direct mail

n.
Advertising circulars or other printed matter sent directly through the mail to prospective customers or contributors.

direct-mail di·rect'-mail' (dĭ-rĕkt'māl', dī-) adj.
direct mailer direct mailer n.

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direct mail

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Form of advertising using the mail as its form of distribution.
Mail is the third largest advertising medium after newspapers and television. It can be directed at a specific target audience and used to great effect. Advertisers can obtain a bulk mailing permit providing cheaper rates.
See also database marketing.

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Direct Mail

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Direct mail is a type of advertising medium in which messages are sent to target customers through the mail. Newcomers to the field of direct mail often use the terms "direct mail," "direct marketing," and "mail order" interchangeably. Perhaps the best way to distinguish these three similar, yet different, terms is to remember that direct mail is simply an advertising medium, like print or broadcast media. Print media messages are delivered through the printed word, usually in newspapers or magazines, while broadcast media messages are delivered through the airwaves, on television or radio. In direct mail, advertising and other types of messages are delivered through the mail.

By way of contrast, mail order is a way of doing business, like retail or personal selling. A mail order business delivers its products through the mail. It may also use direct mail to send out advertising messages, but many other businesses use direct mail without being in the mail order business. Direct marketing is a broader term that refers to a type of marketing that utilizes a variety of advertising media to appeal directly to the consumer. Direct marketing is distinct from other types of marketing in that it makes an offer and solicits a direct response. Direct mail is simply one advertising medium that direct marketers employ, although it is among the most frequently used.

Direct mail is a particularly attractive option for small business owners, as it can communicate complete information about a product or service and reach almost any conceivable target group, all for a relatively low cost. Direct mail can provide the basis for a business, or it can be used to supplement a company's traditional sales efforts. For example, a small business could use direct mail to inform potential customers about its offerings, then follow up with a phone call or a visit from a salesperson. Owners of start-up businesses may find direct mail an effective method of creating awareness and interest in a new product, while owners of existing companies may find it useful in generating new business outside of their usual customers or geographic area. Another advantage of direct mail is that it is testable, so that entrepreneurs can try out different sales messages on various audiences in order to find the most profitable market for a new product or service.

Uses of Direct Mail

Direct mail is the most heavily used direct marketing medium, and its popularity continues to grow despite postage increases. While most advertisers use third class mail, a significant number of mailings are sent first class, making it difficult to arrive at accurate statistics about the volume of advertising mail being sent.

The primary application of direct mail is to reach consumers with offers of traditional goods and services. Some of the earliest examples of direct mail were seed catalogs sent to American colonists before the Revolutionary War. More recently, direct mail has been used to offer consumers a range of financial services, coupons for discounts on packaged goods, and requests for donations to a variety of nonprofit organizations.

Direct mail is also an effective medium in business-to-business marketing. Since business orders are usually of larger value than consumer purchases, it often takes more than one mailing to make a sale. Imaginative packages are often used to get through to hard-to-reach executives whose mail is screened by their secretaries. In addition to making sales, business-to-business direct mail can be used to generate sales leads and reinforce the personal selling effort.

Elements of Direct Mail

THE OFFER. There are three key elements of successful direct mail: making an offer, selecting the target audience among customer lists and databases, and creating the direct mail package. Making an offer is one element that distinguishes direct marketing from general advertising and other types of marketing. Offers are designed to motivate the reader to take action: place an order, request more information, etc. Writing in Successful Direct Marketing Methods, Bob Stone gave the following example of how the same offer could be presented in three different ways: 1) Half-price! 2) Buy one—get one free! 3) 50% off! All three convey the same offer, but statement number two pulled a 40 percent higher response than statements one or three because consumers perceived it to be the most attractive offer.

In direct mail the offer can be tailored to fit the characteristics of the individual recipients. Direct mail allows marketers to target individuals with known purchase histories or particular psychographic or demographic characteristics, all of which affect how an offer should be made. Some basic types of offers include: optional features; a special introductory price or quantity discount; free trial or bill me later; order by mail, phone, or fax; premiums or sweepstakes; and special conditions of sale and types of guarantees.

