Types of direct marketing
Here are 11 of the most common types of direct marketing:
1. Telemarketing
Telemarketing involves contacting clients over the phone to sell them a product or service. With this form of direct marketing, companies can have employees or automated machines reach out to many individuals at one time. This is beneficial because it makes it easy to reach a broad audience within a short amount of time, which can boost productivity.
Some examples of telemarketing include:
Inbound calls: These are calls initiated by the customer, whether they call into the company directly or if they set up a time for the company to call them.
Outbound calls: Also called cold calling, this is when a company calls a consumer directly.
2. Email marketing
Email marketing is when a company reaches out to consumers by sending email messages to them. Consumers can either subscribe to a company’s email list or companies can purchase a list of verified consumer emails through a mailing list service.
Some examples of email marketing include:
Electronic newsletters
Promotional emails
Advertisements
3. Text marketing
Text marketing is when companies contact consumers via text messages. There is often a higher response rate with text marketing because of how often consumers use their cell phones. There are several phone plans that companies can utilize to send text messages to customers for $0.01 to $0.05 per text, which can be more cost-effective.
Text marketing can include:
Short message service (SMS) and back-and-forth messaging where a recipient can respond to brief questions and provide the company information about preferences
A link to a company website where recipients can get more information or opt in to receive mobile offers
Push notifications, where the recipient gets alerts from the company
4. Direct mail
Direct mail allows a company to send information about products, special offers, services and sales to a street address via the postal service. Two benefits of direct mail marketing include versatility, meaning they can personalize it to the consumer, and flexibility, meaning businesses can change the amount of mail they send out.
Here are some examples of direct mail:
Letters
Flyers
Brochures
5. Kiosk marketing
Kiosk marketing is a cost-effective way to reach many different consumers in a crowded setting, like a mall or grocery store. It involves selling products and services to customers through machines, most commonly a vending machine.
Most often, vending machines are used to sell food and drink products, though companies can sell a wide array of products through vending machines, like sunglasses, clothing and makeup. Another example of kiosk marketing includes ATMs, where banks can attract customers whether they have an account with the bank or not.
6. Direct selling
Direct selling involves a consultant selling products or services to a customer in-person at the customer’s home or workplace. For example, some businesses have employees go door-to-door to advertise and sell subscriptions, housewares or makeup to customers. This form of direct marketing allows companies to better establish a personal connection with the customers and learn their preferences since there’s more face-to-face interaction.
7. Social media marketing
Social media marketing uses various social media platforms to connect with consumers, popularize their brand, initiate business transactions and promote special offers. This is a cost-effective way to market your business since most social media platforms are free to join. Companies can also purchase advertisement programs where they can boost certain posts to reach more users and attract more sales.
Read more: Creating a Successful Social Media Marketing Strategy
8. Brochures
Brochures are advertisement papers decorated to grab customer’s attention using pictures and vivid colors, and they contain a wide array of information about a business, like company goals, special offers or history. These can be a great way to add artistic flair and well-organized information to a marketing campaign. And while this is a less targeted approach, it can help companies reach a broader audience when they want to find new consumers. It is helpful to distribute handouts at events hosting the targeted market. For example, if you are selling a workout supplement, then you may choose to hand brochures out at a workout competition.
9. Direct-response marketing
Direct-response marketing, sometimes known as broadcast advertising, involves advertising a business through television, radio and multimedia. This style of marketing is convenient for companies and consumers because of the popularity of televisions and radios, which makes it easy for the consumer to listen, watch or read about the company.
Some examples of direct-response marketing are:
TV commercials
Radio advertisements
Newspapers
Magazines
10. Catalogs
Catalogs are small booklets or magazines that showcase and advertise products and services as well as the specials or new items and features. These marketing tools can make it easy for companies to send large amounts of product information to a targeted audience. Many companies also send catalogs to returning or expected customers so they can buy items from the catalogs by phone, by returning a purchase envelope included in the catalog or by going onto the company’s website using the information found in the catalog. It is common for department stores to do this so that they can showcase their large collection of items in various areas, like housewares, clothing and furniture.
11. Internet marketing
Internet marketing uses online search engines to generate traffic to a company’s website. Using the internet to market a company is often profitable, flexible and far-reaching. Because the internet is popular worldwide, it offers a diverse audience for advertisers. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a popular form of internet marketing that involves generating more traffic to a company’s website based on consumer’s search engine results.
