Direct Response - ALR Consulting

Direct Response Marketing or Direct Marketing, is designed to evoke an immediate response and compel prospects to take some specific action, such as opting in to your email list, picking up the phone and calling for more information, placing an order or being directed to a web page.

This is very different from mass marketing or ‘branding’, which can take a lot of time and be very expensive to successfully implement. Think of the big brands you already know… Apple, Samsung, Nike, Coca Cola.

What makes a direct response ad? Here are some main characteristics:

It’s trackable:

That is, when someone responds, you know which ad and which media was responsible for generating the response. This is in direct contrast to mass media or “brand” marketing – no one will ever know what ad compelled you to buy that can of Coke, heck you may not even know yourself.

It’s Measurable:

Since you know which ads are being responded to and how many sales you’ve received from each one, you can measure exactly how effective each ad is. You then drop or change ads that are not giving you a return on investment.

It Uses Compelling Headlines and Sales Copy:

Direct response marketing has a compelling message of strong interest to your chosen prospects. It uses attention grabbing headlines with strong sales copy that is “salesmanship in print”. Often the ad looks more like editorial than an ad (hence making it at least three times more likely to get read).

It Targets a Specific Audience or Niche:

Prospects within specific verticals, geographic zones or niche markets are targeted. The ad aims to appeal to a narrow target market.

It Makes a Specific Offer:

Usually the ad makes a specific value-packed offer. Often the aim is not necessarily to sell anything from the ad but to simply get the prospect to take the next action, such as requesting a free report. The offer focuses on the prospect rather than on the advertiser and talks about the prospect’s interests, desires, fears and frustrations. By contrast mass media or “brand” marketing has a broad, one size fits all marketing message and is focused on the advertiser.

It Demands a Response:

Direct response advertising has a “call to action”, compelling the prospect to do something specific. It also includes a means of response and “capture” of these responses. Interested, high probability prospects have easy ways to respond such as a regular phone number, a free recorded message line, a web site, a fax back form, a reply card or coupons. When the prospect responds, as much of the person’s contact information as possible is captured so that they can be contacted beyond the initial response.

Multi-Touch & Multi-Step Follow-Ups:

In exchange for capturing the prospect’s details, valuable education and information on the prospect’s problem is offered. The information should carry with it a second “irresistible offer” – tied to whatever next step you want the prospect to take, such as calling to schedule an appointment or coming into the showroom or store. Then a series of follow-up “touches” via different media such as mail, e-mail, fax, phone are made. Often times there is a time or quantity limit on the offer.

Future Follow-Up on Unconverted Leads:

People who do not respond within a short period of time will fall into a follow-up period. The prospect may have many reasons for not “maturing” into buyers immediately. There is value in this bank of slow-to-mature prospects. They should continue hearing from you once to several times a month. Eventually, a large % of those prospects will eventually convert into a customer.

This is the only real way a small business can reach their prospects in an affordable way and do so by solving a problem that prospect has. Direct response advertising is a lead generation tool and when used correctly will turn your marketing dollars into a profitable stream of revenue.

Some Direct Response Ad can be accomplished by utilizing: