Brand and direct response marketing efforts have traditionally occupied distinct and discrete positions. Brand has always focused on long-term impact while DR put the spotlight on short-term returns. Is it possible, though, to simultaneously build a memorable and respected brand while gaining immediate response? Many experts believe it is, and the cost savings to business could be significant.

What is Response Brand Marketing?

At first glance it would appear branding and direct response marketing are opposites, with the former focused on building awareness and the latter on putting the right message in front of the right target audience at the right time. Marketers love direct response campaigns because their effectiveness is immediately obvious. Branding alone is highly effective but can also be time-consuming and expensive.

Response brand marketing marries the two approaches, letting you deliver a strong branding message that includes a call to action that can help generate actionable data, including GRPs, CPM, CPP, and ratings.

Marketers need to think about how consumers have a different level of engagement in different types of programming.  The more engaging a program is the less responsive consumers will be at that time.  However, during high engagement branded messages build brand integrity that can be acted on later. For example, those same consumers later may see an ad online that triggers them to complete the desired action.  That is why advertisers need to have a broad mix of approaches, creatives and media types to maximize effectiveness of their advertising.

When utilizing these strategies, marketers can increase the volume of new customers and their customer base while maintaining, or even reducing, the cost per new customer.

Beyond that, with an Attribution Platform like WindStar Media’s ConnecTrak, marketers can track the success of their ads in real time as well as the multiple touchpoints a consumer went through to finally convert. This in turn, means that marketers can continuously optimize for optimal results.

The bottom line

If you want to drive brand value up while driving costs down, response brand is a strategic and executional campaign approach. And it isn’t complicated to do. You can easily capitalize on the emotional connection brand-focused ads create by using call-to-action techniques usually employed in direct response campaigns. Adding “Call now” numbers and/or your website url to every ad not only has virtually no cost, it also lets you harvest a bumper crop of prospects who can then be further qualified through direct marketing.

Have more questions about response brand marketing? WindStar Media helps companies discover and implement cost-effective strategies that let them stand out from the competition. To learn more about direct response rates or the other services we offer, contact us online today or call us at 818.577.1523