How to use Direct Response Marketing to Make More Profits Online

What is Direct Response Marketing?

The design of direct response marketing is one that compels prospects to take specific actions.  The actions prospects are called upon to take include calling for additional information by phone, choosing to opt in with an email address, the placement of an order, or going to a specific web page.  This type of marketing makes a call to action delivery possible as well as instant response and feedback through online or direct interaction.

Since the marketer and consumer interaction is pretty much on the spot, marketers are able to understand their products or services performance without having to endure a waiting period.

The key elements of direct response marketing include:

·        A proposal pitch

·        Enough information to allow the customer to consider the product or service

·        A call to action that is clear

·        Response options such as email, toll free phone number or visiting an online Web page

Examples of this type of marketing include both TV commercials and infomercials.  Usually a TV commercial will range from a thirty seconds duration to two minutes.  However, the format of a long infomercial is normally around thirty minutes.

The use of traditional media such as radio, newspapers or magazines may also be used to produce direct responses, but when they are compared to the interactive mediums of today, they are far less likely to receive adequate rates of responses.

By leveraging offline and online marketing tactics combined, Brian Kurtz created tens of millions in revenue for Boardroom Inc. with this type of marketing. 

What Kind of Marketing is best for Small Businesses

Of the basic types of marketing, branding is the one used by big corporations.  If you’ve seen Coca Cola, apple and Nike ads on TV, you’ve seen examples of branding.  The idea of branding is to run lots of ads about your brand in order for your brand to be the one more people recognize because it is in their consciousness due to the large number of ads when making a decision to buy a product.  This type of marketing is very expensive and only large corporations are able to afford it.

On the other hand, direct response marketing that compels prospects to take one of many options to respond to the marketing ads is more cost effective if you use the right strategies.

Direct Response Marketing Strategies

• Track Your Ads: You should track your ads in order to know which generate responses.  With brand marketing, you don’t know which of your ads brought a response.

• Measure the Ads’ Effects: You will always know how effective an ad has been since you will know which of your ads have had responses as well as how many sales were made from each of your ads.  This information allows you to know which ads you should drop because they are not giving you a return on your investment.

• Make an Offer: The offer you make in your ad must be an irresistible offer.  You want your target to believe what you have to say is important to them because it is in their best interest.  The idea is not to try to sell anything but rather to get the prospect to take the next action.  For instance, the next action could be to request a free report.

•  Your Headline Should be a Killer: Most people or 99.9% are too busy to pay attention to online ads.  Therefore, you must make your ad stand out, and, for that reason, your headline is the most important element of your ad.  According to David Ogilvy, the number of people who read an ad is far less, five times less, than those that read only the headline.  Instead of mentioning the product you’re trying to sell in the headline, you need to say something that will get the prospect to continue reading.  For example, Ogilvy wrote the following headline “How Women Over 35 Can Look Younger" for an advertisement about face cream.  John Caples suggests a good headline should include these three key elements:
         1. Valuable benefits are promised the reader.
         2.It should be newsworthy.
                              3.It should raise the curiosity of the reader.

•  Call for Action: You should ask the reader to act in some way in response to your ad.  Your call to action should:         

• Ask the reader to do one specific thing after reading the ad.
• Ask the reader to complete an action that is very easy for them to do.

Following this principle, Newsweek sent out a letter offering a special introductory rate as well as a full refund if not fully satisfied.  

Direct One-Shot or Two-Plus Step Approach (Campaign)

Direct One-Shot Approach: After figuring out who your ideal clients are, you create online marketing pieces such as emails or online ads.  The idea is to reach the right people who are most interested in what you are offering.  Your marketing piece must be done so well that your client will take action by making a phone call, clicking a button or placing an order.  An example of success with this approach is the maker of Trainz selling over one million games since 2001 with this approach. 

Two-Plus Step Approach (Campaign): The campaign begins much the same way as the One-Shot.  However, your goal is different with the campaign.  Instead of making a sale with one shot, you simply want to create a list of ideal clients in order to allow you to send out messages over time.  As you provide your clients with information, you strive to move them along from interested to ready to make a purchase.  You won’t have a surge of sales instantly with this approach, but you should make more sales over time.  Two examples of this approach are Groupon and Living Social.  With both TV and online advertising, they were able to drive millions of prospective customers to their websites.  Once the prospects have signed up, they get daily email reminders of specials.