How can direct marketing
help your small business?

One of the most accepted definitions of Direct Marketing refers to any media by which a seller uses to gain or maintain a direct relationship with individual customers. (Whew!)

Some tactical examples: direct mail (the largest segment of direct marketing), postcards, catalogs, telephone, etc.

Productive use of this technique creates an individual relationship between the advertiser and the customer.

It uses a "rifle" approach both to find more customers and keep those who have bought goods or services.

Direct Marketing is not mass media, like television, radio or newspapers, which act as broad-based "buckshot" sources of potential leads. Thirty years ago or so, mass media lived up to their name attracting and delivering massive audiences, all being exposed to the same editorial and advertising messages.

Today, more than ever, any market is made of groups of "specialty" audiences. The individual customer (who makes up these special interest sub-groups) has become the focus of sales efforts. You may be interested in the latest direct marketing trends.

Computers have the ability to assimilate all sorts of customer information, from geographical data to specific product purchases. The data gleaned from the simple act of one person buying a specific product can be combined into massive storehouses of research knowledge.

The scope of data gathering is truly mind-boggling and grows more sophisticated by the moment. It is both a science and an art for computers (and those who manage them) to find similar customers and then predict buying patterns among audience segments.

The good news for small businesses? You don't have to have massive amounts of data to plan a strategy to get productive results from this marketing technique. You can employ simple methods.

Get to know your customers from different points of view beyond just waiting on them and selling a given product. Ask them what else they would expect you to do for them. Think of what you want to know about how your business generates profit from each customer.

Here is a wonderful Step-By-Step Marketing Research Guide complete with work sheets to help you along.

You can collect, analyze and use your own "customer base" information right on your own so you can plan your direct mail package.

And it doesn't have to be a "big deal" because your target audience will become readily apparent.

You may prefer to let a consultant or an agency provide helpful assistance.

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