Direct Response Marketing Techniques
Direct response marketing, or direct response advertising, is a direct marketing approach that is defined by a call for an immediate response on the part of the target customer. This short-term oriented response is what separates direct response advertising from delayed response advertising, which is used for long-term brand building and brand management. Traditional and new media are used for direct response messages, and several common tools are used to elicit consumer responses.
Other People Are Reading
-
Coupons
-
Coupons are the most popular format of direct response advertising. Coupons offer a customer a discount or incentive to redeem the coupon within a certain time frame for a purchase. SEO Chat explains one of the keys to direct response marketing is creating an immediate call to action. With a coupon, you entice a more price-sensitive customer to try your product or buy it again for a discounted price. Additionally, coupons are popular because companies can track the rate of redemption.
Business Reply Cards
-
The use of business reply cards is also common to direct response marketing. According to Postcard Mania, the United States Postal Service offers an easy and affordable way to solicit a customer response through its business reply card opportunity. A business reply card is included in a postcard mailer and invites the customer to respond with information or an order. The customer does not pay to mail the card, but you only pay the USPS for cards actually submitted, notes Postcard Mania.
-
Toll-Free Numbers
-
Similar to business reply cards, toll-free numbers are inviting a consumer response because no charge is issued to them. This makes calling for more information or to place an order more convenient. Companies offer toll-free numbers to customers as a way to generate new sales leads, to conduct surveys and research and to process new orders. In a direct response advertising message, you would likely see a call to action that states "call today" or "call this number now."
Internet Action
-
The affordability and ease of advertising online has prompted many users of direct response print advertising to go electronic. Direct response marketing techniques on the Web typically include a call to action such as "click here," or an enticing visual that drives a consumer response. Retailers and sales organizations now use the Internet on a regular basis to place advertisements with application or survey forms, or other tools to generate a consumer response.
-
References
- Photo Credit newspaper image by Angelika Bentin from Fotolia.com
