introducing, visit your shop for discounted or free merchandise or receive an additional service for no extra charge by acting within a certain time period.

One of the hardest things about direct marketing is narrowing your target list and ensuring the names and addresses on the list are up-to-date. It’s also important to keep track of your response rate, or the percentage of people who act on your offer. That way, you can compare the amount you spent on the direct marketing campaign to the amount of new business you attracted. This will give you a good sense of the cost of acquiring new customers using this kind of marketing.