Direct Response Marketing
Direct Response Marketing
What is it?
Direct response marketing is a sales technique that involves an immediate response from the customer, usually through an offer that entices the potential customer to take action on the spot. This may be through any means of advertising, including TV commercials, magazines, newspapers, radio, online ads, and more.
While traditional advertisements focus on raising brand awareness among a wider audience, this type of marketing focuses on immediate ROI (since every lead who follows through turns into a customer).
What are the components?
Direct response marketing relies on an immediate response from potential customers; otherwise, it doesn’t fulfill its purpose. For an advertisement to encourage a direct and immediate response, it typically includes several components:
- An offer. It may be any mix of factors, including the product, price, or some other additional value you can add to an existing product. The goal of the offer isn’t to sell the product, but to gain the attention of the potential customer by appealing to personal traits.
- Information. The potential customer needs sufficient information to accept the offer—and it must be personalized and persuasive so he or she doesn’t lose interest. The less well known your product is, the more information you’ll need to include to position it above others.
- Call to action and means of response. The most important element of the ad is the trigger for feedback, and the means for a customer to provide it. It may be something physical, such as buying at a discount or presenting a coupon, but it may also be virtual, like following a link or sharing an ad on social media.You can include multiple means of response, as well as a deadline to encourage immediate action.
Benefits over traditional marketing
Because direct response ads trigger immediate responses, they generate immediate ROI. While traditional means can take days or months to see a return, the dynamic nature of direct response ads allow advertisers to manage their investments more efficiently.
The provision of a means of response also helps you determine how clients are being captured, making the individual performance of each segmented group easier to track than through traditional means. Knowing which ads are performing better allows you to evaluate the overall performance of your campaign. You may wish to run a smaller-scale campaign to test customer responses before launching a full volume one.
Finally, direct marketing allows you to segment your audiences, targeting specific groups through online means by delivering your ads at the right context and at the right time.
Conclusion
Though traditional means of marketing and advertising can be useful for raising awareness of your brand, direct response marketing has plenty of advantages over it and should not be overlooked.