Direct marketing existed before the rise of digital marketing.

Do you know those envelopes that people received via mail, containing catalogues, flyers or discount coupons?

This action, called direct mail, was the first direct marketing concept to be used.

In the early 2000s, marketing studies advanced, adopting more personalized approach strategies, and brands wanted to approach their audiences using this approach.

With the arrival of Inbound Marketing, the concept of audience segmentation became even more essential for closer communication with the consumer.

Direct mail is still used today. Of course, in smaller volume after the arrival of the internet.

On the other hand, the web has given even greater value to another classic direct marketing strategy: email.

Today, email marketing is the tool that offers the best cost-benefit on the market. And this differential persists even after the outbreak of Covid-19.

The urgency to survive the troubled period of the pandemic defined new sales strategies (the rise of e-commerce is proof of this).

This process required more than getting closer to customers. It was necessary for brands to promote affinity with their audiences.

In the world of post-pandemic hookups, direct marketing is no longer the same. And what are your biggest transformations? That’s what we’ll see next.

Direct marketing and sales

If before direct marketing was more applied to retail, today this strategy is being widely used to work on branding.

The consumer profile has changed, and with that, it is necessary for communication to adapt to the new parameters of a lead more interested in getting involved, and not just buying.

It’s what we call engagement, and the new consumer is looking for it.

Talking directly to the public without the interference of intermediaries is the main characteristic of direct marketing. This justifies its connection with retail (and with immediate sales).

However, with the advent of Inbound Marketing, the experience of dialoguing with the consumer has become much more humanized.

Currently, creating a lasting relationship with the lead is essential, as sales are no longer just sales.

Inbound brought us the concept of persona and the buyer’s journey, with all its stages in the marketing funnel.

The key thing to note is that sales has changed along with digital marketing. Everything is more human and more personalized.

This way, direct marketing performs with excellence in the sales phase and also in the after-sales phase.

The changes the pandemic has brought

It is a fact that e-commerce has grown in the period of the pandemic. And in the wake of this phenomenon, communication has reinvented itself.

Digital retail, which already had strong links with direct marketing, is combined with new loyalty strategies.

Faced with this “boom” of business opportunities, personalization has become the most important argument to attracting and converting the public (look at Inbound there again).

Emails, for example, are no longer just a message in the recipients’ inbox.

For email marketing to be really effective, the content of the message needs to be intimate with the reader, that is, the public needs to feel psychologically involved.

Text messages have become more frequent in personalized communications, calling the lead’s attention to an item that has previously shown interest.

Social networks act as leisure and entertainment. Between one distraction and another, consumers come into contact with solutions to their problems, not products.

And so communication goes on talking to people, one by one, until creating bonds of affection between brands and individuals.

The future of the past

Is direct marketing a thing of the past? It’s not, and Inbound is there to prove it.

Humanization has never been talked about so much, and direct marketing puts individualization in focus.

Another Inbound creation that corroborates the need for customized communication is the persona, which is nothing more than the hyper-segmentation of the public represented in the human figure.

Direct marketing has become more sophisticated and perfected over time. The concept is the same, however, the ability to customize is even greater after the rise of digital marketing.

And of all the tools, the email list and social networks stand out as the strategies that generate the most results, as they offer an excellent cost-benefit ratio.

In addition, they allow audience segmentation, measurement of results, lead nurturing, among many other features.

Tips for your direct marketing campaign

Personalization is the keyword that permeates not only direct marketing, but also today’s communication efforts.

To create a well-structured campaign, you need to:

• Know your persona well: audience hypersegmentation allows you to map your lead’s strengths and weaknesses. Use this knowledge to create the ideal consumer dialogue.
• Choose the best tool: what is the best channel for your communication? Text messaging, email marketing, social media or direct mail via the post office? (Although less used these days, direct mail is still very effective. Discount coupons are good examples of the success of this strategy).
• Test your plan: A/B testing gives you a preview of how well your campaigns are doing. Apply this feature!
• Measure the results: analyze everything that worked and what didn’t to improve the communication of the next campaigns.

Faced with the facts, the biggest challenge of digital marketing is to overcome itself. After all, they still haven’t invented a better way to individualize communication.

Don’t underestimate the power of an established strategy. “Old pots make good food”.