Advertisers frequently refine direct mail practices into targeted mailing, when mail is sent out following database analysis to choose recipients considered most likely to reply positively. For instance a person who has demonstrated an interest in golf may receive direct mail for golf connected products or sometimes for goods and services that are suitable for golfers. This use of database analysis is a type of database marketing. The United States Postal Service calls such a  form of mail “advertising mail” ( or admail for short).

In number of developed countries, direct mail represents such a important amount of the total volume of mail that particular rate classes have been established. In the United States and UK, for instance, there are bulk mail rates that enable marketers to send mail at rates that are considerably lower than regular first-class rates. In order to meet the requirements for these rates, marketers must format and sort the mail in special ways - which reduces the handling (and consequently costs) required by the postal service.

Sometimes direct marketers use media such as door hangers, package inserts, radio, television, magazines, newspapers, E-mail, web banner ads, pay-per click ads, billboards or transit ads. And along with Ad Age, “In 2005, U.S. agencies generated more income from marketing services (that include direct marketing)rather than from traditional advertising and media.

Under the law, it is prohibited for telemarketers to call people who had registered themselves on the list. After the list had operated for the period of one year, over 62 million people had signed up.

Couponing is traditionally used in print media to elicit a reaction from the reader. A typical example is a coupon that the reader cuts out and presents to a super-store check-out counter in order to avail of a discount. Coupons in newspapers as well as in magazines cannot be considered direct marketing, for the reason that the marketer incurs the cost of supporting a third-party medium (the newspaper or magazine); direct marketing intends to circumvent that balance, paring the costs down to exclusively delivering their unsolicited sales message to the client, without supporting the newspaper that the consumer looks for and welcomes.

Another type of direct marketing has occurred of the market prevalence of personal voice mailboxes, as well as business voicemail systems. Due to the ubiquity of email marketing, and the expidenture of direct mail and telemarketing, voicemail marketing presented a cost efficient means by which to reach potential clients with the warmth of a human voice.
Mistreatment of consumer marketing applications of voicemail marketing resulted in an large quantity of “voice-spam”, and prompted many jurisdictions to pass laws regulating client voicemail marketing.

For a lot of marketers, a comprehensive direct marketing campaign employs a combination of channels. It is not strange for a large campaign to combine direct mail, telemarketing, radio and broadcast TV, as well as online channels such as, for example, email, search marketing, social networking or video. In a report that was conducted by the Direct Marketing Association, it was established that 57% of the campaigns studied were employing incorporated strategies. Of those, almost half (47%) launched with a direct mail campaign, characteristically followed by e-mail and then telemarketing.

A related form of marketing is considered to be infomercials. They are usually called direct response marketing more than direct marketing for the reason that they try to achieve a direct response with the help broadcast on a third party’s medium, but viewers reply directly via telephone or internet.

TV-response marketing like infomercials -can be measured a form of direct marketing, since reaction is in the form of calls to telephone numbers given on-air. This both makes possible for marketers to sensibly conclude that the calls are due to a special campaign, and allows the marketers to get customers’ phone numbers as targets for telemarketing.

The second most used form of direct marketing is considered to be telemarketing in which marketers contact consumers via phone. The disrespect of cold call telemarketing (in which the consumer does not expect or asks for the sales call) has led some USA states and the USA federal government to create so called “no-call-lists” and legislation counting heavy fines. This process can be outsourced to specialist call-centers.

In the United States, a nation do-not-call list came into effect on October 1, 2003.

Pricing as the most efficient profit lever. Pricing can be come within reach of at three levels. The industry level, market level, and transaction level.

Pricing at the industry level normally focuses on the overall economics of the industry, counting supplier price changes and client demand changes.

Pricing at the market level bases on the competitive position of the price in comparison to the value degree of difference of the product to that of comparative competing goods.

Pricing at the transaction level bases on managing the implementation of discounts away from the reference.

Demand-based pricing is any kind of pricing technique that uses consumer demand – derived form perceived value - as the central element. Demand based pricing includes : price skimming, penetration pricing, bundle pricing, psychological pricing, geo and premium pricing, price discrimination , price lining, and premium pricing as well.

Among pricing factors are manufacturing cost, market position, competition, market conditions, and quality of products.