Direct marketing is a method that fosters individual relationships with prospects, contrasting with general advertising's broad approach. It involves targeted communications to provoke immediate responses and build long-term relationships, supported by a defined sales sequence and various techniques for customer engagement. Effective direct marketing requires careful selection of audience, relevant offers, and strategic follow-ups to maximize customer acquisition and retention.

1. Direct Marketing to Boost
Revenue

2. What is Direct Marketing?
Direct Marketing is both marketing and sales.
Direct Marketing is the translation of one-on-one, face-
to-face selling into broad reach media.
Definition: Any advertising activity which creates and
exploits a direct relationship between you and your
prospect or customer as an individual.

3. Difference from other activities?
 General advertising speaks to people en masse. It does
not try to isolate them as individuals. Nor does it
normally demand immediate action.
 Sales promotion is designed to achieve an immediate
effect on sales. It does not build relationship.
 Public relations employs media controlled by others.
 Packaging is again devoid of any relationships.

4. Direct Marketing is always selling
 Product / Service / Next Step
 Response
 Continued Engagement

5. Mass Targeted
Competitive Attention Selective Attention
Breadth Depth
Remember Respond
Impression Decision
Pay for Everyone Pay for Targets
General Advertising and Direct Mail –
A Simple Comparison
Advertising Direct Marketing

6. Two Important Factors in DM
 Pre-selection
Refining the target based on pre-existing
level of interest
 The Offer
What does it take to provoke response?

7. The Relative Power of Media
 Likeability
 Demands Time
 Expensive
Weakness
Face-to-Face
Strengths
 Sight
 Sound
 Eye Contact
 Body Language
 Interaction
 Demo Ability
 One-to-One
 Provides Time
 Pre-selection
 No Attention Competition
 Chemistry

8.  Sight
 Pre-selection
 Low attention competition
Strengths
Direct Mail
 Easy not to engage
 4 seconds to involve
 Postal system dependent
Weaknesses
 List dependent
The Relative Power of Media

9. The Relative Power of Media
 Sound
 Some Chemistry
 Interaction
 One-to-One
 Pre-selection
 Low Attention Competition
Strengths
 Interruptive
 Requires Time
 Annoying
Weaknesses
Telephone (Outbound)

10. Reasons for Growth in Direct Marketing

11. Some Unfortunate Truth About
Direct Marketing
 The more we need people to read (listen, watch), the less willing
they are to do so.
 The more resistant the universe, the more expensive the cost of
buying sales time (choice of medium, and devices within each
medium; offer)
 Cost of persuasion power is inversely proportional to the level of
pre-existing interest within a prospect universe
 The more it costs to acquire a customer, the less valuable the
customer.

12. Sales Support – The Sales Sequence
 The sales sequence is the set of decision steps
necessary to close a sale matched with a set of
communications designed to provoke each step.
 Direct Marketing tools are typically used to narrow
the universe to “qualified prospects” .
 DM sells the next step in the sequence.
 The cost of acquisition is the total cost of all the
contacts at each step necessary to provoke a single
decision to the next step.

13. Cost of Acquisition in a Sales Sequence
Step1:
Lead Generation
Step 2:
Qualification
Step 3:
Sales Call
Vehicle: Direct Mail Vehicle: Telephone Vehicle: Personal Selling
10,000 500 Universe: 50
Cost/Contact: 1.00 Cost/Contact: 10.00 Cost/Contact: 200.00
Response Rate:
5%
Conversion to Appt. :
10%
Conversion to Sale: 25%
Cost/Conversion:
10,000/500 = 20
Cost/Appointment:
500 x 10 = 5,000/50 = 100
Cost/Sale:
50 x 200 = 10,000/13 = 770
Total Cost of Acquisition = 20 + 100 + 770 = 890

14. Common Sales Sequences
Mail/Ad Phone Mail/Email Phone P Sales
 Generate
Interest
 Qualify
 Decision
 Authority
 Determine DM
 Provide
information
or quote
 Set
appt.
 See
rep
Phone Mail/Email Phone P Sales
 Generate
and Qualify
 Id decision
 Provide Info
 Confirm Call
Back
Answer Q’s
Set appt.
 Demo
 Close
Sell the next step.

