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Direct Marketing is attractive to many marketers because in most cases its effectiveness can be measured directly. For example if you were to send out one thousand solicitations by mail and you receive seventy responses, then you know that the mailing led to a seven percent response rate. Any medium that you chose to communicate directly to your prospects is being employed in direct marketing. Here are 5 strategies of direct marketing that you can use to obtain prospects and increase sales for your business. Strategy 1. Direct Mail. One of the most commonly used mediums in direct marketing is direct mail. Direct mail allows you to design marketing pieces in many different formats. Direct mail can include envelope mailers, catalogues, self-mailers, brochures, and postcards. When you author your direct mail piece make sure you know your target market and how you are going to appeal to their wants and needs. You can purchase a mailing list of businesses and services in your target market from a list company or you can develop your own list by gathering email addresses on your web site. Strategy 2. Telemarketing. To gain the advantage of speed in a marketing campaign, you would want to use telemarketing as a direct marketing sales technique. When you are conducting a telephone solicitation, you should first introduce yourself and then offer an incentive in solving a problem that you know exists. Ask a question that you know will lead to a yes answer and keep prospects on the phone answering yes to your questions. Describe your product or service and explain how it solves the prospect’s problem. Ask if they have any questions and use their reply as a way to schedule a face to face meeting or get permission to send information via mail or email. Be sure to follow-up to ensure they received the material, remove any barriers that are surfaced, and deliver an offer. Strategy 3. E-mail. The most common medium today for direct marketers is email because it is low cost and because customer responses can be generated rapidly. Understanding that the Internet is a different medium, the ad copy that worked for you in postal mail will not work for you on the Internet nor will it work for you in email. In email copywriting, the subject is the headline. The subject line determines whether your email gets read or not. The next consideration is to make it personal. Keep your message short and simple and give the reader an incentive to act by giving them a reason to buy now. Conclude with a Call-to-Action (CTA) that tells people what you want them to do next. Usually, the CTA drives people to your website so you can build a relationship with them and present an offer to them. Strategy 4. Direct Response. In direct response marketing, the customer responds to the marketing message directly. An example of this would be infomercials where prospects view a television presentation of a product offering along with an offer that can be fulfilled by providing a credit card over the telephone or the Internet. You can use communications in magazines, newspapers, radio, email, and direct mail to drive traffic to your direct response marketing campaign and increase sales. Strategy 5. Personal Selling. Another technique of direct marketing is making personal sales calls. If you utilize this strategy, be sure you have complete information on your target market. Consider buying a list of prospects in your target market from a reputable list company. When making a personal sales call, prepare a script with talking points prior to making the call. Use the script as a guide to cover all the key points and make sure you are flexible enough to respond to your prospect’s questions. After a 5-7 minute discussion, ask your prospect their level of interest on a scale of 1 to 10. For those that reply their interest is a 7 or higher, present your offer to them. If you learn to use the 5 ways of Direct Marketing for your Main Street business, you will be positioned to transform your ordinary business into extraordinary money machines that far out-perform industry norms, peers, competitors, and most likely your own wildest imagination! I Hope You Enjoy the Article and I Trust You Found It a Way to Get Ready! Let me Know What You Think.
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