Indirect marketing is considered "pull marketing" in that the buyer sees an advertisement and the seller “hopes" they consider buying their product when the time comes. Does it work? Eventually it does. After spending and untold amount of money, in time some buyers will buy your product. Mature companies need to spend less to maintain their sales then newer less well known companies and small business.
When starting a business, great care should be taken in deciding on using direct vs. indirect and push vs. pull marking. Which is best for small business.
Push marketing is any marketing that reaches the prospect by direct means whether they like it or not. Indirect marketing is probably best left to a large marketing department. Direct marketing includes telephone calls, direct mail, and a personal visit. "Pull" marketing is where business comes to you because of television, radio, print media, newspaper, and the internet. Pull marketing is passive and there's no guarantee that it reaches your target.
Evaluating a business marketing plan for starting a new business means choosing "direct-contact" prospecting or “indirect advertising and marketing." It depends on who you talk to. People who are selling advertising and marketing services would have you believe that the cold call is dead and that the business-to-business sales person or the real estate agent who uses the telephone is an endangered species.
They have an agenda and it usually doesn't include any kind of direct marketing contact. Advertising agencies, print media people, mail houses, pubic relations people, and even web companies want your business development dollars. They have a vested interest in your business development and do not welcome any poachers.
When starting a new business, a great resource is the internet and the web. Using the Internet, one could examine the services of a business-to-business sales person and a real estate agent without actually talking to them. No humans were involved and there was no one to conduct the give-and-take conversations that a salesman could. It was a new addition to the marketing mix. The only flaw was that it could only go so far with the selling message.
Assuming that all businesses including those starting a new busines have a web site, marketing efforts are then equalized. A small business could look and sound like big business. A great equalizer for big business and small business could not be made of whether you were looking at a well rounded agent and company or a fabricated one.
Like the old saying "If everybody is somebody then nobody is anybody." The playing field was "kind of" leveled. With the direct contact of a phone call, a salesman is there to sort out the issues with a prospect.
Cost analysis of direct marketing versus indirect marketing. Salespeople are concerned about the skyrocketing costs of all forms of marketing. Due to cost considerations they might have to make a sober choice between direct marketing and indirect marketing. The acid test of determining whether to spend your money on direct marketing call contact versus indirect advertising is to analyze the results to see if they are what you expect. How much business is derived from indirect, pull type of advertising media? It includes mail, cold calling, television, radio, newspaper, print magazine advertising, Internet and of course, calling expired listings and for sale by owners. Whichever method that seems to work best is the answer.
Quite possibly getting new business is a result of a combination of the above. Cutting down on a portion of the “indirect” marketing channels is probably the appropriate thing to do for getting new business. However, if a large portion of new business is the result of direct call contact, examining how you can improve the effectiveness of your sales staff’s calling effort would be in order.
It's simple economics to add up the cost of each method. At the end of the month it's possible to track the number of appointments that turn into actual sales. Advertising on television, radio, newspapers, and magazines is fleeting and has only a few days of shelf life at best. It's very difficult to make a cost justification for a particular advertising campaign because of the vagueness of the results.
Which method is best for starting a new business. Choose all possible methods of contact available to you. Businesses’ that is sell big-ticket items and has the underlying goal of getting an appointment are well advised to consider direct calling as their main business source.
Business plans will show each method of marketing has a cost and each has its priority. There is a point in the marketing and prospecting process that you strive to succeed in achieving the ultimate goal; getting an appointment. It is the ultimate goal of all types of customer contact. This is the point you have reached for an opportunity to present and sell your service. Which method is most efficient and least costly.