Direct Marketing

Direct marketing (mail order) is a $600 billion a year industry. This is a conservative estimate. Direct mail is probably closer to $1 trillion.

I usually include internet marketing when talking about direct marketing as they are one and the same. The difference between direct marketing and traditional marketing is really the response that you are trying to get from people.

Traditional marketing, what I call traditional advertising, is looking to build awareness. Direct marketing is looking for the sale today or in the near future. I don't care about getting my name or my company's name in the public eye or being famous. I care about making money and educating my students on how to stay away from business and money making opportunities that don't work.

The real trick to making money in direct mail is in testing. Product selection is only 25% of the equation. Creating ads that sell and mail pieces that people respond to are important, but you are going to have to go after the right market.

What I spend most of my time doing is looking for new markets and new products to sell.

Is there room for you in the direct marketing universe?

Of course there is. It is close to a $1 trillion market. There is room for me and 100,000 just like me. Any industry, any product, any market, any price point, anything. That is the great thing about it. I make so much more money than I ever used to and I still don't feel I have reached 5% of my potential market (maybe even only 2% or 3% of what I could be doing.) Granted I would have to get a real office and hire a few full time people (something I don't want to do) but the possibilities are incredible.

What you should look for:

What you should find is somebody that is going to teach you the ins and outs of direct marketing, mail order marketing and even internet marketing. Someone that actually does what you would like to do.

Direct marketing is more advanced so you might want to start with internet marketing. It is less expensive and easier to understand. If you lay out $500 for a web site you will still have the site if things don't go well. This isn't the case with traditional direct marketing.

Matt Gagnon