Direct Response Marketing

Direct response marketing is a type of marketing strategy that compels a high-quality prospect to take immediate action and opt into the advertiser’s offer. It educates instead of selling. It costs very little to produce, and the results are measurable, making it ideal for small businesses.

There are two major types of marketing strategies. They are branding (or mass marketing) and direct response marketing. Only one of these strategies delivers a consistent return on investment for small businesses.

WHAT IS BRANDING?

Branding is a type of advertising. It aims to remind customers and prospects of your brand as well as the products and services you offer. 

The idea is that if you run your ads many, many times, people will remember it. So when they make a purchasing decision, it will be top of their consciousness.

The ads from major brands such as Coca-Cola, Nike, and Apple, use “image” marketing. The vast majority of advertising falls into this category.

Brand ads differ from direct response ads in that they don't need to inform, educate, or build trust.

WHO BENEFITS FROM BRANDING?

There’s no doubt that branding or mass marketing is effective, but here’s why it’s not for everyone.

1. It is very expensive to pull off.

2. It takes a lot of time.

You have to saturate advertising media, such as TV, print, radio, and the Internet. This takes time and is expensive. It’s not a problem for big brands. They have massive advertising budgets and product lines. They don’t need an immediate return. 

But problems arise when small businesses try to imitate the big brands at this type of marketing.

An Outbound Engine study found that 55% of small to medium businesses spend less than 5% of their annual revenue on marketing. Thousands of marketing messages bombard their target market daily. The few times they run their ads is like a drop in the ocean. It’s not enough to reach their prospects’ consciousness.

They get drowned out and see little or no return for their investment.

It’s not that small businesses aren’t able to create excellent “branding” or mass media ads. It’s that they don’t have the budget to run their ads in ample volume to make them effective. Without a marketing budget of millions of dollars, you have a high probability of failure. 

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