MAILING LISTS AND DATABASES. Mailing lists and databases offer direct mail marketers the opportunity for more selectivity and personalization than any other advertising medium. The two basic types of lists are in-house lists and external lists. In-house lists—sometimes called response lists—are those compiled by the company based on responses to its previous mailings or to its advertising in other media. These lists, which represent prime repeat business opportunities, are among a small business's most important assets. They are usually not available to competitors for rental, though they are sometimes exchanged with other companies that offer similar products. In contrast, external lists are typically compiled for rental by sources outside the company. There are thousands of different lists available that classify consumers according to a variety of demographic criteria. External lists may be rented by competitors as well.

Depending on the product being sold through direct mail, lists may consist of the names of consumers or businesses. Some examples of compiled consumer lists available for rental include: buyers of certain vehicle models, collectors of different items, subscribers to various periodicals, organic gardeners, or golf enthusiasts. Business lists are typically categorized according to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), which assigns code numbers to different types of businesses.

In direct mail, lists are often rented from a list source for one-time use. When multiple lists are rented, a technique known as merge/purge is used to eliminate duplications. The transaction between a direct mailer hoping to obtain a list and a compiler hoping to rent a list may be facilitated by a list broker or list manager. The list broker's job is to match the list buyer with the most appropriate list for its offerings. Although brokers technically represent both the list buyer and the list owner, they are usually paid by the list owner. Whereas a list broker helps a direct mailer find the right list, a list manager is more like an agent who represents one or more specific lists. List managers handle the rental and billing procedures for the list owners, and also work with list brokers and list compilers as well as with direct mailers to arrange usage for the list. Another place to find list data is on the Internet. There are a variety of online sources for marketing data, many of which allow small businesses to rent customized lists to fit their limited budgets. List costs tend to vary with specificity. That is, a list of subscribers to a particular magazine may rent for $50 per thousand (lists are typically rented on a "per thousand" basis), while a list of women subscribers who live in certain zip codes may rent for $100 per thousand.

Direct mailers employ a variety of selectivity techniques to better target their mailings. Traditional segmentation techniques look at past behavior, including time since most recent purchase, frequency of purchase, and amounts of purchases. More advanced segmentation techniques employ formulas that help predict future behavior. One such technique is list enhancement, or the process of overlaying social, economic, demographic, or psychographic data obtained from other sources on a mailing list. Adding such data to an in-house list allows mailers to develop a customer profile based on such factors as age, gender, car ownership, dwelling type, and lifestyle factors. Once that process is undertaken, the in-house list becomes an in-house database, or a collection of information about customers and prospects that can be used for marketing purposes. Modeling techniques can then be applied to the in-house database to help predict response rates from externally compiled lists whose individuals share some of the characteristics of the company's customer profile.

THE DIRECT MAIL PACKAGE. Direct mail packages come in all shapes and sizes, which makes direct mail one of the most flexible of the direct marketing media. A standard direct mail package includes an envelope, a letter, a brochure, and a response device. A variation on the classic format is the multi-mailer—a package with a number of flyers each selling a different product. Another popular format is the self-mailer, or any piece that is mailed without an outer envelope. More complex direct mail packages are three-dimensional; that is, they include an object such as a gift or product sample. These three-dimensional mailings can be effective in reaching top executives whose mail is screened by a secretary, and they are practically guaranteed to be opened by consumers at home.

Catalogs ranging from six to more than 100 pages are used to sell a variety of goods. They are also used to sell services, such as seminars. A variation of the catalog is called a magalog, which combines a certain amount of editorial content along with sales content to give the catalog the appearance of a magazine. A specialized field of direct marketing, catalog marketing is a discipline unto itself and accounts for a significant part of all direct mail activity.

