-The targeted people are wrong people, and the direct marketing effort was ignored.
-The design/layout of the direct marketing piece didn't attract the attention of the recipient and wasn't opened.
-The piece itself was not motivational or clear enough and was tossed.
-The offer was badly timed and moot.

There is a high possibility that if you might have used the same ad in the trade magazine, you probably might have had the right audience at that time. However there might be a possibility that the ad itself, whether in the magazine or through direct marketing in the direct-mail piece, may be to blame.

When conducting a direct marketing exercise, it is important to ask yourself these questions:
-What's the product's benefit to the consumer—what need or desire does the product fill? And whether you emphasized that benefit in the direct marketing clearly and in a strong way?
-How is your product superior to that of your competitors? Is it higher quality? Less expensive? More convenient to buy or use? Is it one of a kind? And whether you stressed on those advantages or conveniences in the direct marketing as reasons for consumers to come to you instead of to a competitor?
-Does the product have a season or a window of opportunity in which the most purchases are likely to occur? An example would be snow skis, boats or lawnmowers. And whether you timed your direct marketing properly so you didn't miss the season?

After having answered all the above questions, you must consider all the information gained and then think about the ideas below for future direct marketing campaigns:
-Include a testimonial or indicate references from satisfied customers in the direct marketing piece.
-Repeat the direct marketing exercise. You need to be consistent in your advertising whatever form of media you use.

Direct Marketing is especially popular in India because by nature Indians do not trust claims made by most of the companies unless they have a first hand experience of the product or a direct contact with the service offered by the company. This has been proved in the past with the grand success of the Eureka Forbes products in the Indian market. The Eureka Forbes products were marketed purely through Direct Marketing efforts and have the largest share in the cleaning products market in India.
 

~ Category editor Sakina Kadiwala. copyright data indianchild.com

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