Like many direct marketers, you may have years of experience sending out direct mail and have recently discovered email as another avenue for reaching a broader audience. A natural question to ask is, “what’s next?” Maybe you have extracted all available efficiency from your existing direct marketing campaigns and you’re looking to expand your reach. Maybe you’re looking for complementary cross-media promotions. Perhaps “standard” direct marketing techniques have under performed. Or maybe Internet users represent an entirely untapped market. Whatever the reason, you’re now ready to learn about Online Direct Marketing.
At its core, online direct marketing seeks to get the attention of and evoke a response from Internet users while they browse the web, read email, or use other online services. The most common and visible online direct marketing channels include:
- Direct Email – Similar to direct mail, direct email puts information directly into the virtual mailboxes of potential customers.
- PPC – Pay-per-click advertising, most frequently associated with the major search engines.
- Banners – Banner ads are not dead, but the techniques and economics are very different from how they began.
In the coming weeks we’ll talk about each type of online direct marketing in more detail.