Looking more closely at the classic direct mail package, the envelope's job is to motivate the recipient to open the package. The recipient's decision whether to open, set aside, or discard the mailing piece takes just one or two seconds. Regardless of the volume of mail a person receives, whether at home or a place of business, the envelope must distinguish itself from other mail by its size, appearance, and any copy that might be written on it. Envelopes that take on the appearance of an invitation or telegram might grab someone's attention faster than a plain envelope, for example. Other choices that are made concerning envelopes include color and texture, window or closed face, and whether to use a preprinted indicia or a postage stamp.

The letter is a sales letter and provides the opportunity to directly address the interests and concerns of the recipient. In a sense the letter replaces the salesperson in face-to-face selling. The letter typically spells out the benefits of the offer in detail. The more personal the sales letter, the more effective it generally is. The letter writer must be intimately familiar with not only the product or service and its benefits, but also the concerns and needs of the person to whom the letter is addressed. While the letter tells the recipient about the benefits of the offer, the brochure illustrates them. Illustrated brochures are used to sell services as well as products. Brochures come in a range of sizes and different folds. While the use of color may increase response, the brochure's look should fit the product or service it is selling.

Finally, the package must include a response device, such as a business reply card or coupon, that the recipient can send back. Response rates are generally higher when the response device is separate from, rather than part of, the brochure or letter. Toll-free numbers are often prominently displayed to allow the recipient to respond via telephone. However, since some customers will not use the phone to place an order, a response device should be included in addition to a toll-free number. The key to a successful response device is to keep it simple and easy to fill out. A "lift letter" is often added to the package to "lift" the response rate. The lift letter usually carries a message such as, "Read this only if you've decided not to accept our offer," to grab the recipient's attention one more time.

Other enclosures that may be added to the direct mail package include gift or premium slips, article reprints, a business reply envelope, and a variety of involvement devices. Involvement devices such as stamps, stickers, pencils, and rub-off messages motivate the recipient to become involved with the response device and, hopefully, continue to take the action required to make a purchase.

Testing Direct Mail

Since large expenditures are involved in mailing to lists of thousands, most direct mailers take advantage of the medium's testing capabilities. Every element of direct mail—the offer, the list, and the pack-age—can easily be tested to avoid committing major resources to unproductive mailings. In Successful Direct Marketing Methods, Bob Stone recommended testing in six major areas: products and services, media, propositions made, copy platforms, formats, and timing. The point is that tests should concentrate on meaningful components.

For products and services being sold by mail, pricing and payment options are often tested. A test may reveal that a higher price actually produces a better response. While the product and the price are considered the main offer, premiums and other incentives that enhance the offer are also subject to testing.

List testing is basic to direct mail. Experts recommend testing different segments of a particular list, preferably testing the best segment first. The appropriate size of a test sample is dependent on the anticipated response. The smaller the anticipated response rate, the larger the necessary list sample should be. A rule of thumb is that the list sample should be large enough to generate thirty to forty anticipated responses. While list testing may clearly identify winners and losers, it will also reveal that some lists are marginal, or near break-even. In that case, the list may be discarded, or another test may be conducted using different selection criteria on the list to make it pay out better.

The direct mail package is subject to a variety of tests focusing on format and copy. If the mailer has established a control package, then one element at a time is tested to see if it lifts the response to the package. Another type of creative testing is sometimes called breakthrough testing, where an entirely new approach is developed to sell a product or service.

Lists, offers, and packages can all be tested in one mailing when done properly. A test matrix consisting of individual test cells is constructed. Each test cell contains a unique combination of elements being tested and makes up a portion of the overall mailing. After the entire mailing is dropped, responses from each test cell are tracked to determine the performance of the tested elements.

