How To: Direct-Response Marketing

Our firm recently completed a direct mail and online ad project for a client of ours. Through the course of the project, we discussed a few items of interest to try and assist our client in understanding how to best approach direct response marketing.

We’d like to share a few of those tips in a new section of our blog entitled “How To.”

Read on for tips on direct response marketing.

Step 1: Know Your Audience

When developing direct-response marketing campaigns, one of the most often overlooked items is a knowledge and understanding of target audience.

Who is your campaign being sent to? Of those that it is sent to, who will actually be the one to initially view your campaign?

Understanding who your target demographic is will have an impact on how the creative for your campaign is designed, as well as how the message and offer(s) it contains are communicated.

Step 2: Be Direct and Be Quick

In direct-response media, you have a very limited amount of time to attract your target audience’s attention.

The best way to approach direct-response is to treat it like a billboard. A billboard has a very short window of time to communicate a message to drivers passing by. The typical amount of time both of these media have to attract their target audience is about 3 seconds.

Use this time wisely and communicate your message quickly and clearly. Use what you learned in #1 and tailor your message to reach your target audience and their needs/desires.

Step 3: Have a Good Offer

Next, make sure, when offering your prospects something in return, that you provide a strong and valuable offer… something that will grab your prospect’s attention.

In most cases, dollar amounts are much stronger than percentage amounts. Also, make your offer quick and easy to understand. For example, offering a “Free undermount 18 gauge sink with the purchase of a kitchen countertop” is a much more difficult offer to quickly grasp than “Save $500 on a kitchen countertop.”

Not to mention, in most cases, a $500 off offer carries much greater perceived value than a kitchen sink, for example.

So, it’s important to understand your audience, be clear and concise, and provide a strong incentive for your prospects to work with you.

Step 4: Call to Action

Last, what should your prospects do if they want to learn more about your business and what it’s offering?

Should they call, email, visit your website or stop by your showroom?

Should they use a promotional code? Should they mention a certain offer?

Whatever you would like your prospects to do after seeing your campaign, make sure to easily communicate that.

Remember, it’s not always necessary to try and sell via your marketing campaign. Instead, you should consider generating interest through your campaign, and actually close the sale by dealing with your clients directly, answering their questions, and positioning yourself as a trusted advisor for what they are in need of.

Hopefully these tips have been beneficial for you and will help you to approach your direct-response campaigns in a clear, concise manner and ultimately, help you drive more sales and generate more leads.

Until next time!