The Importance of Direct Marketing Services in 2021

For marketers, it can feel like there are endless strategies and tactics to consider for any given goal or campaign. Direct marketing is often overlooked in favor of the latest and greatest digital tools, but it continues to offer unique benefits that are useful in 2021 and beyond.

Let’s take a look at what direct marketing is, the benefits it offers, and how to successfully execute your own direct marketing strategy.

What is direct marketing?

Direct marketing and indirect marketing are, as you can probably guess, opposite strategies in the marketing world. Indirect marketing is what you might consider general marketing aimed at consumers at large. Rather than targeting specific audiences using predetermined criteria, the goal of indirect marketing is simply to reach anyone at all.

With that in mind, direct marketing is focused on a specific end consumer. Its goal is to reach this consumer effectively and either convince them to make a purchase or guide them further down the marketing funnel. Direct marketing can include a variety of tactics, but today, we’re going to focus on door-to-door marketing via flyer handout and door hanger distribution.

What are the benefits of direct marketing?

Direct marketing offers a number of benefits for marketers and the brands they represent—especially when compared to indirect marketing.

First, direct marketing forges a personal relationship with a specific consumer. Instead of mass targeting a large group of people, direct marketing allows you to reach a much more granular audience on a personal level. This often means your direct marketing recipients are more likely to engage with your efforts and remember your brand in the future. Plus, you can build upon previous touchpoints in order to gradually inch a specific recipient closer and closer to the point of purchase.

Second, direct marketing typically offers simplicity when it comes to assessing costs and ROI. Many indirect marketing channels ask you to specify a rough budget that may or may not be adhered to depending on the specifications you provide. With direct marketing, especially door-to-door tactics, you’ll know exactly how much you’re going to spend to reach a specific number of prospective customers.

Third, direct marketing is actually a great way to stand out from competitors in 2021 and beyond. As more companies focus their efforts solely on digital channels, offline direct marketing channels are becoming less saturated. This makes it easier to capture someone’s attention. Door-to-door tactics like flyer distribution are also especially effective given how much time the average consumer has spent at home in the last year and a half. Compared to the inundation of digital messages your audience receives, your offline direct marketing strategy may be a welcome change of pace.

How to successfully execute a direct marketing strategy

With those three benefits in mind, let’s take a closer look at what’s required to launch a successful direct marketing campaign. While the specifics may differ company by company and industry by industry, you’ll be able to apply these general tips to any direct marketing effort you begin.

1. Have a clear goal

As with any marketing campaign, it’s in your best interest to spend some time up-front understanding exactly what you’re hoping to accomplish with your direct marketing strategy. Is the goal to increase brand awareness, bring in new customers, bring back repeat customers, or something else entirely? Your goal will influence every choice you make about your campaign’s execution, so it’s important to understand exactly what outcome you’re hoping to achieve.

2. Target carefully

Many marketers wrongfully assume that direct marketing can’t possibly afford the same targeting options as digital channels. While this may have been true of direct marketing in the past, the industry has moved far beyond mass handouts to random passersby. The most common option is geographic targeting, which focuses on consumers in a particular area, like a zipcode or a radius around a particular location.

3. Customize your experience

One of the best features of direct marketing is that each piece of collateral will be sent to one specific person or residence. This gives you immense control over customization and personalization if you’d like to invest the extra time and effort. One example would be promoting delivery service to customers within two miles of your storefront and promoting pickup service to customers within ten miles of your storefront.

4. Build off of past distributions

Lastly, don’t forget that your efforts can build off of one another. For one thing, you can use data from past results to tweak your offering or your audience. Additionally, you can use a series of direct marketing tactics to create a clearer picture of your brand for recipients. For example, if you send a series of four flyers over the course of six months, the first flyer can focus more on brand awareness while the last flyer and focus on conversion.

How Golden Flyer Distribution can help

If you’re convinced of the benefits of direct marketing, you’re in the right place! Global Flyer Distribution handles the entire process of flyer or door hanger distribution, including design, printing, and distribution. We also include GPS tracking with every campaign to give you access to follow the delivery of your flyers and door hangers. If you’d prefer to witness the campaign firsthand, our industry-first Drive With Us service lets you send members of your team on our distribution service to give you complete peace of mind around our process.

Since our company inception, we’ve distributed flyers announcing new company debuts, website launches, new product and service offerings, deals and promotions, special event invitations, advertisements, and much more. Just let us know what you’d like to put on your flyer, and we’ll take it from there!

We offer distribution anywhere across the United States at affordable rates. Many of our clients are small businesses with tight budgets, so we understand the importance of providing exceptional value with every distribution. And don’t worry—we deliver on that promise every time.