Direct Marketing is

Marketing is: the wide range of activities involved in making sure that a company continues to meet the needs of its customers and getting value in return. These activities include market research to find out, for example, what groups of potential customers exist, what their needs are, which of those needs can be met, how to meet there, etc. needs Marketing also includes analyzing the competition, positioning your new product or Service (finding your market niche), pricing your products and services, and promoting them through continued advertising, promotions, public relations and sales.

Direct marketing: it involves

• Direct Marketing is: a measurable tested Marketing method whereby products or services are offered to a targeted audience and a direct response is solicited. 

• Direct marketing is: the most effective method of targeting a large number of people who, because they meet a certain set of criteria, are likely to buy your product.

• Direct Marketing is: process of introduction yourself, your service or your product, and forming a continuing relationship with a specially chosen group of potential customers.

• Advertising that involves a: "direct response" (which is an equivalent term) from a consumer - for instance an order form or coupon in a book-review section or in the back of a book, or mailings (direct-mail advertising) to a group presumed to hold a special interest in a particular book.

• Sales and promotion technique in which the promotional materials are delivered individually to potential customers via direct mail, telemarketing, door-to-door selling or other direct means.

• Marketing via leaflets, brochures, letters, catalogs, or print ads mailed or distributed directly to current and potential consumers. The direct marketing industry has grown enormously as a result of increasingly specialized mailing lists.

• A direct communication to a customer or business that is designed to generate a response in the form of an order, a request for further information, or a visit to a store or other place of business. (Also called Direct Response Advertising)

• Promotions targeted to customers whose personal information suggests that a certain product may be of interest to them. This includes mail, telemarketing or electronic mail initiatives. This does not include statements, statement stuffers, and messages on banking machines, announcements on electronic bulletin boards or web-sites, through personal bankers or customer relationship management.

• Any method of distribution that gives the customer access to an organization’s products and services without the need for an intermediary.

• A transaction category for providing customized services and procedures for merchants which offer merchandise or services via catalogs, telephone calls, mailings, and/or advertisements.

• Techniques such as direct mail, catalogs or telemarketing that encourage the customer to order from home. Direct retailing form of nonstory retailing that occurs in a home setting, such as door-to-door sales, party plan selling, and electronic sales over the Web. Traditional forms of direct retailing have waned over the past decade or so, but Internet retailing stands to grow rapidly.

• Direct marketing differs from general marketing in that the result of a promotion is measurable in terms of response. Direct marketing is also largely dependent upon the use of customer files and lists. Direct marketing is utilized by virtually every type of business and organization. However, the primary users are magazine publishers, catalog houses, political campaign organizations and financial institutions.

• An interactive system of marketing that uses one or more advertising media to affect a measurable response at any location, forming a basis for further developing an ongoing relationship between an organization and its customers.