Direct marketing

Direct marketing deal with communication with the consumers without any intervention like press or electronic media. It is thought to be most effective tool for marketing of small business ventures. Main forms of direct marketing that we see today are door to door leaflet marketing, direct mail, telemarketing, email marketing, voicemail marketing, broad cast faxing and marketing via coupons. Or we can say also direct marketing is a form of advertising that reaches its audience without using traditional formal channels of advertising, such as TV, newspapers or radio. Businesses communicate straight to the consumer with advertising techniques such as fliers, catalogue distribution, promotional letters, and street advertising.

Direct Advertising is a sub-discipline and type of marketing. There are two main definitional characteristics which distinguish it from other types of marketing. The first is that it sends its message directly to consumers, without the use of intervening commercial communication media. The second characteristic is the core principle of successful Advertising driving a specific "call to action." This aspect of direct marketing involves an emphasis on trackable, measurable, positive responses from consumers (known simply as "response" in the industry) regardless of medium.

Direct marketing is attractive to many marketers, because in many cases its positive effect (but not negative results) can be measured directly. For example, if a marketer sends out 1,000 solicitations by mail, and 100 respond to the promotion, the marketer can say with confidence that campaign led directly to 10% direct responses.

There are many channels of Direct Marketinglike:--

Direct mail:The most common form of direct marketing is direct mail, sometimes called junk mail, used by advertisers who send paper mail to all postal customers in an area or to all customers on a list. Any low-budget medium that can be used to deliver a communication to a customer can be employed in direct marketing. Probably the most commonly used medium for direct marketing is mail, in which marketing communications are sent to customers using the postal service.

Telemarketing : Another common form of direct marketing is telemarketing, in which marketers contact consumers by phone.

Door-to-Door Leaflet Marketing : Leaflet distribution services are used extensively by the fast food industries, and much other business focusing on a local catchment. Business to consumer business model, similar to direct mail marketing, this method is targeted purely by area, and costs a fraction of the

amount of a mail shot due to not having to purchase stamps, envelopes or having to buy address lists and the names of home occupants.