When Direct Mail Works Best

Direct mail offers marketers several advantages over other advertising media. It provides a high degree of measurability, for example, which in turn allows for extensive testing. Of course, for direct mail to work well the direct marketer must be able to identify the target audience and create or rent the appropriate mailing lists to reach them. Direct mail also gives marketers control over the sales message and allows them to present a great deal of information about a product or service in the sales letter and brochure. Repeat mailings can be done to take advantage of the product's or service's potential for repeat sales as well as to sell related goods and services to the same lists. While direct marketing has grown over the years to employ a variety of advertising media as they became available, such as the telephone, broadcast media, and print media, it is direct mail that remains the most heavily used medium in direct marketing today.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, some analysts predicted that the growth of Internet retailing and advertising could lead to a decline in the usefulness of direct mail. But a study reported by Debora Toth in Graphic Arts Monthly predicted that direct mail expenditures would grow at an estimated rate of 6 percent per year from 1998 to 2008. In addition, the study predicted that direct mail's share of total advertising expenditures would remain stable at 11 percent during this period. "The Internet is only enhancing direct mail," printing company president Rick Powell told Toth. "Corporations still need to send a campaign based on direct mail in order to drive consumers to their Web sites. After the consumer receives a beautifully printed piece, the firm then can follow up with an e-mail message." In fact, the Internet offers some benefits to direct mail marketers, including easy access to database lists and Web sites that automate the direct-mail production process.

Direct Mail

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Direct Mail is a Marketing method for targeting prospective customers or contributors using personalized postal mailings. Like mail order, direct mail entails a two way exchange: an organization sends a promotional mailing to a recipient who responds with a contribution or an order for products or services. But while the mail-order process generally begins with the mass, anonymous distribution of catalogs, advertisements, coupons, and/or samples of products, users of direct mail carefully choose the recipients of their marketing material, usually on the basis of some characteristic that indicates a high likelihood of interest in the promoter's business or cause. In the 1950s, for example, magazines seeking increased circulation often generated new business by pinpointing people who subscribed to other periodicals on similar topics.

Successful direct-mail campaigns require the composition or acquisition of an initial mailing list and the creation of an overall marketing approach—beginning with a personally addressed envelope and letter—that will arouse the reader's interest and generate a high degree of response. Many users of direct mail consider the method a cost-effective way to do business because buyers or donors can be targeted on the basis of memberships, interests, or previous purchases or donations and addressed with solicitations designed specifically to tap these affinities, often through emotional or psychological appeals. The maintenance and development of the mailing list is vital to continued success in repeat mailings, for new names can be added, unresponsive individuals deleted, and responsive customers and donors "upgraded," or offered new products or tapped for higher sum donations. Since the 1960s, computers and database software have allowed the management of the kinds of information necessary for sophisticated direct-mail targeting, and the development of affordable personal computers since the 1980s has made this marketing method available to the smallest of businesses and organizations. The widespread use of credit cards for payments and donations has also made direct mail more viable.

Direct mail has also become an important fundraising technique for political candidates, advocacy groups, and nonprofit organizations. In the 1960s and 1970s direct mail business owner Richard A. Viguerie was critical in raising money for conservative political causes and candidates, including approximately $7 million for Alabama governor George Wallace's presidential campaigns in the 1970s. The post-Watergate federal election reforms also contributed to the growth of direct-mail political appeals and the professionalization of the direct-mail industry. Candidates often turned to businesses specializing in direct mail appeals in order to reach many donors for relatively small contributions (to the $1,000 legal maximum), while Political Action Committees and nonprofit organizations similarly used professional direct mail services to solicit unrestricted donations on behalf of particular issues or causes.

Critics charge that direct mail fuels public frustrations with unwanted and wasteful junk mail and that the exchange or sale of mailing lists and customer/donor information raises concerns about privacy. As a marketing method, it also faces increased competition from home-shopping television programs, Internet businesses, and electronic mail.

Bibliography

Fraser-Robinson, John. The Secrets of Effective Direct Mail. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1989.

Hodgson, Richard S. The Dartnell Direct Mail and Mail Order Handbook. 3d ed. Chicago: Dartnell, 1980.

Sabato, Larry J. "How Direct Mail Works." In Campaigns and Elections: A Reader in Modern American Politics. Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman, 1989.

—Jeffrey T. Coster

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Direct marketing

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For distribution and retail sales of comic books, see direct market.

