Advertising has hit a turning point. With the internet dominating communications, large-scale offline advertisements witnessing falling demand and dramatically reduced budgets, and direct marketing specialists in hot demand, the entire world of marketing has seen a 360º shift. The recession appears to have taken its grip on the marketing world – creative, experimental business campaigns are no longer the norm, and are quickly being replaced with secure marketing methods.

One of those secure marketing methods is direct response advertising – a form of marketing designed to improve sales figures, client bases, and business interest without forcing businesses into risking hundreds-of-thousands of dollars in mass advertising and special TV placements. It’s the driving force behind the success of many small businesses, and the reason for the ongoing success of internet and phone marketing.

We’ve pieced together a seven-step list of ways to succeed as a direct marketer, telemarketer, or direct mail specialist. Whether you employ a phone-based strategy to help your business succeed or assign the contract to a telemarketing firm, these seven strategies will help you connect with more customers, secure more sales, and increase revenue – all without risking it all on big-budget advertising options.

1. Be different.

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The marketing world is packed with imitators. Big brands fight for celebrity endorsements, salespeople endlessly read from scripts, and advertising campaigns copy one-another to the point of irrelevancy. The all-too-common objection to mass marketing isn’t an objection to the medium itself, but an objection to the bland, similar, and utterly uninteresting tactics often applied to it.

Win by being different. The marketing world doesn’t have to rely on similarity, ‘borrowed’ strategy, and stolen tactics. The general public rarely objects being marketed to, instead objecting to the irrelevant tactics used to market to them. If you can craft a visual, phone-based, or direct marketing strategy that really works, you’ll end up standing further ahead of your competition than you would with stolen copy and borrowed tactics.

2. Offer value to your audience.

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Some brands seem to have an endless run of positive PR. Zappos, Apple, and a range of other companies – some so big they’re normally the subject of attack pieces – all avoid coming under fire from anti-marketers by offering value in every action they take for consumers. From Apple’s creative marketing campaigns to Zappos’ customer-first policies, the most respected and effective companies rarely put anything before providing value.

So do the same. If you plan on gaining access to a new market segment, demographic, or community, offer something not in return, but in advance. Salespeople, direct marketers, and brand-builders alike all agree on one thing: the most effective marketing, be it by phone, mail, or the internet, is always preempted by providing value for nothing.

3. Don’t trick, cheat, or distract to gain attention.

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The ubiquitous ‘free prize’ has become more than a marketing cliché – it’s become the telling sign of something worth avoiding. Throughout the 20^th century, a range of marketing tactics based on diversion, distraction, and deception took hold. Advertisers offered ‘instant win’ prizes, marketers created attention-seeking headlines, and companies relied on short-term efforts ahead of true customer satisfaction.

It wasn’t a problem with the strategies employed – phone sales, direct marketing, and internet advertising are all effective and honest when approached properly – but the tactics applied to them. By creating marketing materials that don’t hustle people into a sale, your business could end up gaining more long-term prospects and repeat customers.

4. Use a ‘Purple Cow’ strategy.

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Marketing expert Seth Godin has coined a number of business terms. His most famous and applicable, the Purple Cow strategy, appears to be well-known amongst successful businesses and effective marketers. Godin suggests businesses engage in just one effort to get noticed: being so different from their competition that people are forced to pay attention to them.

Walk along any major street and you’ll be surrounded by billboards, shop windows, and promotional posters all vying for your attention. The sheer number of distractions makes honing in on any specific target next to impossible. Don’t compete with them. By basing your marketing strategy around being different, you’ll bypass the need for competition and end up attracting valuable attention naturally.

5. Structure your materials for long-term sales.

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There’s an overwhelming number of distractions today. TV advertising, online banners, and direct marketing materials all compete for the instant sale, the quick order, and the one-minute conversion. What’s left behind in the flurry for instant success is the potential at long-term success – marketing efforts that not only capture interest instantly, but extend it over a long period of time.

What good is a $50 sale if it comes at the expense of five different $20 sales? Shooting for the instant sale – a phenomenon that’s quite common on direct marketing – can often come at the expense of long-term success. If you’re invested in telemarketing or direct mail sales, it might be worth taking a different approach to your competitors. Focus on the initial sale, but back it up with a strategy that generates long-term interest and continuing sales.

6. Draw interest unconventionally.

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Over the last decade, the ‘hard sell’ has become the exact opposite. With consumers barraged by advertising at every possible opportunity, those who try to sell the least often end up ahead of their hard-selling peers. Pushy tactics, instant sales strategies, and flashy efforts are becoming less effective as time goes on, pushed aside in favor of strategies that attract interest unconventionally.

Just like value-added marketing efforts tend to fare better, sales strategies that don’t rely on attention-grabbing gimmicks tend to offer the best results for businesses. Before you invest in a telemarketing or direct mail strategy that values instant attention over all else, consider structuring your campaign differently to boost returns and generate real interest.

7. Treat marketing as part one of the sales process.

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Phone marketing, direct mail, and online advertising certainly aren’t the only methods for driving sales and promoting services – they’re simply the first and most visible aspects of a campaign. If your business aims to truly promote services – and promote, in this case, to the right people – it’s worth treating your marketing efforts as the first piece in a lengthy chain of sales efforts.

Tailor your marketing efforts to their strengths. If you’ve experienced great results generating leads with direct mail marketing, prioritize it in the initial phases of your marketing campaigns. If you’ve found phone marketing to be particularly effective in closing leads, add it as a secondary feature. Effective marketing campaigns aren’t driven by a single action – they’re driven by piecing together a range of effective, goal-driven efforts.