Is Direct Response Marketing Still a Valuable Tool?

Digital marketing is all the rage but is there a place for Direct Response Television Marketing?

 

Marketing has been a part of the sales process as long as people have been selling things. Tactics and tools have evolved, but the need remains the same. Newspapers required newsboys, product manufacturers in the early 20th" century needed traveling salesmen, and today, applications require app stores.

Having a great product or service has never been enough. If people don’t know who you are, or what you sell, they can’t make a purchase. History’s greatest brands would never be successful without clever marketing. Regardless of industry, finding new and innovative ways to build awareness is priority number one.

 

Direct Response Television Marketing is still a valuable tool

Marketing, in the last 30 years, has relied heavily on television. Before the explosion of social media marketing, Google ad campaigns, and all other digital marketing tools and practices, TV served as the most effective platform for driving brand awareness and sales. And television, despite many marketers insistence to the contrary, is still a valuable tool in your marketing toolkit- it merely needs to be understood and used effectively to produce relevant results.

Fact:" The first" recorded use of Television as a marketing tool was in 1941 when Bulova Watch Company ran a 10-second spot in New York that was viewed by roughly 4,000 people. The ad cost only $4.00 to create.

 

Has the Landscape of Direct Response TV Marketing Changed?

 

Though the ways we consume media have changed, TV maintains its position as the most effective medium for advertising. In fact," Nielsen ratings show," the average American watches roughly 5 hours of television per day. With an audience this large, TV can rapidly scale the reach needed to grow a business. This is true despite the pervasiveness of new digital tools and consumption methods. People’s perception of Direct Response Television Marketing (DRTV), however, formed by the less-than-compelling “infomercials” of the past, is not an accurate representation of the current Direct Response marketplace.

Today’s digital tools have been implemented alongside Direct Response with positive results. Savvy marketers are combining DRTV with Google AdWords to improve search rankings after an aired TV advertisement, bumping online ads to the top of search results. Mobile video is also being used as an extension of Direct Response, inspiring conversions, and engaging a target audience who might watch television less frequently.

DRTV has transformed since the era of late-night infomercials. To be successful, however, the medium must be understood.

“Over the last 8 years, all the new, non-TV things: Facebook, phones, YouTube, and Netflix have only cut about an hour per day from the dizzying amount of TV that the average household watches. Americans are still watching more than 7 hours and 50 minutes per household per day.” Alexis C. Madrigal for" The Atlantic

Understanding Direct Response Advertising

Direct Response provides real-time data, loyalty-building customer experiences, and measurable ROI. It’s all about seeing results RIGHT NOW. And, it works. Why then, are so many contact centers no longer providing support for Direct Response campaigns? The answer to this question is relatively simple. While the components of DRTV are basic, there are critical, mistake-prone areas.

Despite the continued popularity of classic television, it has grown more difficult to make Direct Response TV campaigns a success. There’s just no guarantee it will work. Additionally, the level of difficulty, investment of both time and money, and heavy-lift required to get a campaign live are all deterring factors to most businesses as well as to contact centers, many of which have provided support in the past for DRTV campaigns.

If the initial test doesn’t work, you’ve made a substantial investment of time and money with no payoff.

Additional reading:" PBS" profiles a failed DRTV test campaign" 

Understanding Direct Response Advertising

 

Before a business sets out to test television response and acquisition, the test must be built appropriately to deliver effective and measurable results. An ineffective and poorly planned test might have you rejecting a valuable marketing channel.

Potential challenges aside, businesses willing to make the investment in Direct Response television marketing, when partnered with an experienced contact center, are seeing near-immediate ROI and more importantly, accelerated customer acquisition and higher retention.

“If you aren’t using DRTV your company is missing out. Companies that run multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns without DRTV leave a big piece of pie on the table for their competitors to eat up. DRTV provides a distinct channel of communication and distribution that supplements any current marketing program already in place. And it does so without cannibalizing any other media.” HubSpot

Partnering with an Experienced and Optimized Call Center is the Key to Success for DIrect Response Advertising" 

Your commercial and media might be perfectly executed, but if the contact center providing support for your DRTV promotion isn’t optimized to handle the campaign, failure is guaranteed. The contact center you’ve partnered with might be missing calls, literally not picking up the phone. For any Direct Response campaign to be successful, your business must partner with DRTV specialists. Due to the challenges inherent to Direct Response from a call center perspective, effort must be put into optimizing results from the beginning.

ListenTrust puts in the hours and work required to optimize your DRTV campaign from the start, even with a test. We tune and maximize every call received, and we won’t shy away from taking on new test campaigns, a rarity in the DRTV call center space.

Contact center staffing is another component of success in optimizing for Direct Response TV. The model is challenging, no doubt. Call centers must staff based on the anticipated response, including evenings, overnight, and weekends. With over 12 years of experience in Direct Response, we’ve dialed-in our approach to appropriate staffing for DRTV, and we are stronger today than ever before.

Staffing aside, agent quality is yet another critical success factor. Many outsourced contact centers employ a remote workforce. While positive from a staffing perspective, agent quality is drastically reduced. Operating a brick and mortar contact center gives us complete control over the quality of our agents and the ongoing training they receive.

If agents don’t establish trust and connection leading to an outstanding customer experience, your campaign will fail. It’s that simple. When your business invests $20-$100,000 (or more) on a DRTV test, you want to be sure your contact center partner is optimized from the start. ListenTrust is that partner.

ListenTrust is the Authority in Omnichannel Experience & Direct Response for the US Hispanic Market

The convergence of online and offline advertising platforms is a potent mixture for brands willing to take a calculated risk. There are compelling arguments for combining data-driven digital marketing practices with Direct Response television campaigns. We are highly committed to Direct Response and have the necessary capabilities to maximize this channel, but we are also capable of providing support for the omnichannel digital experience.

ListenTrust, as a healthy contact center with over 12 years in the Direct Response space, has the resources necessary to provide the essential contact center support to your DRTV marketing campaigns.

Get Started by Contacting ListenTrust Today!

For more information, contact Tom Sheppard, VP Business Development, at: tsheppard@listentrust.com.