Beyond Brand Advertising- The New Direct Response
The phenomenal growth in online advertising has attracted advertising dollars like never before. Millions of dollars are being spent for online ads in a great experiment to determine which strategies and tactics are going to be the most effective. Ad agencies are implementing new direct response strategies designed to increase responses from consumers in more predictable and cost-effective ways. Direct response is still the best form of advertising and is being used in new and improved ways. In today’s economy, every advantage helps.
Ad agencies should be focusing their efforts beyond the limitations of brand advertising to the new direct response strategies. Internet advertising dollars utilizing the Internet technology’s ability to track searches and immediately present ads related to the searched content are more effective than ever. A similar offline advertising strategy is found in the grocery line when certain items keyed in by the cashier produce related item coupons on the sales receipt. A customized presentation of advertising in the new direct response strategy is perhaps the best way to invest advertising dollars in today’s lean market. Targeting the right consumer with the right data at the right time will produce sales.
Contracted ad agencies are on the hook to provide ever more effective strategies to elicit the desired response from consumers. Today’s buyers are increasingly researching the web before purchasing anything from cars to cell phones. The goal of new direct response advertising is to get the consumer to react and buy. The well-placed ad is placed to capture the attention of those already motivated to buy, whether that response is to make the purchase right now or to call for more information.
Brand advertising is how ad agencies have historically approached the consumer. The approach typically seeks to shotgun the message to as many consumers as possible in order to create brand familiarity or brand loyalty. The goal is to make the brand synonymous with the itself in the minds of consumers, such as when a “Coke” represents any number of brands of soft drinks at the fast food restaurant checkout line.
Ad agencies historically have been given the task of incorporating logos, facts, persuasive arguments, testimonials, and images to accomplish the task. And it’s still an effective way to advertise. But it’s time to move beyond brand advertising to the new direct response strategy.
New direct response advertising is characterized by the specific targeting of interested buyers, especially on the web. The Internet is the new frontier in advertising. The possibilities are virtually undiscovered, nearly limitless, and ever changing. Creative advertising strategies can capitalize on a market that so far has not developed a significant sales resistance and that is willing to spend money for products advertised online. Web technology can attach advertisements to keywords used in a search and immediately present opportunities to explore related websites before the consumer has a chance to click on the list resulting from the search.
Understanding the motivations consumer in today’s economy have is important. Getting the best deal possible has always been high on the frugal shopper’s list of priorities. Consumers in an economic downturn are looking for overall value for their dollar. Online advertising is ideally suited to bringing the advertising and the consumer together.
The new direct advertising markets are as varied as the web itself. Consumers are visiting websites, blogs, information portals, and a host of other Internet-related sites in record numbers, and all of them are potentially bonanzas for direct response advertising. Even in today’s economy, only the sky’s the limit.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 at 2:07 pm and is filed under Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.