Mainstream Advertising vs. Direct Marketing

Written by businessideas.info

There are two basic types of advertising, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The first and most noticed type of advertising is mass media advertising, which occurs through mediums like television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and the Internet. The second type is direct advertising, which is bypassing the medium and going straight to the customer one at a time. One of the most popular forms of direct advertising today is email, as it is cheap to acquire address lists and free to send messages.

A natural question one might ask would be, "Which is better?" To answer this, we must examine the differences between the two methods. Mainstream advertising is great for branding, increasing awareness, and displaying the value of your product. Direct marketing is best simply to get sales, which is the ultimate goal of marketing, after all. While direct marketing gets straight to the point, mass media advertising pays off after time because you build an established brand and become trusted. As a small business, however, this may not be such a large priority (at least initially), so if you need to choose only one method, go with direct marketing.

With direct marketing, you target only qualified prospects, unlike mass media advertising which is shown to prospects and nonprospects alike. You have more control over your direct marketing campaign, in that you can personalize messages, determine the exact format and length, and measure response more effectively. While you do have a certain degree of control using mainstream advertising, it is not at the level of direct marketing.

It is important for large businesses to use both marketing methods together, in order to retain a high sales volume and heavy brand awareness. When funds are appropriately allocated between mass media advertising and direct marketing campaigns, the results can be very rewarding.