Monday, January 24, 2011

Direct-Response vs. Branding Advertising - Another Perspective

Came across this article by Brad Fallon, which reinforced my belief why most business owners should focus on direct-response, instead of branding or image-type marketing.

Unless they have a few million dollars to spend on advertising and marketing... and don't care about the results.

Brad has literally made millions of dollars online as a successful Internet marketer, so he knows what he's talking about.

Frank Kern also talked about this in his "State of the Internet address," why 'brand awareness' isn't nearly as important as making sales, and measuring results.

Too many business owners have fallen for the siren's song of "branding" advertising; wasting good leads, time and money. I'm not discounting the importance of having a good professional business image, to look credible to current and future clients.

However, I'm adamantly opposed to business owners doing dumb things when they don't have to. Ad agencies LOVE to push branding because it makes them look cool, and they don't have to be accountable for results.

When an ad or campaign runs for a few weeks or months - and doesn't provide the results the client wants - they usually remind the client that "it takes time to build brand awareness in the marketplace," or some nonsense like this.

For almost all small-to-medium-sized business owners, your focus should be on making sales and revenue - not trying to be like a Fortune 500 company.

Your business models are different, and you should be able to measure, monitor, adjust and control 100% of your marketing and advertising.

That's the reason many ad agencies have gone out of business the past few years - they were too busy being cute and clever, instead of being accountable.

If you wonder why your offline or online marketing isn't generating sales and revenue, ask yourself this question: "Am I advertising to present a good image, or am I advertising to solve someone's problem and provide value... which will make sales?"

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