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Product marketing · Pricing Distribution · Service · Retail Brand management Account-based marketing Ethics · Effectiveness · Research Segmentation · Strategy · Activation Management · Dominance Marketing operations
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Advertising · Branding · Underwriting Direct marketing · Personal sales Product placement · Publicity Sales promotion · Sex in advertising Loyalty marketing · SMS marketing Premiums · Prizes
Promotional media
Printing · Publication · Broadcasting Out-of-home advertising · Internet Point of sale · Merchandise Digital marketing · In-game advertising Product demonstration · Word-of-mouth Brand ambassador · Drip marketing · Visual merchandising
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Marketing

Direct marketing is a channel-agnostic form of advertising that allows businesses and nonprofits to communicate straight to the customer, with advertising techniques such as mobile messaging, email, interactive consumer websites, online display ads, fliers, catalog distribution, promotional letters, and outdoor advertising.

Direct marketing messages emphasize a focus on the customer, data, and accountability. Characteristics that distinguish direct marketing are:

Marketing messages are addressed directly to customers. Direct marketing relies on being able to address the members of a target market. Addressability comes in a variety of forms including email addresses, mobile phone numbers, Web browser cookies, fax numbers and United States and international postal addresses.
Direct marketing seeks to drive a specific "call to action." For example, an advertisement may ask the prospect to call a free phone number or click on a link to a website.
Direct marketing emphasizes trackable, measurable responses from customers — regardless of medium.

Direct marketing is practiced by businesses of all sizes — from the smallest start-up to the leaders on the Fortune 500. A well-executed direct advertising campaign can prove a positive return on investment by showing how many potential customers responded to a clear call-to-action. General advertising eschews calls-for-action in favor of messages that try to build prospects’ emotional awareness or engagement with a brand. Even well-designed general advertisements rarely can prove their impact on the organization’s bottom line.

Popularity of Direct Advertising

A recent study ^[1] by the Direct Marketing Association reports that in 2010, marketers – commercial and nonprofit – spent $153.3 billion on direct marketing, which accounted for 54.2% of all ad expenditures in the United States. Measured against total US sales, these advertising expenditures generated approximately $1.798 trillion in incremental sales. In 2010, direct marketing accounted for 8.3% of total US gross domestic product. Also in 2010, there were 1.4 million direct marketing employees in the US. Their collective sales efforts directly supported 8.4 million other jobs, accounting for a total of 9.8 million US jobs.

History

Mail order pioneer Aaron Montgomery Ward knew that by using the technique of selling products directly to the customer at appealing prices could, if executed effectively and efficiently, revolutionize the market industry and therefore be used as an innovative model for marketing products and creating customer loyalty.^[2] The term "direct marketing" was coined long after Montgomery Ward's time.

In 1967, Lester Wunderman identified, named, and defined the term "direct marketing". Wunderman — considered to be the father of contemporary direct marketing — is behind the creation of the toll-free 1-800 number^[2] and numerous loyalty marketing programs including the Columbia Record Club, the magazine subscription card, and the American Express Customer Rewards program.^[3]

In 1872, Aaron Montgomery Ward produced the first mail-order catalogue for his Montgomery Ward mail order business. By buying goods and then reselling them directly to customers, Ward was consequently removing the middlemen at the general store and, to the benefit of the customer, drastically lowering the prices.^[2] The Direct Mail Advertising Association, predecessor of the present-day Direct Marketing Association, was first established in 1917.^[4] Third class bulk mail postage rates were established in 1928.^[5]

Benefits

Direct marketing is attractive to many marketers because its positive results can be measured directly. For example, if a marketer sends out 1,000 solicitations by mail and 100 respond to the promotion, the marketer can say with confidence that campaign led directly to 10% direct responses. This metric is known as the 'response rate,' and it is one of many clearly quantifiable success metrics employed by direct marketers. In contrast, general advertising uses indirect measurements, such as awareness or engagement, since there is no direct response from a consumer.

