A direct-to-consumer distribution business is cheaper to start and manage than a warehouse distribution, but both require a quick turn-around of products in order to operate efficiently and profitably.

However, warehouse distributors often charge a warehouse storage on products that they don't own. They serve as a middleman between manufacturers and retailers and charge for warehousing products. Direct-to-consumer distribution businesses generally receive no warehouse storage fees. So marketing is vital to their quick movement of products and ultimate success.

Target Market

Your business research must include identifying your target market and the products that they buy. This research greatly affects your marketing.

Because the large warehouse and wholesale distributors already have the business of large volume products that are mass marked, the best approach for a direct-to-consumer distribution is to go after crumbs that fall from their table. In other words, find a product designed specifically for a target market, not presently being well served.

Identifying your target market is just the first phase in your research. Next you have to research the needs, wants, buying power, and expectations of the people in your target market.

Using The Internet To Market Your Direct-To-Consumer Distribution Business

One of the fastest growing ways of marketing a direct-to-consumer distribution business is through the Internet.

One Internet option is digital delivery of products. You can become an affiliate for publishers who sell information products and earn from 20 to 60 percent commissions on sales. The publishers do most of the work and carry most of the expenses. You basically just pre-sale their products and send your customers to their sales pages. Your customers can then immediately download their products without you having to do another thing.

Other Internet marketers work with drop shippers. They market and sell real products. The drop shippers are often the manufacturers who fulfill and ship each order. Then they send the marketer a commission check.

Internet marketing is similar and different to marketing through other media. The major difference is that Internet marketing requires more narrow target marketing than most media. These narrow target markets are often referred to as niche markets. They require that you learn even more information about the people in them in order to attract them to your site and sell them your products.

Without knowing your niche target market really well, you won't know how to attract them to your site. You have to get at least 25 people to your site in order to make one sell, and for many sites, it requires 100 people to make a sell.

After doing your market research and setting up your web site, doing individual promotions through the Internet is the least expensive way of marketing your direct-to-consumer distribution business.

Using Direct Mail To Market Your Direct-To-Consumer Distribution Business

Direct mail is another relatively inexpensive way to market your direct-to-consumer distribution business. Just follow the steps below:

Focusing on a target market that can be identified by demographics and buying behavior,

Purchase a reliable mailing list of your potential customers.

Writing and designing effective sales literature to appeal to your target market, and

Processing and order fulfillment.

Sales can be lost and your business ruined in any of the above steps. Even when you implement each step effectively, sales conversions for direct mail campaigns are only about 1 percent. Thus you have to do the math and know that you can make a profit if you only sell once for every 100 packages that you mail.

You can minimize your expense by using a two-step process. First you send your entire list a postcard with a number to call, a web site age to visit or an address to return the postcard. Then you send an entire direct mail package or in other ways sell to those who respond.

While direct mail marketing costs more than Internet marketing, it costs less than most other ways of marketing your direct-to-consumer distribution business.

Conclusion

Two other good marketing tactics for marketing your direct-to-consumer distribution business include selling by telephone and through infomercials.