Separation of the Two
When you tell people you’re in direct marketing or that you have a direct marketing company working for your own product fulfillment business, you might get a few puzzled looks. A lot of people think direct marketing isn’t as effective today or that it’s not something product fulfillment professionals should use to yield success. These people who look down on direct marketing often ride the high horse of digital business and tout themselves as the new slick business pros today.
Well, good for them. In the meantime, you’ve got work to do. Contrary to what the high horse riders think, having a direct marketing service today is just as necessary for consumers as it was in the past. It might not be the same format as it was some years ago, but it’s still got something to offer people looking to buy good products from great businesses.
The fact is that direct marketing is still useable and effective, so product fulfillment pros who have a flare for this marketing don’t have to radically change their ways of doing business. They simply have to adapt to certain practices that are more common today, and then go about creating the direct marketing company that suits today’s world, creating the success they crave. And that’s about it. But before you begin, it’s good to distinguish between direct marketing strategy and execution, and to keep the two practices separate in order to go about doing your business correctly.
Doing What’s Necessary
Direct marketing today requires tact. While some might dismiss the material, others will rely on it. Therefore, you have to work on catering to those clients in product fulfillment.
With this in mind, you have to be on guard to improve and expand your direct marketing services as much as possible. Strategizing and offering new products through your product line, getting new promotions out to clients, and creating a specialty club-like atmosphere with your direct marketing venture are all part of creating a direct marketing enterprise that is relevant and interesting to today’s consumer. You want to have a business that clients can refer to regularly to get the products they want when they need them, no different from their regular banks or book clubs. Direct marketing has the ability to create a club or group based solely around the services it provides. This allows you to reach the second step: product delivery.
One key area to focus on: your direct marketing leads. These leads require your focus, and you will want to honor and promote them as much as possible. All of your direct marketing material, such as your direct marketing mailing material and brochures, should be directed toward those leads because they are the ones who will provide the bread and butter of your business success. On top of this, see if you can promote direct marketing through your direct marketing leads; for example, offer promotions to your existing leads if they can refer friends or associates to your business. This will build your direct marketing business more and improve your business potential even more so.
Above and Beyond
For today’s product fulfillment pro, creativity is a must—creative direct marketing. You have to find new ways to make direct marketing appeal to today’s client base, and there are more than a few ways to go about this.
Obviously, the digital route is paramount. Having direct marketing available in both digital and print form, offering services either by direct marketing mailing or by online delivery are helpful. Getting creative with new mailings through new styles of graphics, brochure layout, or catalog presentation is helpful here. If conjuring the creativity is an issue, don’t be afraid to hit up a graphic designer or an online business pro or both for help.
Direct marketing isn’t dead. It just needs some new life. If you’ve got the energy and ideas, you can bring the life to it that will bring you success in the end.
Need solutions to your product fulfillment problems? APS Fulfillment, Inc has the knowledge and services to make your direct mail and product fulfillment ventures more successful. Contact APS Fulfillment, Inc by e-mail at [email protected], visit its web site at www.apsfulfillment.com, or call (954) 582-7450.