Measurement of results is a fundamental element in successful direct marketing. The Internet has made it easier for marketing managers to measure the results of a campaign. This is often achieved by using a specific website landing page directly relating to the promotional material. A call to action will ask the customer to visit the landing page, and the effectiveness of the campaign can be measured by taking the number of promotional messages distributed (e.g., 1,000) and dividing it by the number of responses (people visiting the unique website page). Another way to measure the results is to compare the projected sales or generated leads for a given term with the actual sales or leads after a direct advertising campaign.

Challenges and Solutions

While many marketers recognize the financial benefits of increasing targeted awareness, some direct marketing efforts using particular media have been criticized for generating poor quality leads, either due to poor message strategy or because of poorly compiled demographic databases. This poses a problem for marketers and consumers alike, as advertisers do not wish to waste money on communicating with consumers not interested in their products.

Some of these concerns have been addressed by direct marketers by the use of individual "opt-out" lists, variable printing, and better-targeted list practices. Additionally, in order to avoid unwanted mailings, members of the marketing industry have established preference services that give customers more control over the marketing communications they receive in the mail.

The term "junk mail," referring to unsolicited commercial ads delivered via post office or directly deposited in consumers' mail boxes, can be traced back to 1954.^[6] The term "spam," meaning "unsolicited commercial e-mail," can be traced back to March 31, 1993,^[7] although in its first few months it merely referred to inadvertently posting a message so many times on UseNet that the repetitions effectively drowned out the normal flow of conversation.

To address the concerns of unwanted emails or spam, in 2003, Congress enacted the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act to curb unwanted email messages. Can-Spam gives recipients the ability to stop unwanted emails, and set out tough penalties for violations.^[8] Additionally, ISPs and email service providers have developed increasingly effective Email Filtering programs. These filters can interfere with the delivery of email marketing campaigns, even if the person has subscribed to receive them,^[9] as legitimate email marketing can possess the same hallmarks as spam. There are a range of email service providers that provide services for legitimate opt-in emailers to avoid being classified as spam.

Consumers have expressed concerns about the privacy and environmental implications of direct marketing. In response to consumer demand and increasing business pressure to increase the effectiveness of reaching the right customer with direct marketing, companies specialize in targeted direct advertising to great effect, reducing advertising budget waste and increasing the effectiveness of delivering a marketing message with better geo-demography information, delivering the advertising message to only the customers interested in the product, service, or event on offer. Additionally, members of the advertising industry have been working to adopt stricter codes regarding online targeted advertising.^[10]

Direct Marketing Channels

Any medium that can be used to deliver a communication to a customer can be employed in direct marketing, including:

Email Marketing

Sending marketing messages through email or Email marketing is one of the most widely used direct-marketing methods.^{[citation needed]} One reason for email marketing's popularity is that it is relatively inexpensive to design, test, and send an email message.^{[citation needed]} It also allows marketers to deliver messages around the clock, and to accurately measure responses.^{[citation needed]}

Online Tools

With the expansion of digital technology and tools, direct marketing is increasingly taking place through online channels. Most online advertising is delivered to a focused group of customers and has a trackable response.

Display Ads are interactive ads that appear on the Web next to content on Web pages or Web services. Formats include static banners, pop ups, videos, and floating units. Customers can click on the ad to respond directly to the message or to find more detailed information. According to research by eMarketer, expenditures on online display ads rose 24.5% between 2010 and 2011.^[11]

Search: 49% of US spending on Internet ads goes to search, in which advertisers pay for prominent placement among listings in search engines whenever a potential customer enters a relevant search term, allowing ads to be delivered to customers based upon their already-indicated search criteria.^[12] This paid placement industry generates more than $10 billion dollars for search companies. Marketers also use search engine optimization to drive traffic to their sites.

Social Media Sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, also provide opportunities for direct marketers to communicate directly with customers by creating content to which customers can respond.

