IT ALLOWS FOR PERSONALIZATION OF THE MESSAGE. The use of mass media advertising is attempting to reach out to everybody in the hopes that some people will be interested enough to reply to the offer or pursue additional information. There may only be one person out of a thousand that actually respond or follow up for additional information. On the other hand, direct marketing uses a specific customer base to market to thus allowing for a better connection to that person and in turn, increasing the chance that the person they are attempting to reach will actually follow up for additional information or buy whatever product is being pushed. Databases of a person's interests are created and a person's interests are what drives the marketing to that population. For example, it would be more effective to send out a debt consolidation program insert to somebody that they know has a lot of debt rather than appealing to the masses with the hopes that something sticks.
