Direct and indirect marketing has a place for every business. In the beginning, it might seem like direct marketing is the way to go. It can give fast results. Indirect marketing can take longer to be beneficial for a business, but it can have a huge impact on your bottom line.
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What is Direct and Indirect Marketing?
Direct Marketing is when you directly target your audience to buy a product or service.
Indirect Marketing is when you are creating some content or system that doesn’t require the consumer to buy directly.
What Are Different Examples of Direct Marketing?
In-Person Sales
In-person sales is important for a lot of businesses. It usually happens on the local level. Think about physical stores or door knocking.
Telephone Sales Calls
Telephone Sales is a popular way to make sales. It’s a good way to makes sales for higher dollar amounts. You will need to have a traffic source unless you are cold calling.
EDDM – Every Door Direct Mail
EDDM is Every Door Direct Mail. It’s a great way to send bulk mail to people in a local region. It can be an efficient way to see people’s responses.
Door hangers
Door hangers are similar to EDDM. You can track how many door hangers you are putting up and the response you get from it.
Postcards
You can send single postcards to clients or a sphere of influence. You can also combine it with EDDM to send postcards to a lot of people at a time.
Email Campaigns
You can send mass emails to followers. There are automations that you can create to help you track your reach.It is possible to buy an email campaign that already has a big email following. You will want to check on the quality.
Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads are a great way to target a demographic and interest. You can have a video or pictures. It can be set globally or locally.
YouTube Ads
YouTube Ads can target different interests. Your first 5 seconds will be the most important part of your pitch. Make it good!
Google Ads
Google Ads is based off of direct marketing. People search specific keywords. You can pay to get in front of people interested in that topic.
Instagram Ads
Instagram Ads are similar to Facebook Ads. You need to create an engaging piece and get people to ultimately buy your product or service.
What Are The Different Examples of Indirect Marketing?
SEO
SEO is about focusing on the keywords. Specifically, you want to rank high in the search engines. As people get answers to their questions, you can brand your products and services.
Blog Posts
Blog posts are generally focused on getting SEO. If you have an audience, you can recommend a really good blog post. This can help you give value to your followers for some future sale.
News Articles
If you are in the news, it gives publicity to your company. There isn’t a guarantee that you will end up with clients. It does increase your brand, and you can find clients going to you.
Online Reviews
Some people will hear about your company and want to know more. Online reviews can be a good way to establish some trust.
Sponsorships
Sponsorships are a great way to get your company’s name out. Some of the biggest sport apparel companies have become big because of sponsorships.
Social Media Posts
Social Media Posts are a great way to get indirect marketing. I know Realtors that posted about different things on Facebook in order to stay top of mind. When someone thinks about real estate, they will reach out to that Realtor.
Referrals
Referrals are a great way to get indirect marketing. Instead of directly trying to sell your product or service, you can work on building a referral system.
Social Media Influencers
Influencers are becoming a bigger market. People follow and like different people. The products and services that they recommend can be a great way to get publicity from a trusted source.
Trade Shows
Do you ever see booths at trade shows? It’s a great way to get your brand out in the open. It’s a way to make sales and connect with other influencers in your industry.
Who Should use Direct Marketing?
Direct Marketing is great for businesses that want a measured response. You send out some kind of advertisement and you see how they respond to it.
Direct marketing can be a costlier venture. It does allow you the potentially target the exact consumer you want. As long as the cost is less than the revenue, you’ve made profit.
Who Should Use Indirect Marketing?
Indirect Marketing is great for businesses that want a long term approach to their business. They want to get by with referrals or brand awareness.
It’s usually a cheaper way to market because you are reaching the general audience. It can be a great way to build an audience over time.
Do You Have a Product or Service?
It’s great is you have a product or service. The benefit is that you will have the largest margins whenever you are trying to sell a product or service.
Direct Marketing with a Product or Service
If you have a product or service, you will need to consider your time investment. Selling your product directly to an audience is the quickest way to get a result. It’s also a measured approach to seeing if your actions are creating a result. It’s probably the costliest way to get clients.
Indirect Marketing with a Product or Service
The benefit with indirect marketing is that you don’t even need a product or service. You can be focused on helping people with different problems. You can create a following or audience and recommend products and services for a commission.
You can also create a blog, YouTube Channel, or a podcast to get free organic traffic. This may be a great option if your product or service is not bound by geography. If you are more local, it may be worth looking into creating a referral system.
What is Your Time Frame for Making Money?
Frankly, there are no get rich quick schemes when you are building a business. It takes times to build a business. Direct Marketing does give you the ability to quickly see if your product or service is selling.
An indirect marketing approach can take longer to build up into a sizeable audience. It takes a couple months for a website to get indexed by Google. Social Media can be a quicker way to get brand awareness for your product or service. Creating a referral system takes time.
Are You Willing to Invest Money?
I know people willing to spend thousands of dollars on advertisements online. They will put ads on Google, Facebook, and YouTube to get clients.
I’ve personally spent thousands of dollars on my land investing business on mailers. These are direct marketing approaches that may or may not turn a yield. Once you spend the money, you will get a quick result that you can monitor.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Who should I use for direct marketing?
Check EDDM for postcard mailers or build print mailing. Offers2Owners is great for Real Estate mailers or if you are doing direct targeting. Use Google Ads and Facebook Ads if you want online advertising.
Who should I use for indirect marketing?
Look at Medium and WordPress for blogging. You can use Anchor for a podcasting format. YouTube is a great way to get video branding. Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms.
What is the best way to get started with marketing?
The best way to get started with marketing is to see your budget. You should have a blend of direct and indirect marketing.
