Direct Marketing in a 140-Character World

Direct Marketing Strategies

Marissa Brassfield | April 16th, 2009 - 09:18 AM
(7) Found this useful. Do you? Yes

For many businesses, direct marketing involves mail campaigns, phone calls, e-mails, and landing pages aplenty. While these tried-and-true tactics are still met with success, direct marketing campaigns that use Web 2.0 tools like social media have quickly gained ground. In this post, you’ll read about Twitter, one of the major players in the social media universe, and how you can leverage a Twitter account to direct marketing success.

Late last year, Dell reported that the sales alerts they posted on Twitter directly resulted in $1 million in sales, but a WebTrends survey indicates that marketers are still somewhat reluctant of the microblogging site, with only 2% of respondents saying that they use Twitter sometimes or often.

Benefits: Twitter is free. Setting up a profile takes mere minutes, and it provides immediate access to the key players and active participants within your industry. You’ll be able to use your followers as a sounding board for your ideas, and quickly identify opportunities for your brand based on key topics discussed frequently on Twitter. While it’s apparent that Twitter enables you to share links and online promotions, you can also arrange face-to-face meetings (Tweetups) or promote offline campaigns. You’ll find that Twitter users as a whole are far more receptive to these 140-character mini-messages than they are to e-mails or phone calls.

Celebrities already know how to use Twitter as a viral PR tool. Hugh Jackman recently pledged via Twitter to donate $100,000 to a non-profit organization, encouraging his 40,000 followers to convince him which charity to choose in 140 characters or less. And Ashton Kutcher is currently embroiled in a bitter race with CNN to 1 million followers, promising to donate 10,000 mosquito bed nests to charity in honor of World Malaria Day if he’s successful in doing so. In bypassing the paparazzi and targeting their fans directly, Jackman and Kutcher have advanced their respective charity causes while earning crucial virtual street cred.

Challenges: Twitter is not a blind dumping ground for your promotions. To be heard as a newcomer, you’ll have to interact with the community at large, cultivating a group of followers that are within your target market. This takes time, and some marketers are far more interested in promoting their brand than enriching their industry or networking with others.

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COMMENTS

4/16/09 - Chris O. Says:

Money is certainly not the barrier to entry with Twitter but time is. What works for Dell might not work for a local Law Firm. As Twitter grows so does the time needed to get your voice heard amongst the clutter.

It has become a predictable life-cycle with networking sites. They’re incredibly efficient at creating awareness in the early stages but as everyone enters the space the power of each individual begins to wane, often giving rise to the traditional marketing hierarchy the site was originally praised for replacing. i.e. Dell on Twitter, Facebook Ads, and other forms of structuring by budget.

If you have a few hours a day to spend developing virtual relationships and “enriching” the community, I genuinely think Twitter is for you.

If you only have a few minutes a day, I’m not quite sure it would be the best use of your time.

best,

Chris O.
Referral Key
“Your Trusted Referral Network”
4/16/09 - Editor Says:

Like blogging, Twitter is not for everyone. However, like blogging, Twitter is becoming more common and more useful.

Let’s say I own a store that sells jewelry in my store and through my e-commerce site. Spending 3 hours doing my Twitter research and then an hour a week building and maintaining my presence sounds like an experiment that uses some valuable time but could have some good results. It’s low-risk and measurable.

Any new marketing technique takes thought and should be considered logically. But it is nice to be able to experiment in free ways that take a modest investment of time.
4/20/09 - Erno Hannink Says:

Such a 3 hours Twitter research is only valuable when you have a great and strong following. This following can only be build if you spend some time, daily, on Twitter. You need to share valuable content with your following to keep them growing and willing to spend some time on your question.
On the other hand meeting up with people that you know from Twitter makes a strong connection fast. So combine some daily Twitter time with offline Twitter meetups and you can ask your followers many things and you will get valuable respons.

I heart Twitter @ernohannink
4/23/09 - Sarah Says:

Twitter is moving at the speed of light these days and I’ll be interested to see where it’s at in the next 3-5 years. I heard someone say today that Twitter is like the web was back in the late 90s and still has a lot of growing to do…