Direct Marketing

Although there are various forms of direct marketing such as direct mail, telemarketing, online marketing, electronic marketing and others-they all share four distinctive characteristics. Direct marketing is nonpublic: The message is in general addressed to a particular person. Direct marketing also is instantaneous and customized: Messages may be prepared very rapidly, and they may be tailored to appeal to particular consumers. At last, direct marketing is interactive: It permits a dialogue among the marketing and the consumer, and messages may be altered based on the consumer's response. Therefore, direct marketing is well suited to largely targeted marketing efforts and to building up one-to- one customer relationships.