Mobile

Through mobile marketing, marketers engage with prospective customers and donors in an interactive manner through a mobile device or network, such as a cellphone, smartphone, or tablet. Types of mobile marketing messages include: SMS: (short message service) — marketing communications are sent in the form of text messages, also known as texting. MMS: (multi-media message service) — These messages use elements such as images, video, and audio; Mobile Applications: Smartphone-based mobile apps contain several types of messages. Push Notifications are direct messages sent to a user either automatically or as part of a campaign. They include transactional, marketing, geo-based, and more. Rich Push Notifications are full HTML Push Notifications. Mobile apps also contain Interactive ads that appear inside the mobile application or app; Location-Based Marketing: marketing messages delivered directly to a mobile device based on the user's location; QR Codes (quick-response barcodes): This is a type of 2D barcode with an encoded link that can be accessed from a smartphone. This technology is increasingly being used for everything from special offers to product information. Mobile Banner Ads: Like standard banner ads for desktop Web pages but smaller to fit on mobile screens and run on the mobile content network

Direct Mail

Main article: Advertising mail

Telemarketing

Another common form of direct marketing is telemarketing, in which marketers contact customers by phone. The primary benefit to businesses is increased lead generation, which helps businesses increase sales volume and customer base. The most successful telemarketing service providers focus on generating more "qualified" leads that have a higher probability of getting converted into actual sales.

The National Do Not Call Registry was created in 2003 to offer consumers a choice whether to receive telemarketing calls at home. The FTC created the National Do Not Call Registry after a comprehensive review of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR).^[14] The do-not-call provisions of the TSR cover any plan, program, or campaign to sell goods or services through interstate phone calls. The provisions do not cover calls from political organizations, charities, telephone surveyors, or companies with which a customer has an existing business relationship.^[15]

Canada has its own National Do Not Call List (DNCL). In other countries it is voluntary, such as the New Zealand Name Removal Service.

Voicemail Marketing

Voicemail marketing emerged out of the market prevalence of personal voice mailboxes, and business voicemail systems. Voicemail marketing presented a cost effective means by which to reach people directly, by voice. Abuse of consumer marketing applications of voicemail marketing resulted in an abundance of "voice-spam," and prompted many jurisdictions to pass laws regulating consumer voicemail marketing. More recently, businesses have utilized guided voicemail (an application where pre-recorded voicemails are guided by live callers) to accomplish personalized business-to-business marketing formerly reserved for telemarketing. Because guided voicemail is used to contact only businesses, it is exempt from Do Not Call regulations in place for other forms of voicemail marketing. Voicemail courier is a similar form of voicemail marketing with both business-to-business and business-to-consumer applications.

Broadcast Faxing

Broadcast faxing, in which faxes are sent to multiple recipients, is now less common than in the past.^{[citation needed]} This is partly due to laws in the United States and elsewhere which regulate its use for consumer marketing. In 2005, President Bush signed into law S. 714, the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005 (JFPA), which allows marketers to send commercial faxes to those with whom they have an established business relationship (EBR), but imposes some new requirements. These requirements include providing an opt-out notice on the first page of faxes and establishing a system to accept opt-outs at any time of the day. Fax senders must begin complying with these new requirements, which are described in this fact sheet. Roughly 2% of direct marketers use fax, mostly for business-to-business marketing campaigns.^[16] Also, due to the popularity of a variety of digital communication methods, the overall use of faxes is less than in the past.

Couponing

Couponing is used in print and digital media to elicit a response from the reader. An example is a coupon which the reader receives through the mail and takes to a store's check-out counter to receive a discount.

Digital Coupons: Manufacturers and retailers make coupons available online for electronic orders that can be downloaded and printed. Digital coupons are available on company websites, social media outlets, texts, and email alerts. There are an increasing number of mobile phone applications offering digital coupons for direct use.

