Direct marketing

A pile of advertising mail

Direct marketing is a form of communicating an offer, where organizations communicate directly to a pre-selected[1] customer and supply a method for a direct response. Among practitioners, it is also known as direct response marketing. In contrast to direct marketing, advertising is more of a mass-message nature.[1][2]

Response channels include toll-free telephone numbers, reply cards, reply forms to be sent in an envelope, websites and email addresses.

The prevalence of direct marketing and the unwelcome nature of some communications[3] has led to regulations and laws such as the CAN-SPAM Act, requiring that consumers in the United States be allowed to opt-out.[4]

  1. ^ a b Robert D. McFadden (14 January 2019). "Lester Wunderman, Father of Direct Marketing, Dies at 98". The New York Times.
  2. ^ "personalized ads .. preselected people .. products and services that they might actually want(vs.) scattershot .. printed publications and broadcast media.
  3. ^ unwanted phone calls, unwanted email, for some people unwanted cluttering of the mailbox, especially if they're paying for a rented limited size private mailbox
  4. ^ USA the opt-out does not include everything. Survey phone calls and political phone calls are legal, within certain hours of the day – including "dinner" hour(s). SOURCE: US FTC – 877-701-9595