Despite the fact that it’s been given a bad reputation over the years because of dinner-time telemarketer phone calls and emails sent five times a day, direct marketing can be beneficial for many companies. It is sometimes considered a controversial sales method because the direct contact between potential customers and a company can be tiresome for both parties. This is what makes a direct marketing company so important; it has the tools and knowledge to plan and execute direct marketing methods that are less intrusive for potential customers, but still successful for businesses.

Direct marketing nowadays is more than simply mailed flyers and catalogues or inconveniently timed phone calls. The method can now include many different personal-based tactics like emails, texts, and social media messages. It can also include mass-media based marketing strategies that have a much wider audience, but still have a customer-focused message. These can include direct response television (commonly called infomercials), magazine advertisements, and even billboards. A good direct marketing company will use a variety of channels.

No matter the channel, though, direct marketing always focuses on the customer, the data, and accountability. A direct marketing company will know that this distinguishes direct marketing from other types of advertising. Direct marketing messages are addressed directly to the customer (sometimes in differing audience sizes), seek to drive a specific “call to action” (like clicking a website’s link), and emphasize trackable and measurable responses from customers.

The first step to a successful campaign that a direct marketing company will use is to identify the specific demographics of potential customers. This can include a larger audience, such as stay-at-home moms, or individual personal information, such as mailing addresses. The larger audience demographics can be used for widespread tactics such as direct response television or insert media (marketing materials inserted in other communications such as newspapers), while the personal information can be used for mailing catalogues or coupons.

From there, the direct marketing company can strategize to determine the best channels to approach the specific audience. Direct marketing needs to balance the line between overloading their potential customers and being truly channel-agnostic. The message needs to be seen or heard, and the call to action needs to be clear, but customers don’t want to receive three emails, two phone calls, and three flyers from the same company in a two-day span. A direct marketing company will know how to avoid annoying customers while still getting the message across.

Once a campaign has been executed, its effectiveness needs to be correctly analyzed. An important factor of direct marketing is that every complete campaign must be examined. A direct marketing company will look at the number of customers that completed the advertised call to action versus the time and money spent, and determine whether or not the campaign was a success. In the future, the tactics may either be replicated or altered, depending on the outcome.

Because so many skills are needed for one marketing campaign—including targeting the right market, determining appropriate channels to reach said market, and analyzing the results—a professional direct marketing company is the most efficient way to directly reach an audience. Direct marketing, when done well, can reach more people and, in turn, generate more customers.