Direct marketing promotion is different from other forms of marketing approaches by the direct exposure of the clients to the business message. This means that with direct marketing you rely only on direct communication with business prospects via emails, direct mail or telemarketing. In many cases a direct marketing business sends unsolicited messages to the other party. In terms of email this is spam, but the separation line is very thin here, and there are many subtleties at work.

Direct marketing business promotion also depends on the possibility to track the positive response from the consumer. Thus, the prospect is required to call a free phone or visit a web page, and if he/she acts on this urge, then, the advertising message has been successful. This marketing approach started with the delivery of commercial ads to the consumers mail boxes, a practice which is still very much in use worldwide. And since this kind of junk mail proved profitable for direct marketing business promotion, managers have pushed things a little further.

The problem is that marketers cannot determine or track the negative impact on the consumer, or in other words, one cannot tell how many people the unsolicited mail has offended. The measurement of results is something on which any direct marketing business depends. No matter how popular this type of marketing can be, controversies have become more numerous with the upsurge of the Internet and the sending of unsolicited mail to the email boxes.

A special measure taken for the direct marketing business approach was the introduction of opt out links. Since most junk email is generated by automatic tools, these programs now include a message that enables the recipient to unsubscribe or to opt out. This measure was taken for legal considerations in the attempt to reduce the SPAM phenomenon that marks business development on the Internet. Direct marketing business strategies therefore need to take such issues into consideration with utmost seriousness.

Catalogs, free trial CDs, advertising circulars and all sorts of other materials delivered to the consumers’ mailboxes represent ways of advertising for a business following direct marketing precepts. The costs of sending materials via mailing services are so low that lots of businesses in the United States and UK use them. Other forms of conducting direct marketing business campaigns is by analyzing the clients in databases, with the selection of those considered most likely to answer positively to the promotional campaign.