They say the old ways are best, and in this case they’re spot on. I like to think of online marketing as an ever-evolving entity, constantly needing new forms of nourishment and rewarding those who feed it information in interesting ways. It was only a few decades ago that TV, leaflets, magazines and radio were the major contenders for advertising a product: now online advertising encompasses all of them.
Online vs Direct
This presents one major flaw: information is now easier to access than ever before. On almost every page on the web there’s an advert floating about trying to get your attention. Even on this page right now you are probably surrounded by adverts for things you probably don’t need. Now while Google tries to tailor these adverts on sites you’ve visited in the past, online ads still have to work hard to gain your attention, and it’s usually in a way that has little to do with the product/company. Direct Marketing is an old-fashioned method that is proving the test of time, with approximately 48% of residents responding to a leaflet through the door even by today’s standards. You can either spend your time designing an advert that will most likely never see the light of day due to Adblocker, or you can learn a thing or two from the leaflet pros.
Why Direct?
Direct Marketing uses the same kind of thought that goes into localized Google ads, but with much greater effect. A good leaflet distribution company like Direct Letterbox Marketing will plan a campaign by first identifying the area you want to target, and completing their rounds in a few short hours. You can find out more about the Direct Letterbox Marketing team and their services by clicking here. Identifying the nature of your target audience and then where they are most in abundance is a sure way to ensure you don’t waste time and money.
The Royal Mail states in their Market Reach blog here that you can keep track of your targeted audience and their responses more easily with direct marketing. Not only this, but you know that your ad has gone to the right people rather than jumping up and down and waving your arms about online.
Mail Man
Finally, direct marketing is the most cost-effective form of advertising today. This article from Marketing Week confirms that letterbox marketing is on the rise, all it takes is the dedication from you and your distribution team. Despite having fully interactive adverts online, they do very little to engage people at their computers. Answering the door to someone holding a leaflet leaves you no choice but to be engaged. It sounds just as bad, but if you’re a good salesperson you’ll only need those few seconds to make a good, personal impression on behalf of your company. Here’s a good example of a speedy sales-pitch:




Promotional gifts can be used and interpreted in a variety of ways, so if you are thinking about giving a promotional gift then you should keep in mind who it is for, how appropriate it is, and how much you intend to spend on it. Normally the only people who use promotional gifts are from companies, businesses and organisations, so it would be rare that anyone else would have to give one except in particular circumstances.
If you have a business then it can be assumed that you are good, or at least proficient, at what you do. You could be a great butcher, a baker or a candlestick maker, but unless everyone else know you’re great at what you do then you will not stay in business very long. You must promote your business.
Search Engine Optimisation has helped to make businesses more successful, music artists achieve more widespread recognition and page hits, and to bring more traffic to sites that need it most. When done correctly, and monitored properly, it can mean that search engine results are more relevant and effective, leaving the world better connected and the familiar frustration of being unable to find what you want behind. If it is not used correctly, or perhaps one should say morally, then essentially the reverse of this is true. Search engine results become less relevant, as random pages on website that have little or nothing to do with what you want could come up in search results more than what you actually wanted.
Advertising can be seen as part of a wider marketing campaign. Marketing is more about companies creating and maintaining interest among customers for products and services, and creating the strategy that underlines the selling of something. This includes how something is sold to how the company making a product is structured to effectively exploit its wares.
Advertising is often referred to as the second oldest profession. This is because something had to exist beforehand for advertising to advertise it. This suggests that advertising has been around for a long time. This is probably true but it probably was not considered a discreet profession until the twentieth century.