So you’ve invented a product, your patent was approved and production is underway. Now what? Where are you going to find buyers? How are you going to market it? How much will you sell it for? Will you sell it domestically, internationally, or both? Will you use general marketing, or direct marketing?

These are questions, everyone who has created a product has to ask themselves. Perhaps to make things easier, we’ll take a look at the differences between general marketing and direct marketing.

How General Marketing Differs From Direct Marketing

In part Investopedia, defines direct marketing ‘as removing the “middle man” from the promotion process, as a company’s message is provided directly to a potential customer.’ Another way to describe direct marketing is: Selling products by initiating direct contact with the prospective consumers. Direct marketing is different than general marketing because it’s a promotional technique that can be measured in terms of responses.

Alternatively, general marketing is not as personal as its counterpart, because it involves advertising, then hoping for a response. With direct marketing, a direct marketing company selects which individuals will be offered the promotion, and then it receives the direct responses instantly. You’ll see shortly how they get the numbers so quickly.

Types of Direct Marketing

Often associated with mail order marketing, direct marketing also includes other promotional media outlets such as televised infomercials, videotext services, and newspaper inserts. Obviously, if you have a product that appeals to the masses rather than a small market, direct marketing makes the most sense financially. But who’s going to do the direct marketing for your product? You, or a professional direct marketing company?

What is a Professional Direct Marketing Company?

A direct marketing company is a firm that specializes in helping product developers get their products directly in front of the consumer. They know what works, and what doesn’t. As well these firms usually don’t just deal with domestic markets, but international markets, too.

How a Professional Direct Marketing Company Helps Product Developers

•  They have a dedicated professional marketing and sales team.

•  They are experts in media, direct response television, marketing, product analysis, consultations, and sales solutions.

•  They ensure that products get the best media services, coverage, and guidance.

International Direct Marketing – Direct Response Television

If a direct marketing company has connections in the international market, they will have different associates in the firm, who speak various languages. And these members of the marketing and sales team will have the expertise and connections to translate and air your infomercials, send samples to interested parties, make important phone calls, attend international and domestic trade shows, and much more.

Who Benefits the Most From Direct Marketing?

The unequivocal beneficiary of direct response marketing is the inventor, or owner of the product being marketed, because of:

•  Unequaled “Track-ability”: Direct Response Marketing means instant access to the campaign results. By using unique URLs to get quantitative data and/or toll free number data, seconds after the ad is broadcasted. This gives you instant feedback on both the media placement and creative messaging. A general marketing advertising campaign can take months to get results, if they can even get any raw quantitative data at all.

•  Hard Data: Hard numbers provide a view of the campaign’s performance, and is used to make education decisions based on facts, rather than assumptions. Product developers will know exactly how many people called in to each station, or on each ad. Of those phone calls, they’ll know how many calls were answered, and how many of the callers actually bought their product.

Direct marketing shows which media outlet was profitable, as well as which creative message was successful. On the flip side, the results also show which media outlet was the least productive, and which creative message wasn’t successful.

All of the above is crucial to business people who have a product that they have to market because the numbers are indisputable. They cut out the guesswork, waiting, and wasted money. As you can see, your marketing choice depends on your product. If you have a product that appeals to the masses, direct marketing is the way to go. More specifically, direct response TV. And having a team of experts to back you up doesn’t hurt either, especially if they have international connections.