Are you looking for ways to market your product or service?
You don’t want to invest much in marketing campaigns without knowing the return on investment (ROI)?
If so, direct response marketing is ideal to market your business.
A survey shows that 33 percent of organizations in Asia spent the majority of their media budget on direct response marketing.
In this article, we’ll discuss how direct response marketing can boost your business without running up large bills on marketing campaigns.
What Is Direct Response Marketing?
Direct response marketing is a technique to communicate to your audience directly so that they can directly respond to your campaign.
It allows the user to take immediate action and buy your product directly.
It is highly trackable and provides results within no time.
In comparison, brand marketing is a long-term investment that takes time to showcase the result. It definitely can be beneficial, but usually not for small businesses.
Gartner Research study showed that “The largest companies - those with more than $10 billion in annual revenue - have the largest appetite for digital advertising, averaging 11.6% of marketing budget, while those with annual revenues of $500 million to $1 billion allocated 8.5% of their marketing budget to digital advertising.”
Small businesses cannot compete with these brands who are spending millions of their budget on marketing. So, for them, direct response marketing is ideal.
Before starting direct response marketing, keep in mind that your advertisement must attract your audience, otherwise, it will not generate results; for that, it must be
Trackable
Have a clear call-to-action
Target the right audience
Always have an offer
Direct response marketing can be done through various methods;
Send a compelling email asking customers to sign up for your newsletter
Ads on social media platforms offering 10% off on subscription
Special discount on referring a friend
10% cashback on an offer through a specific site
Free subscription and other benefits only on targeted ads
10 Best Direct Response Marketing Techniques
1. Know Your Audience
Before sending an email to everyone you must know who your potential customers are. Brand marketing is used for a wide audience and generally not for specific groups, whereas direct response marketing is much more targeted so you should know your audience in more detail. As an example, even though Mercedes-Benz diesel engine cars are popular now, 10 years ago they definitely were not. Ogilvy and Mather gathered a list of clients who already had diesel engine cars and sent them 8 pages letters. In response to that mail, within eight weeks 716 diesel cars were sold. That’s just one of many examples that show how direct response marketing can work for a targeted audience.
2. Keep It "To The Point"
If you want your audience to buy your product, make an easy and understandable direct response ad, otherwise, if people find it difficult to read or understand, they won’t waste their time on it. Also, explain why they should buy your product and what other benefits they will get in the future as well.
Don’t use complicated emails, websites, or phone numbers that are hard to remember - make it easy so that your audience won’t find it difficult to approach you.
If you are asking for their details don’t let them go the extra mile which leads to losing your audience. People usually don’t fill out those forms that require tons of information before checking out. Make it easy - only ask for the required details and keep it simple and precise to minimize the barrier for your potential customers.
3. Include Limited Time Offers
We all know that people are more attracted to some sort of special offer. They are likely to spend more time on your ad if they find an interesting offer.
To make your direct response ad effective, send limited-time offers to your audience:
Make attractive offers with a specified time limit so that they can grab their product without procrastinating.
Don’t set the deadline too late as your potential customer might forget it after a while, but not too short either.
Set a reasonable time limit so that your audience can make an immediate decision to buy your product.
4. Give Clear Directions - HOW TO BUY!
One of the main focus points in direct response marketing is providing clear and necessary information.
Keep in mind that a customer only spends a few seconds on your direct response ad so you have to make the most of it otherwise you will lose him. Give clear instructions on how they can proceed further and underline and repeat important information such as the expiration date of the offer or its validity. If your product is already well known then there is no need of putting extra effort to explain its features, as it may annoy your audience.
5. Freebie Giveaway Campaigns
Giveaways are a new and effective trend in direct-response marketing. Many small influencers on Instagram collaborate with other influential accounts in the same niche and arrange giveaways for their audience. In return, they ask for shares and comments on their post.
Many companies offer free trials for 1 day or access to their content. Some eateries, clothing, and bedding brands offer coupons.
According to a survey in the United States in 2018, 75 percent of respondents stated that they would make another digital purchase if they receive a free giveaway after their first purchase.
6. Track Campaigns
The purpose of direct response marketing is to grab the immediate attention of the audience and convince them to buy your product. to make it effective you must know how to track your advisement.
In direct response marketing, it is easy to track your advertising campaigns because the audience is directly targeted and has provided personal information such as a phone number or email address. Make sure to check which one of these works best for your marketing so that it will help you to implement improvements immediately.
7. Use Facebook Ads
Facebook has over 1.69 billion users worldwide as of 2020. It is still one of the best and cheapest platforms to run your ad campaign. A survey conducted globally shows that in the first quarter of 2020 around eight million advertisers use Facebook to promote their products. It offers you a wide toolset to select your targeted audience and reach your goals.
8. Refer To Friends
Share-with-a-friend is again an easy and attractive technique of direct response marketing. Most companies ask their buyers to refer their product to at least one friend so that they can profit from discounts. A survey in Singapore shows that 23 percent of respondents stated that the most influencing factor that made them purchase was a referral by a friend about a product.
9. Use Direct Mail
As discussed earlier, in direct response marketing, the target is a specific audience.
While running your marketing campaign on social media platforms, don’t underestimate the importance of direct mail. It keeps your customer updated about your latest offers.
A survey conducted in Italy in 2018 by the B2B industry shows that the automotive sector reported the highest direct email marketing rate of 14 percent, clicked by users.
10. Value Your Customers
Customers are the asset of any business and their valuable feedback helps you improve your product and in return, it generates good revenue.
One of the advantages of companies running direct response marketing campaigns is they usually provide easy access for customers to reach out to them while companies who are heavily invested in brand marketing often don’t make it that easy to contact them.
It's not just about the marketing of your product, you can create brand awareness as well. The customer journey doesn’t end after the purchase of the product, rather you can guide your customer in the future as well.
Direct response marketing is ideal to run your business marketing campaign without much investment.
Brand marketing is a long-term strategy and works for large businesses, but if you are setting up a business, you usually cannot invest a lot in marketing as you can’t compete with the giants in the beginning. For such companies, direct response marketing is ideal. Of all the benefits of direct response marketing, the call-to-action might be the most important one as it immediately motivates the audience to get your product.
Contact Bo & Co today for all your brand marketing and copywriting needs.
Comments