Direct Response

Direct response is an integral part of your marketing mix, driving results across all your marketing tools. Direct response can drive more sales to your website, bring customers to your booth or event and increase traffic to your store or sales office.

MAIL and EMAILS

Direct response can take the shape of a direct mail piece such as a postcard, a catalog, an invitation or an intricate dimensional piece that reaches your target mailboxes. It might also take the form of an eblast — a customized email that brings your brand and services directly to your clients' and potential clients' inboxes.

INTEGRATED APPROACH

The most successful direct response campaigns use an integrated approach with both direct mail and eblasts. Direct mail may require a greater investment due to printing and mailing costs, but it's much more effective and targeted. Eblasts, on the other hand, have a lower response rate, but because of their relatively low cost, can reach more recipients, increasing the open rate. Both tools have an extended life; postcards and catalogs may be shared with a friend or neighbor while an eblast can be forwarded on by the recipient.

LIST MANAGEMENT

No matter whether you purchase a mailing list or build a permission-based email database, the key is to keep your addresses relevant and up-to-date. We can help you manage your lists by purging obsolete addresses, which are inevitable in the current housing market. Keeping your lists current and relevant will have a significant impact on your budget and ROI.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Direct response is one of the most reliable marketing tools, generating results you can measure. It's important that your direct response piece includes a special offer, a coupon or a code that respondents can provide to easily track the success of your campaign.

MAKE IT PERSONAL

Personalizing a direct response piece can increase your response rate from a 10% to 14% return. Personalization could be as simple as addressing the recipient with an offer that speaks to their particular needs, or as intricate as customizing each piece with relevant messaging and images for that particular individual (Variable Data Printing). Direct response can also feature personalized URLs (PURLs) that will drive the recipient to a personalized landing webpage built specifically with that person in mind.

REACH and FREQUENCY

We live in a world of limited time and budgets, however, we are challenged to find the right balance between both Reach (number of people your message reaches) and Frequency (how often you reach each person). Keep in mind that a direct response piece works best when it's part of a campaign of mailings and eblasts that reach your target over an extended period of time. When faced with the decision of mailing a direct mail piece to 10,000 people once or mailing to 2,500 people four times, the following rule of thumb applies: Reach without Frequency = Waste of Money.

CREATE URGENCY

The message and offer needs to have an expiration date. Make it so the recipient has to act within a short period of time to take advantage of a discount, early bird special or RSVP opportunity.

KEEP IT BRIEF

Whether it's a printed piece in someone's mailbox or an eblast sitting in the recipient's inbox, remember you only have a few seconds to capture their attention before the piece gets tossed away or deleted. Be brief and to the point by focusing on one benefit and corresponding offer.

MAKE IT LAST

You can measure the success of a direct response piece not only by the rate of responses but also by the longevity of the piece. When the invitation, eblast, postcard or dimensional piece are creatively relevant to the recipient, it will likely be held onto as a memento or sample for future reference. Event invitations and holiday cards we've created for our clients have often been displayed on recipient's desks long after the occasion, giving our client's message and brand extended exposure.

See Samples of Work

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