Direct Advertising Or Modern Direct Response Marketing?

by Smith Paul Sales Representatives

Promotion of products or services has always been targeted at the special groups of audience that is divided on the basis of age, sex, social status and etc. Geo-targeting is also very important in marketing as it is wiser to appeal to specific features and environment than to use a one-size-fits-all advertisement, brochure or leaflet. Any kind of marketing campaign is directed at gaining profit from acquiring new markets for sales. Thousands of practical guides and manuals are written in order to comprehend and use the methods of successful marketing strategies; however, the psychological aspect and the notion of direct response marketing have not been covered to the full. How can an advertiser make his/her brand sound in consumers' mind for a long time and be sure that the brand will really work?

First of all, to catch the consumers' attention the advertisement should be unique, memorizing and the most important - direct! Unique advertisement is clear: an advertiser should use his/her creative mind to come out with something unusual and eye/ear-catching. Memorizing ads can be reached by the mix of sounds that can be identical in nature, phonological techniques, like rhythm, rhyme and other if you take radio- or television-advertisements. Nice collateral numeric numbers of telephones are immediate constituents of a successful oral pleasant ad. The same is important in newspaper-, magazines-ads, billboards and banners - clear content, blazing design, eye-catching slogans and novelty. Direct advertising is the most complicated step in planning a promotional campaign as a marketer is responsible for any inaccuracy in an ad directly before a customer or a consumer while he/she is offering a product or a service.

There is also another way of direct marketing - direct response advertising. What does it mean, indeed? By and large, this can be also called a "reverse advertising" when consumers are placing orders and request additional information themselves. A response is direct between the viewer and the advertiser, that is, the customer responds to the marketer directly. This is achieved, for example, by infomercials via television programs, so people can order via telephone or Internet. The increasing number of sales representatives on the screen creates a favorable psychological effect: you must be in a rush to get the product before the stock eventually ends. Moreover, this magical number of sales indirectly informs people that others are buying these goods and find them useful, so, why not to give a trial?

Direct response advertising is presented in newspapers and magazines in large scale as well. Though the reaction of potential customers is not flash-like in comparison with telemarketing still this kind of direct response marketing works greatly and has even some advantages: no need to be in a hurry - the ads and contact numbers won't disappear from the paper; you have enough time to be sure you need this or that good or service; there is no voice that accompanies ads as for many people this is quite irritating when they are being pressed down.

Besides, newspaper advertising is the cheapest way of promoting your brand.

It is always up to the marketer what way of presenting goods or services to choose: direct advertising or direct response marketing. Choosing the first method it is wiser to promote a brand and not to await an immediate response from the audience. The second method is normally directed at increasing the number of sales or leads by establishing a direct contact viewer-advertiser.