15. Direct Marketing Techniques

16. Selection Factors
 Consumer Lists
 Age / Income
 Sex / Marital Status
 Homeowner
 Type of apartment
 Interests
 Presence of children
 Geographical (zip,
county, state)
 Business Lists
 Standard Industry Details
 Employee Size
 Annual Sales/Revenue
 Title
 Any other information
Corporate information,
number of years in business
 Geographical (zip, county,
state)
 Tel / Fax / E-mail / Web
 Credit information

17. Few Envelope Formats
 Window Envelopes
 Plastic Card
 Invoice
 Personal
 Odd Size
 Certified
 See Through
 Dimensional
 Invitation
 Handwritten
 Readers Digest Used
funny stamps and
impressive stamps in
their Direct Marketing
Campaigns

18. Letter Planning and Structure
 The Opening
 The Body
 The Close
 The Signature
 The P.S.

19. Writing Leads for Letters – How to Start
 A strong, startling fact, research result, something true of
their industry
 Establish a connection
 referral
 similar occupation
 status as a customer, etc.
 recognition of status as a donor/contributor
 Tell a story
 A quote
 Reference a competitor

20. Post-Call Follow-Up
 Letters/email from the rep
 New information (pricing, research, etc.)
 Discount
 Appeal rotation
 Decision cycles

21. The Three Phases in the Lifetime
of a Customer
1
Phase
2
Phase
3
Phase
Relationship
Formation
Reinforce Decision
Key to Source
and Channel
Relationship
Cultivation
Personalize
Build Trust
Quantify Potential
Relationship
Management
Cross-Sell
Fit Value Proposition
to Customer Needs

22. The Second Transaction is Critical
 Customers are converted or lost in the first 30 – 120 days
 Create positive early experiences that cement the
relationship
 Fast shipping, delivery
 Project Loyalty from early behavior
 Provide opportunities for additional transactions while
interest is high
 Use communication to drive behavior and the
relationship

23. Retaining/ Growing the Relationship at the
Lowest Cost
Customers Mailings
A - Diamond 12x
B - Gold 8x
C - Silver 7x
D - ? 6x

24. Recipients of Direct Mail
 Customers
 Have pre-existing interest, Will read more copy
 Require less costly mail
 Mailing to customers generates $ and improves retention
 Prospects
 Pre-existing interest is “likely”
 Requires more expensive mail to buy readership
 Resistant to reading (looking for a reason to stop)
 Relevance is key
 Influencers

25. Unfortunate Truths - Direct Mail
 People read direct mail, looking for a reason to stop
 The margin of error on direct mail is greater than in any other
medium.
 Special interest offerings tend to do best in direct mail, but the
more specialized the interest, the more limited the growth potential
(requires product proliferation – old/new/same).
 There is an inverse relationship between degree of pre-existing
interest and cost per response.
 There is a direct relationship between readership and response.
 People are not dying to hear from you.
 Very little body copy is ever actually re-read.

26. Formulate your strategy
 What is your overall business activity
 What is your positioning?
 What current marketing activities do you conduct?
 What is the state of your database?
 Have you sold the concept of Direct Marketing within your
organization?
 Where exactly Direct Marketing should fit in your organization

27. Formulate your Strategy / Campaign

28. Various Mediums available
 Direct mail
 Door to door drop
 Newspapers
 Magazines
 Broadcasters: TV, Radio.
 Telephone, Fax
 Posters
 Newsletters
 Web as powerful medium………….Video mailers / Pod cast

29. Database is the Key

30. Successful Direct Marketers
 American Express
 Readers Digest
 Eureka Forbes, Amway, etc.
 Banks: HDFC, ICICI, Barclays and many others
 Insurance companies: LIC, TATA AIG, MAX
 Book Publishers: Sage Publications, etc
 Magazines: India Today, Money Life, Business Today
 Advertisements: Times of India, Sakal, etc.

31. The Last Premise
Focus on Them
“You can make more friends in 2 months
by becoming interested in other people
than you can in 2 years by trying to get
people interested in you.”
Dale Carnegie

32. References
Commonsense Direct Marketing
David Ogilvy
And others

33. Q&A - Contact
Avinash MurkuteAvinash Murkute
Mobile: +91-9822698070
E-mail: avinash@galaxy4u.in
Web: www.galaxy4u.in
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Doubt is the key to knowledge.