Integrated Direct Marketing
A Marketing Tool That Works
to Market Your Business in Tough Times
By Kathy Dickinson
Integrated direct marketing, also called cross-media marketing, is a direct marketing program that employs direct mail, email and the Internet to help a company communicate with its prospects and customers. The key to an integrated direct marketing program is using personal information about your prospect to entice them to respond to your offering. Generally, a direct mail piece will include a personalized URL with the recipient’s name in it, along with other data that a company may already know about him/her, such as demographics, purchasing history, etc. Highly personalized communications help companies better target their messaging to those with the highest propensity to respond or buy, therefore, leading to higher response rates overall. Such activity tends to help shorten the sales cycle for a company. This can mean huge savings over time.
You have much information within reach that you can use to target new prospects and even previous customers. What was their last purchase? When did they last buy from you? What haven’t they purchased from you? Where do they live? Knowing the answers to these and other questions will help you better understand the messaging you need to use to communicate with them in order to be heard and entice them to respond. By incorporating this information (data) whether as copy or pictures into a printed piece, you create a customized one-to-one marketing tool that has a better chance of grabbing your audience’s attention.
Integrated direct marketing programs can be effective for the following sales and marketing goals:
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To verify contact information
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To qualify prospects and customers
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To allow prospects and customers to immediately place an order or request a sales call
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To publicize an event and drive registration or request product information
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To administer a survey
Because integrated direct marketing combines traditional marketing approaches such as direct mail and print advertisements with new media such as email marketing and the Internet, your message has a greater chance of being heard.
With tight marketing budgets in today’s tough business climate, an integrated marketing approach might be just what you need to ensure your funds go further.
