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Direct Marketing is not an ad with a discount. It's not a mailing, a tweet, an email, or a website. It's a commitment to getting and keeping valuable customers through establishing a dialogue and a long-term relationship.
Direct Marketing is an interactive process of marketing communication that uses one or more media or channels to achieve a measurable response.
Advertising's Objectives are different than Direct Marketing's Objectives:
Advertising is used to build and strengthen brand image and awareness, loyalty and benefit recall. The goal is "top of mind" awareness, consideration for future purchases, and reinforcement of existing customer decisions. The actual purchasing action is usually deferred until the next shopping trip or real buying opportunity occurs. Your goal is to be at the top of the prospects "short list" of brands/suppliers whenever the window of opportunity to buy opens.
Direct Marketing is used to generate an immediate inquiry or order. Direct marketing is a way of doing business. A direct marketing advertisement gives you a "reason" to respond now, not just a way to respond. Although you must be consistent with the brand, you cannot simply brand with a way to respond. Your direct marketing will fail if you simply "mirror" brand advertising techniques. You must make it irresistible to respond and melt away inertia – because your goal is immediate response.
However, it's much more effective to direct market under an umbrella of awareness that has already been established. So, it's not a question of image advertising vs. direct marketing - they are a symbiotic "hand-in-glove" concept.
Click here to see an ad that knows how to SELL. It's a "closer."
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