Direct marketing is the most dynamic solution in the marketing, advertising, and promotion area today. Organizations in every industry are turning to direct mail, personalized interactive media, telemarketing, direct response advertising, and other kinds of direct marketing to achieve their goals. In 2005, companies spent more than $161 billion on direct marketing in the United States.

Direct marketing involves adopting strategies that help a company and its products/services find a larger customer base, which would not be possible by mere word of mouth. Sending out brochures, postcards or emails to specific customer groups, placing inserts in dailies and magazines in order to promote your products or services and to get more hits on your website, are examples of direct marketing tools. Through direct marketing, companies with a specific customer base in mind can send out literature directly to a list of prescreened people.

Some of the most common forms of direct marketing include telephone sales, emails (solicited or unsolicited), catalogs, leaflets, brochures and coupons. A successful direct marketing campaign also involves collating and maintaining a database of personal information about potential customers. These databases are often sold or shared with other direct marketing companies.

To add to your company's customer database, you can buy consumer and business lists with specific leads relevant to your business. For maximum returns, ensure that these lists are accurate and frequently updated. To reduce costs, you can also enlist the services of outsourcing firms who can help supply consumer lists, customize the mail, carry out data processing, and manage in-house lists.

A few laws regulate direct marketing, and these are constantly amended. Per one of the regulations, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, companies sending prescreened solicitations to customers must include a notice containing opt-out information.

Direct marketing does have its negatives. Most of the potential customers are unsuspecting people who fill in order forms or surveys with personal information, which is later used for targeted advertising. The prevalent theory in direct marketing, that a customer who orders a product from a catalog will be interested in related products, could lead to overload, as potential customers are flooded with catalogs, unsolicited emails and phone calls. Also, the personal information collected by legitimate direct marketing firms can be purchased and misused by unscrupulous companies/individuals.Direct marketing, if used properly and with restraint, can be a cost-effective sales tool.