Increasing sales with direct marketing

For businesses to thrive, their marketing campaign has to be successful. IFE ADEDAPO writes on the use of direct marketing

There have been complaints over time concerning the unsolicited messages that offer different types of products to the recipient. According to reports, these messages have been a distraction because most times, they are not in line with the interest of the prospective clients.
In the early days, email marketing techniques were used to reach out to clients, but with its abuse and consequent disregard, marketing agencies are now adopting new approaches through continuous learning programmes.
In recent times, its techniques and reach have widened with online and cross-promotional media options, and the focus by marketers is now on personalisation and content, which fit clients’ demand and can be served to businesses at the right time.
Experts say direct marketing is a discipline, a subset of marketing, which permits people to carry out certain marketing tasks more efficiently by gathering, analysing and using information about individual customers and prospects.
They say the driving force of marketing is the ability to gather information. According to them, this can be achieved through market research, questionnaires, customer feedback etc.
According to them, an organisation can afford to split its customers and prospects into segments with similar needs and devise different means of communication to each segment.
A marketing expert, Mr. John Ajibade, says the information gathered helps in identifying a change in product preference of a client or those who are likely to be interested in a particular product, service or offer.
Doing this, he says, will allow the company to make plans on the quantity of products to produce at a particular time.
Marketing professionals testify that the data collected will reveal those who will find the products or services appropriate and communicate with them alone, eliminating much of the wastage found in other forms of advertising.
Apart from its cost effectiveness, Ajibade says companies can utilise it in testing the appeal of a new product or service.
Make a budget
Direct marketing that is targeted at a specific audience can help you set realistic sales goals and improve sales results on a tight marketing budget, experts say. Businesses can run effective and purposeful direct marketing campaigns at a fraction of the cost of broadcast advertising.
They point out that an important thing to consider for most direct marketers is to determine the marketing cost per response.
In addition, Ajibade says the marketer should view the money spent as having no returns so that when it eventually pays off, it would be in form of a gain.
Identify your target audience
Before launching a marketing campaign, experts say strategies on who may be the target audience, and ways of reaching them have to be devised.
Therefore, a marketing expert, Brian Thomas, says questions like, “What is the best way of locating them? Do we have their names and addresses? Are they already on our database? Does someone else have a list available?” should be answered.
He says the company may be able to find other businesses that are targeting the same category of people but not selling a competitive product.
According to Thomas, software manufacturers often locate prospects through advertisements in computer magazines through websites.
Prepare to handle the response
To avoid keeping people waiting, experts say provisions for response to enquiries should be made.
Therefore, they advise companies to produce enough response packs to satisfy demand.
They say when generating leads for follow up, speed is equally important.
Most requirements may be that the prospects to write his or her name, address and phone, and then generally to either place an order or ask for more information. They say provisions should be made for the respondent to include all the information you need.
According to them, leads should be passed directly to the sales or telemarketing people with any supporting information, for example what the respondent asked for..
Salespeople may acknowledge the lead by telephone when making an appointment, but if this cannot be done promptly a written acknowledgement is advisable.
Improve customer reliability
Ajibade says since direct marketing is about building a lasting relationship with clients, all strategies should be directed at building their trust.
Experts say since the technique is focused on building direct relationships with customers, they can be given personalised promotions, letters and offers to create an immediate link with them and increase their personal connection to the business.
Ajibade says strategies adopted by some businesses include celebrating anniversaries, birthdays, giving them sales option and discount just to show loyalty.
Offer more products to the same client
It is crucial to retain more customers that will bring in a constant stream of income than getting new clients, Ajibade says.
He says once the needs of a client have been identified, business managers should be able to envisage other related business needs and offer these to them on a continuous basis.
For instance, a travelling agency which offers advisory services and presents various attractions of the country to the tourists can also assist in providing foreign language classes to the same client.
He says handing out new products as incentive to existing customers can provide a means of launching a new product that would be offered at a price later.