Direct Response Marketing

Direct Response Marketing is a very important form of Marketing. It is becoming more and more common because of its tracking ability. If I am a large company and I want to see what the best ROI (return on investment) I can find is, I would need to measure my marketing outlets. As my father always told me, "If it is not measured, it is not met." This logic is the reason why the executive team at your company would like to implore direct response marketing. It is easy to measure. There are quantitative ways to measure the clients response. People are always bragging about having the secret to Direct Response Marketing. Now, I am not sure there is any secrets. I think most things that could be discovered on the subject have been discovered and there are very few "secrets". I do however believe that there is an enormous amount of knowledge that occurs during the direct response marketing process. Most CMO's will admit that they are still learning to maximize the benefits that direct response marketing has to offer. Well, that is if they are able to humble themselves! The true key to running a successful direct response marketing campaign is attaining the proper knowledge and applying it. When the rules are applied correctly, it becomes absolutely pertinent that you quantify everything you did. Run analytics on everything possible and better understand what helped you to achieve the highest ROI.
Lets get blunt for a moment. You don't need to read an entire book about direct response marketing to figure out whats best for your company. From the famous words of Nike..."just do it"!!! Start a Marketing campaign, and realize your profits and losses. Is it making money? good, stick with it and make little improvements. Is it losing money? Scrap it, and try something else!

Marketing 101

We have heard what seems like hundreds of phrases when it comes to marketing. There is online marketing, social media, print, and the list could become very large. What is marketing? Merriam-webster dictionary states;

mar·ket·ing noun \ˈmär-kə-tiŋ\

a : the act or process of selling or purchasing in a market.

b : the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service

Thus we discover that marketing, no matter how it is phrased, is really just another way to sell a product or service. One of the greatest marketing minds ever, Claude C. Hopkins, wrote in his book (Scientific advertising) "Advertising is salesmanship. Its principles are the principles of salesmanship. Successes and failures in both lines are due to like causes...It is not for general effect. It is not to keep your name before the people. It is not primarily to aid your other salesmen. Treat it as a salesman. Force it to justify itself. Compare it with other salesmen. Figure its cost and result. Accept no excuses which good salesmen do not make. Then you will not go far wrong."

In short, treat marketing as if he is another one of your sales people. If He is not getting a good return, or is not pulling his weight, can him! Bottom line, is the bottom line! If you are not making money, you are not marketing effectively.

I intend to share my knowledge, experiences, and mainly the wisdom of others in an attempt to better portray making money through marketing. All different forms of it.