Business

The Utility of Direct Response Marketing For Small Business

Direct Response Marketing (advertising) consists of strategies, which have an immediate call-to-action for consumers. Such advertising is not just to create brand awareness, but they are targeted to invite customers to respond right away.

Such calls to action include signing up for an email list, making a phone call or similar calls for engagement. Consumers may also be encouraged to follow your company on a Twitter business account. This makes the strategies of Direct Response Marketing (DRM) different from other kinds of marketing, and its use is encouraged by a small business marketing consultant.

The main elements of a direct response ad are:

  • It includes a headline with a clear and compelling benefit.
  • It is aimed at reaching a specific customer or prospect that has specific needs and wants.
  • The CTA (Call To Action) is explicit and specific, i.e. it is asking for a direct response.
  • The CTA was motivating features like scarcity, urgency, time limit or even specific terms and conditions.

Benefits

Even as your firm’s marketing process unfolds, the main benefits of a DRM program are that it is measurable and trackable. Most small companies like start-ups face budget constraints. A DRM program will help you invest in your business most profitably by tracking and making adjustments to the feedback you get from customers and prospects.

As your familiarity with DRM grows, it will become an attractive part of running a small company as it involves mining your customer database for the most likely offer which is profitable. It takes out the guesswork and is based on the actual actions of your customers and prospects, which get measured and improved. This helps you devote money and time, where it makes the most impact on your revenue.

Some of the strategies for DRM are:

Offering Freebies

One highly effective strategy for DRM is offering freebies, along with your call to action. This is a great way to improve your response rates. Almost all customers like free things. Often, they will be willing to part with their e-mail in return for a free gift. This applies to even a free gift as bland as an e-book. This makes this strategy, one of the most effective tactics for direct response.

Making Use of Emotion

This is a popular DRM trick. Appealing to consumer emotions is the sure fire way to elicit a response. After all, this is the main aspect of DRM ads. Take care to draw on the emotions of customers when creating DRM advertising. This is the best way to promote your CTA.

E-Mail Marketing

They are the most common type of DRM. Every business uses some kind of marketing e-mails to reach consumers. They help in eliciting CTA which consists of online interactions. They offer a simple way for customers to stay in touch. Most customers check their e-mail at least once a day. So this is a medium rife with opportunities.

Marketing Signs

Banners and signs are often used in direct response advertising. You can even involve a CTA to this, by putting a mode of contact on your marketing posters and encourage people to reach out to your company. It is easy to include such direct response ads to your small budget.

Small company owners have a tough time designing advertising tricks that fit their small budget. DRM is a highly affordable mode which drives customer interaction and engagement.