Direct Response Trumping Image Marketing says Marketing Speaker, Jim Ackerman
“It’s not creative unless it sells.”
So said advertising great Leo Burnnett.
But for a long, long time now, this staple axiom of advertising has been ignored by the brand-builders. They can’t do it any longer. And they’re obviously, finally, getting the message.
The premise of the brand-builders has been that while results can’t be measured in terms of specific actions taken as a result of the ads, the over all impact on awareness – specifically “Top Of Mine Awareness” or TOMA, will eventually, someday, whenever the prospect is ready, hopefully, maybe, lead to a sale, or at least to the prospect having a favorable impression of the business or product.
Let me ask you, if you’re a stockholder, what is it you want? SALES! That’s what you want. It’s SALES that bring revenues and profits to the business. It is SALES that result in growth in the value of your stock and generate a positive return on your investment.
Isn’t it time that advertising gets back to doing what it has always been meant to do… sell the product?
Regardless of your answer, it appears the consensus is turning in that direction, from the board room to the corner cubicle; from the penthouse to the home office.
Yes, it appears that Leo Burnett’s definition of “creative” is taking root – or re-root – and the direct result of direct marketing is at last re-emerging as the matric of meaning for all kinds of businesses.
More good news from the Direct Magazine article I referenced in my last post… Investments in direct marketing are apparently having increasingly good returns.
“A dollar invested this year in a direct marketing ad is expended to return $11.65 in incremental revenue across all industries, according to the DMA. This is up from $11.61 in 2008… It does not mean that direct marketers should expect more than an 11-to-1 return on their investments. As DMA research manager Yoram Wurmser stressed during a presentation, these benefits are calculated across all parties affected by a DM-generated sale – fulfillment houses, shippers, contact center workers as well as the marketers themselves.”
The point is, of course, direct response marketing is the best way to build sales, revenue, profits, wealth, and, incidentally, BRAND!
Time to get on with it…
If you’re still wallowing in the “build brand first” paradigm… if the recession hasn’t yet slapped you hard enough to shake you out of this counter-productive thinking, it is time – no, far past time – for you to release this never-true, outdated, costly mindset, and to embrace the idea that the best way to build brand is to acquire tons of happy, buying customers.
All of your sales, marketing and advertising efforts must do four things… 1)attract attention, 2)convert that attention into interest, 3)cultivate wonton desire for your product or service, and 4)get that prospect to take action; get that prospect to either buy or take the next step in the buying process.
This is what marketing and advertising is, and always has been, meant to do. As you embrace the new, old direct response paradigm, you’ll build your brand the right way… on the solid foundation of sales.
Welcome to the rise of the new Direct Marketing Era.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Jim Ackerman is a Salt Lake City-based Marketing Speaker, Advertising Speaker, Marketing Coach, Columnist & Author. His new book, How To Market Your Crap When the Economy is in the Toilet, contains 12 vital strategies for unclogging the American economy, one business at a time. For details go to www.marketyourcrap.com. To find out about Jim’s services as a Marketing Speaker or Advertising Speaker, go to www.marketingspeakerjimackerman.com. And to find out more about Jim’s service as a Marketing Coach, including his 400% ROI GUARANTEE, go to www.pcmcoach.com.
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