battle is on, because direct marketing is a controversial topic. Most people think that in today's world you can't use sales techniques and methods which have worked in the past. Social media has changed everything, that's what they said, until they read this..."You can't fool people like you did in the past."
True, except you couldn't fool people in the past either. "The most powerful element in advertising is the truth." said, the adman of the 20th century, Bill Bernbach. He was also one of the founders of Doyle Dayne Bernbach agency, known today as DDB. David Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, Raymond Rubicam, Rosser Reeves, Bill Bernbach and Stanley Resor, the six giants of modern advertising, all of them knew that the truth sells. Otherwise they wouldn't have succeed.
"Isn't direct marketing like spam?"
Spammers send messages online without recipients' permission to do so. Professional direct marketers never send spam. Spamming is illegal, and it would mean the end of your career.
The professional direct marketers send highly relevant, anticipated messages to you that are informative, entertaining or useful. Never spam.
Direct marketing means that you provide your customer interesting facts and benefits about your product. Being direct also means that you measure and test everything. Everything is based on facts (the truth) - and you demand results.
A winning formula of advertising
When you combine direct-response advertising to a value based compensation model you have a winning formula of advertising. For an advertiser this is a great deal, as it is for an agency. People work harder and get paid better when delivering measurable results such as sales.
You have a golden opportunity
I've been battling over with myself about which direction to take when acquiring special expertise from marketing. Should I focus to branding, general advertising, sustainability and transparency or something else?
At last, I understood that the internet offers unlimited possibilities to a man who knows how to create advertising that sells. If you transform techniques that direct marketers have been doing in mail for decades to online you have this golden opportunity in front of you.
When my hero Drayton Bird wrote about direct marketing in his blog and said that: "The internet is direct marketing" , I knew I had arrived. Think about it. It's so simple. Online advertising is direct marketing. If you know how to create direct-response mail that works, you are going to be great in the internet advertising. Did I say great? I meant excellent.
If you don't know how to sell, I recommend for you to getting on to the bandwagon quickly and start learning. Find someone who can teach you. Remember that the internet is direct marketing.
PS If you need any advice or want to discuss more about advertising that sells and direct marketing, please send me an email or call me, I'm more than happy to help you.
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Picture via Flickr user polinasergeeva
