Direct marketing messages emphasize a focus on the customer, data, and accountability. Characteristics that distinguish direct marketing are:
- Marketing messages are addressed directly to customers. With the evolution into digital marketing channels, this addressability comes in a variety of forms including email addresses, mobile phone numbers, and Web browser cookies.
- Direct marketing seeks to drive a specific "call to action." For example, an advertisement may ask the prospect to call a free phone number or click on a link to a website.
- Direct marketing emphasizes trackable, measurable responses from customers — regardless of medium.
Direct marketing is practiced by businesses of all sizes — from the smallest start-up to the leaders on the Fortune 500. A well-executed direct advertising campaign can prove a positive return on investment by showing how many potential customers responded to a clear call-to-action. General advertising eschews calls-for-action in favor of messages that try to build prospects’ emotional awareness or engagement with a brand. Even well-designed general advertisements rarely can prove their impact on the organization’s bottom line.
Melaleuca does not spend money on expensive advertising and so preferred customers reap the benefit in the form of discounts on products.
