Direct marketing continues to be a powerful media channel. However, in today’s multimedia environment, some question the value of direct marketing. The best way to pin down the truth of that sentiment is to look at the advantages and disadvantages of direct marketing vs. digital advertising.
Advantages of Direct Marketing
• It continues to be an effective and popular media channel.. In a survey of marketers, 57% said they found print media, such as white papers and research reports, effective. In addition to its effectiveness, it also remains popular. For example, 61% of marketers use white papers.
• A workhorse media channel that educates, brands and more. The bread and butter of B2B marketing is educating potential buyers about complex products and solutions. It has research reports, brochures, and fact sheets, to name a few. Direct Marketing also offers a cradle-to-grave solution that includes brand development, lead generation, and customer support.
• Personalized content for the target audience. Marketing content comes in various forms to address the needs of prospects at any stage of the buying cycle. Therefore, B2B marketers can easily tailor their information to a specific audience. Why is that important? It is essential because it ensures that you provide relevant, useful and timely information that your prospects want and need.
Disadvantages of direct marketing
• Explosive growth of social media will crush direct marketing. The trends clearly show growth in online and mobile media consumption. Meanwhile, growth in direct marketing shows no growth. We may have reached a tipping point, with digital media being the preferred way to engage potential customers.
• Decision makers don’t have time to read. Today’s marketing makes reading optional. Media-rich tools like blogs, microblogging, SlideShare, Vimeo, YouTube, photos (Pinterest), and infographics deliver marketing messages quickly and easily, while entertaining you.
• Real-time marketing is second to none. The growth of social networks depends in part on their ability to respond and instant messaging. You can publish a tweet or social media post and have it reach your target audience in seconds. Customer engagement with social media is unrivaled.
Go with Tried and True or Up-and-Coming?
In short, direct marketing is clearly still hardcore. it’s effective it’s efficient AND it’s still very consumable in the B2B space.
On the other hand, the growth of digital marketing shows impressive growth. It’s catching on fast. Given this backdrop, instead of throwing your eggs in one basket, you can benefit from the combination of direct and digital marketing.
Combining them helps smooth out the ups and downs of both for maximum effectiveness. The synergies of these two offer more than either channel can offer on its own.
That makes a strong case for continuing to exploit both. By looking at them this way, you’ll maximize your marketing spend and produce more engaging, relevant, and consumable marketing content.
