Direct marketing

From ArticleWorld

Direct Marketing is a form of Advertising that uses usually an email or a postal mailing address list. Sometimes Direct marketing can involve phone calling or faxing as well.

The advantage of this type of advertising is that no third party medium such as a billboard has to be used. Therefore, the company is directly involved with the consumers, and knows within a very short time that the customer has responded to the advertising.

If a person who welcomes what others would call junk mail, that person can usually take advantage of the free information that the company has to offer. Also, that person can sometimes even receive a free sample of a new soap or hair care product. Receiving mail can be fun if this is the case. Those people figure direct mail can be more inviting than any incoming bills they may anticipate.

Spam and Junk Mail

Most companies find the medium of direct marketing useful, except that sometimes it has a negative connotation. Often mail sent to a home or business unsolicited by the recipient is often referred to as "junk mail". Likewise, emails that are received without the customer requesting to be added to an email list are usually referred to as "Spam". Spam emails are not necessarily as consequential as direct mailing in that they are less wasteful than paper junk mail. However, sometimes a person still has to be careful with emails.

If someone receives an email from someone he or she does not know, that person should be careful that it does not contain a virus. This could harm a person’s computer. Also, this should be reported. Usually Spam is reported to the Internet Service Provider that is connected with a person’s computer.

Unwanted mail

Another way for people to protect themselves is to mark unwanted e-mails as "Spam" or "junk". This will help keep everyone’s computers safe. In addition, if someone is concerned about who has using his or her postal address, that household can find out from the Junkbuster or similar service, and be removed from all lists. This will help ensure the entire household’s of its privacy, and ward off unwanted mail intruders.

Regarding email marketing, beware of the rules and regulations regarding spamming. Most customers do not want unsolicited emails. Therefore, if companies using the direct mail medium need to be careful not to add anyone on their e-mail mail lists unless it is appropriate to do so. Furthermore, beware of the legal ramifications of spamming people as well. Those that violate this law could get fined and lose e-mail privileges.

Businesses trying to get response from customers can make use of direct marketing techniques if they do not abuse the privilege. Companies usually avoid problems by giving people the option to be removed from direct mail lists.