As an entrepreneur, running any kind of business today, taking the online world into account is extremely important.
Getting your company on the Web and doing your best to establish your presence in a way that will bring not only site visitors, but also customers, to the table, is something that every entrepreneur needs to think about these days.
And, naturally, so as to achieve any of that, you’ll need to rely on what? On marketing, of course!
Read up on its importance: https://www.business2community.com/marketing/the-importance-of-marketing-02186221
As it’s clear, simply building a website and hoping you’re done with all of it is not exactly the best idea.
Quite on the contrary, the part of building the website is just the beginning, and you need to take things even more seriously from there, aiming at successfully promoting and establishing your business online. Marketing is, naturally, your path towards doing that.
Is this all you need to know, though? – that it is the path towards establishing your business online?
Not quite. There are different styles of marketing to take into consideration here, and today we are going to talk about those two significant types you’ll have to understand a bit more clearly, so as to figure out which style is actually right for you.
I’m referring to direct and indirect styles, so let’s check them out in more details.
What Is the Direct Method?
Direct marketing, as the name says it, is the strategy that consists of reaching out to potential customers directly, engaging them and making offers.
A direct line of communication should be aimed at inciting action. The most common techniques that are included in this type, and you can read more about the actual type here, are direct mail, email, text message, telemarketing, as well as face-to-face interactions.
As you can see, some of these are directly related to the online world, while others need to be done in the offline world, which emphasizes the fact that it is the combination of online and offline marketing what leads businesses towards success.
What Are Its Benefits?
Naturally, so as to figure out whether you want to use this specific style, you’ll want to understand how you can benefit from it.
After all, no entrepreneur wants to invest in certain strategies that won’t bring any benefits to the table, as that wouldn’t exactly be favorable for them.
So, wondering if there are any benefits to direct marketing? There definitely are, and I’ll now tell you about a few of those.
First things first, the point of this style is to create tailor made messages for each individual, meaning that you’ll develop a personalized approach for each member of your target audience.
Why is this personalized approach so important, though? Simply because it increases your chances of eliciting a positive result from your audience, by addressing their specific pain points and desires, instead of using a generalized approach that won’t work for half the people in the group.
Plus, you’ll make people feel much more special this way, which is further going to increase your chances of succeeding in selling them something.
Another great thing about this style of marketing is that it basically calls for immediate action. Regardless of what the action is, from making a purchase to signing up to a newsletter, you’ll get an immediate response.
That is a huge benefit, as it drives tangible results and leads to not waiting and wondering whether your campaign has worked or not.
Speaking of tangible results, measurability is another significant benefit you can get from direct marketing. Put differently, with the right tracking methods, you’ll get to easily measure the success of all your campaigns, as well as your conversion rate and your ROI.
Getting all of those insights will give you a clearer idea of which parts of the campaign are working well and which ones need to be improved.
What Is the Indirect Option?
Where there is a direct way, there is also an indirect one, right? And, what you need to do next so as to be able to compare direct marketing vs indirect marketing is to figure out precisely what the indirect method entails and what its benefits actually are.
Basically, indirect marketing is all about generating interest over time by influencing the perception of your audience.
It includes strategies like content marketing, social media marketing, brand sponsorships and similar things, all aimed at building brand awareness, cultivating relationships with your audience, as well as forming a positive impression that will ultimately lead to action.
What Are Its Benefits?
What exactly are the benefits to this?
As you might have guessed it already, by regularly sharing relevant content and by engaging with your audience and aiming at building a good brand image, you will ultimately build a great reputation. Establishing yourself as a highly trusted brand will be the result of these strategies.
Apart from that, you’ll build strong and long-term relationships with your audience, leading to what?
Leading to loyalty, of course. If your business has to rely on repeat customers, loyalty is highly important, so investing in these strategies is a must.
It’s not all about returning customers, though. You have to reach new people as well, and indirect marketing allows you to reach much broader audiences than the style talked about above.
That, of course, increases your brand’s exposure and helps you tap into the new market segments that you could benefit from.
Which One to Choose?
Now that you’ve understood the differences between these two respective styles, you’re most probably wondering which one to choose and start using for your business.
While I get why you may be wondering that, the truth is that you’ll benefit the most by including both of them into your general strategy. While they do differ in various aspects, using the combination of the two is what will drive the best results.
So, don’t think about going for one or the other. Think about going for both of these and thus driving your business towards success.
