There is a divide in the advertising/marketing community between two methods: Brand Marketing & Direct Marketing. The former is the Volkswagen commercial during the Super Bowl, the Pepsi logo on the wall of a hockey rink, and the things you’d see on an episode of Mad Men. When people see a car commercial during the Super Bowl, very few stop what they are doing to call a dealership. They are, however, seeing that certain companies have the clout to advertise on the world’s largest stage. They’ll talk about the ads they saw when they go to work, and they will send clips of them to their friends. Brand marketing speaks to image and awareness. Direct marketing is the opposite.
What is Direct Marketing?
Direct marketing is a powerful strategy that empowers you to reach out to potential customers directly with tailored messages. Imagine the letter asking you to sign up for a credit card or an insurance plan. Direct marketing campaigns involve sending emails, mailing brochures, making phone calls, or even text messaging. The goal is to communicate directly with consumers (or, in your case, clients) to increase interest and sales of a product or service.
Unlike the VW commercial we discussed, this type of marketing is known for its ability to generate immediate responses from the audience. Direct marketing asks for something. (It is important to note that direct marketing can also be effective in building brand awareness because it keeps the lines of communication open between you and your audience. This is something we do with our email newsletters.) A direct marketing campaign may ask someone to sign up to buy a product, call about a service, or opt into an email newsletter. The effectiveness of a direct marketing campaign is measured by how many people took the action that the campaign was designed to elicit.
How Content Fits Into Direct Marketing
If you are a law firm, you employ a form of direct marketing each time you post a message on a social media platform, trying to get people to book a consultation. The purpose of the post is to get someone to book a consultation. If you have ever worked with one of our copywriters at Spotlight Branding, you will know that we tend to limit these posts. We utilize a content balance that is equally divided among informative, educational, and promotional posts. Why?
If direct marketing asks someone to do something, you need to be very aware of what you are asking them to do. Getting them to read one social media post before booking a consultation is a big request. You expect someone to read a post, stop what they are doing, call your firm, rework their schedule, sit down with you, and pay you for your time (if you charge for consultations). The likelihood of someone doing this is almost comical, yet people expect this to happen. It’s a high threshold request, often referred to in marketing circles as threshold resistance.
The solution is to ask for something smaller that involves less time, risk, and cost. In other words, you need a low-threshold ask. Here are some things that a potential client is more likely to do:
- Read a blog
- Sign up for an email newsletter
- Watch a video that answers one of their questions
- Listen to a segment of a podcast
- Scroll through your website
If you don’t have content, you have nothing to offer your potential clients besides booking a consultation. You’re swinging for the fences on each at-bat, and that saying exists because of how rare it happens. Law firms improve the impact of their direct marketing efforts by creating educational, relevant content. Well-crafted content overcomes threshold resistance by making offers seem less daunting and more beneficial, which increases the likelihood of engagement.
At Spotlight Branding, we say that content improves all forms of marketing. Content is essential to a brand marketing strategy and vital to direct marketing.
Spotlight Branding
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