Daily Deal Sites offer local and online deals each day, and are becoming increasingly popular. Customers sign up to receive notice of discounts and offers, which are sent daily by email. Purchases are often made using a special coupon code or promotional code. The largest of these sites, Groupon, has over 83 million subscribers.^[17]

Direct Response TV

Direct marketing via television (commonly referred to as DRTV) has two basic forms: long form (usually half-hour or hour-long segments that explain a product in detail and are commonly referred to as infomercials) and short form, which refers to typical 30-second or 60-second commercials that ask viewers for an immediate response (typically to call a phone number on screen or go to a website). TV-response marketing — i.e. infomercials — can be considered a form of direct marketing, since responses are in the form of calls to telephone numbers given on-air. This allows marketers to reasonably conclude that the calls are due to a particular campaign, and enables them to obtain customers' phone numbers as targets for telemarketing. One of the most famous DRTV commercials was for Ginsu Knives by Ginsu Products, Inc. of RI. Several aspects of ad, such as its use of adding items to the offer and the guarantee of satisfaction were much copied, and came to be considered part of the formula for success with short-form direct-response TV ads (DRTV)

Direct Response Radio

In direct response radio, ads contain a call to action with a specific tracking mechanism. Often, this tracking mechanism is a "call now" prompt with a toll-free phone number or a unique Web URL. Results of the ad can be tracked in terms of calls, orders, customers, leads, sales, revenue, and profits that result from the airing of those ads.

Insert Media

Another form of direct marketing, insert media are marketing materials that are inserted into other communications, such as a catalog, newspaper, magazine, package, or bill. Coop or shared mail, where marketing offers from several companies are delivered via a single envelope, is also considered insert media.

Out-of-Home

Out of home direct marketing refers to a wide array of media designed to reach the consumer outside the home, including transit, bus shelters, bus benches, aerials, airports, in-flight, in-store, movies, college campus/high schools, hotels, shopping malls, sport facilities, stadiums, taxis — that contain a call-to-action for the customer to respond.

Direct Response Magazines and Newspapers

Magazine and newspaper ads often include a direct response call-to-action, such as a toll-free number, a coupon redeemable at a brick-and-mortar store, or a QR code that can be scanned by a mobile device — these methods are all forms of direct marketing, because they elicit a direct and measurable action from the customer.

Direct Selling

Direct selling is the sale of products by face-to-face contact with the customer, either by having salespeople approach potential customers in person, or through indirect means such as Tupperware parties.

Grassroots/Community Marketing

The door-to-door distribution of flyers and leaflets within a local community is a business-to-consumer form of direct marketing used extensively by restaurants, fast food companies, and many other business focusing on a local catchment. Similar to direct mail marketing, this method is targeted purely by area and community, and costs a fraction of the amount of a mailshot, since it is not necessary to purchase stamps, envelopes, or address lists with the names of home occupants.

References

^ The Power of Direct Marketing: ROI, Sales, Expenditures, and Employment in the US, 2009-2010 Edition
^ ^a ^b ^c Brandweek 50,no.36.D1-D4 "The Next Generation of DIRECT MARKETING." Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, 2009,p.6.
^ Marketing Legend Lester Wunderman Live on 'The Alan Levy Show'
^ O'guinn, Thomas (2008). Advertising and Integrated Brand Promotion. Oxford Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press. p. 625. ISBN 9780324568622.
^ Postal Service OPERATIONS
^ Entry for junk, Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved February 19, 2008.
^ Origin of the term "spam" to mean net abuse, Brad Templeton's website. Retrieved February 19, 2008.
^ FCC: Spam, Unwanted Text Messages and Email
^ What is a "Whitelist" and why do I want to work with a "Whitelisted" Mail Distributor?
^ Advertising Age - More Advertisers Adopt Stricter Codes Around Digital Privacy
^ eMarketer Press Release, June 2011
^ DMA 2011 Statistical Fact Book, Chapter 4
^ DMA 2011 Statistical Fact Book, Chapter 2, page 46
^ Telemarketing Sales Rule
^ FTC Consumer Alert - Q&A: The National Do Not Call Registry
^ DMA 2010 Response Rate Report
^ New York Times Article, June 2 2011 - Groupon Plans I.P.O. With $30 Billion Valuation

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