Direct response advertising

Are you a business owner? Do you have direct response advertising? If not...why not?

What is "Direct response advertising"? It is taking action right now, in direct response to your advertisement/pitch.

When you are making your pitch, you are asking for a buying response...right then. If they want to think about it, inquire about the objections (if you are doing this in person), and close. A "think about it" translates to "no".

If you are running an advertisement, you must ask for a response right now, create urgency, or they won't buy. (Use "Free widgets for the first 10 callers", "Today only", or "While supplies last" to create a sense of urgency and get those phones ringing.)

The alternative is to place "awareness" ads. These ads create an awareness of your company that might help to build credibility, but they don't generate sales by themselves. You must use alternative sales methods to generate sales when you are using "awareness ads". (Examples of these would be having a sales staff, or retail location.)

An example of a bad advertisement strategy is to follow the "Coke Zero" approach, which shows their bumbling brand managers that can't tell the difference between Coke and Coke Zero. Not only does this not create a sense of urgency, it also leaves the impression that there is no discernible difference in taste between Coke and imitations.

Be careful on how you spend your advertising dollars. Always ask for a response...right now.