Imagine you are visiting a city you have never been before, and you are looking for a nice place where to eat. Asian cousine is your preference. Then, right at that moment, a man approaches you and hands you a flyer offering you a 20% discount at a nearby Chinese restaurant. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
The described situation is a form of direct marketing. Some textbooks describe direct marketing as an advertising strategy targeting a specific audience or consumer profile and stimulating that group to engage and respond directly to the product or service being marketed. An alternative to this strategy is called indirect marketing, which focuses on channels where there is no direct communication with customers by the companies. Indirect marketing is typically seen on the Internet, billboards, commercials, advertisements, and more. One key differentiator between the two strategies is the presence of the middle man. In direct marketing, there is no middle man, and the business tries to reach the consumer directly, whereas in indirect marketing, a third party is involved, such as a provider of the website ad space, online search engine, or owner of a commercial space in a mall.
Traditionally, indirect marketing has largely dominated the mass strategy marketing system, as it can reach a larger and more diverse consumer audience. However, indirect marketing does negatively affect the profit margin, which means that the end consumer has to pay more for the marketed products. In terms of advertising expenses, direct marketing is a more effective form of advertising, as it generates larger returns by cutting out the middle man.
While direct marketing may seem as the right way to go, it has it disadvantages as well. Privacy intrusion is one of the major problems. Consumers do not appreciate the sheer mass of spam received on a daily basis, especially if they have not signed up for it. Most people demand unsolicited contact from companies selling their products. Another disadvantage is the poor quality of leads generated by direct marketing, because most of the time, consumers being targeted are not interested in the offering at that particular moment.
Because of the disadvantages and limitations of direct marketing, the situation described on the outset of this article is a very rare case. If you were looking for a restaurant of your preference, most likely there would not happen to be a man handing you the right flyer at the right time, or maybe you would receive an offer that does not match your needs at all.
Is there a way to use direct marketing in a way that avoids its pitfalls and cons? With the advent of the blockchain and modern online technologies, now there is. BitClave is introducing a distributed online search ecosystem where companies are enabled to directly reach out to consumers without any middle men. Moreover, by using smart contracts, the system is designed so that companies will target only those persons who have opted in for the offers and whose profiles match the target audience. With BitClave, getting the right offer at the right time for the right product is a norm, and it is the future of advertising. Whether you are a business owner, or simply a consumer who is tired of irrelevant ads, BitClave can surprise you in a way you never thought possible. Find out more at www.bitclave.com!
