Direct Marketing was the buzzword of the 80's and 90's and it's no less relevant today - except that the medium has changed with the introduction of email and the Internet. This means you can communicate personally with more people, more quickly and at less cost per communication than ever before.

Direct marketing is not about feel good newsletters and brochures. It's a sales tool with some spectacular advantages over traditional face-to-face selling. You don't need the expensive infrastructure of bricks and mortar (though the cellar door is potentially your main source of database customers) and you have complete flexibility to modify and change your marketing activities at any time. It allows you to conduct small tests (with offers) without investing vast sums of money and if the test doesn't work, you can change your offer, your target marketing and even your timing until you figure out what does. You can start small and invest in greater technology as your database grows and sales increase.

There are significant differences between traditional newsletter distribution and direct marketing. A Direct Marketing Piece (DMP) has an offer as its primary focus. The offer will be up front, have a time frame for response and be specific in its instructions to the reader about what to do next. Remember, you can't expect a response from customers unless you ask for one.

In addition, a DMP will be developed with an identified target audience in mind. It may be making an offer of your latest vintage shiraz to all of the people on your database who have purchased shiraz in the last two years. Another characteristic of direct marketing is that you may have several DMP's out at once, all talking to different sectors of your database.

Finally, a measure of the success of your direct marketing campaign will be the calculation of your Cost Per Order (CPO). This is an evaluation of the total cost of production, printing and distribution of the DMP against the value of orders received.

The most important aspect of direct marketing is the quality and accuracy of your database. Attrition rates are naturally high so just capturing names and inputting them into a computer isn't enough. Anyone who has sent newsletters to their database a few times knows the incredibly high percentage of returned mail that indicates people have left their address or, in our ageing society, passed on.

Whilst you can start small, an integrated approach works best. You need to be able to track your customers' purchases from the outset so invest in a software system that can grow as your business grows, and links into your point of sale. Depending on your capacity, you may need to invest in direct marketing equipment such as a digital photocopier and printer, franking machines, letter folding and insertion gear and more.