There are two main types of advertising that concern us: branding and direct marketing. The branding approach is what you get when you see large advertisements for items such as cars, soap, perfume, banks and so on. You get hit with their logo again and again, through various media, including television, billboards, magazines and newspapers.

They become household names and their tightly defined marketing message gets lodged in your mind.

I remember myself being shocked one day when someone offered me a cola that was a non-branded supermarket version. I said, “No thanks, I prefer the real thing.” Then I suddenly realised what I said. Coca-Cola had been running a prolonged advertising campaign that constantly hit you with the message “Coke – the real thing.” It had been lodged in my mind and I didn’t even realise it! Constant bombardment over time influences people’s behaviour, regardless of how immune our intellect tells us we are. It happens on a level below our consciousness and we are essentially influenced against our will! Frightening when you think about it.

Is branding a useful concept to us?“After all, if it is good for the big boys it must be good for us. They have spent money on research and they know what works so surely that must be the best approach?”

I hear you say. Fortunately, branding has only minor importance in your marketing efforts. I say this because to effectively brand, you need a huge budget. Anything less and you will fail to get into the minds of people by reaching a critical mass, where you message hits the consumer or business person a sufficient number of times. Branding works on repetition, among other factors and as small business owners, we just cannot afford that kind of budget.

Does that mean we cannot compete with large companies?

No, not at all. For we have a guerrilla marketing approach that works like magic. This whole area is what is known as Direct Marketing.

What is it?

Direct Marketing is a large body of knowledge that works on an entirely different principle to branding. Its focus is on effective use of words to convert readers of your advert into buyers. There is also a strong emphasis on testing the results of your marketing. This way, you can establish what works and what doesn’t. Fortunately for us, a great deal of testing has already been done and this has led to a set of principles that tend to be effective. For this reason, it is both an art and science. It is an art because using the techniques together is a highly creative process, yet there is a logic to what techniques are effective and even their sequence.

Why it is important?

Direct Marketing lets you optimise your marketing spend. It means you can get the maximum bang for your buck. This is critical because the only marketing worth doing is cost effective marketing. We can all get an endless supply of leads just by spending a fortune. But you wouldn’t last for long!

Look at the success of Dell Computers. I have watched them over time grow at a phenomenal rate. They have adopted the Direct Marketing approach – just look at their sales brochures and you will see what I mean. It is full of effective, well-executed Direct Marketing principles. You may not recognise them at this stage but you will after studying the section on creating persuasive adverts.
How can it help your business
By adopting a Direct Marketing approach, you maximise your chances of success. Each advert you place, each marketing piece you product, is more likely to convert into an enquiry than a branding approach.

Some of Direct Marketing is common sense, but a lot of it is the opposite of common sense. For example, most people think you should keep a mailshot letter short and sweet. “Keep it punchy!” goes the layman. Yet the results of numerous Direct Marketing tests suggest that the more you tell, the more you sell. Long sales copy sells whereas short sales copy does not have sufficient information in it to convert someone into a buyer. There are exceptions to this rule but I’m making the point here that the principle “the more you tell, the more you sell” seems in direct contrasts to common sense.

I will lay down for you the basics of what works and what doesn’t. How you put these concepts together is up to you, but you must know them or forever be making marketing blunders. You can break the rules, but do so at your own risk. If you don’t know what the rules of the game are, your marketing effectiveness goes way down.