Disruptive Direct Marketing- continued

Written By Ted Grigg

In an earlier blog, I mentioned that one branding website accused direct marketers of disrupting people’s lives. The comments to this blog saw direct marketers as the curse of the marketing universe. It was pretty entertaining and revealed that some general advertisers were feeling the pressure to deliver ROI on their advertising dollars.

I like the term "disruption" when referring to direct marketing. All successful advertising must ultimately lead people to make an unplanned purchase. It strikes at the core purpose of advertising in a free market.

For example, the strength of the Internet medium also contains a weakness. It possesses a low disruption capability. The advertiser has to wait until somebody decides to visit his website. That is why direct mail is often used in addition to digital media to drive people to a website.

Disruption, as some choose to call it, is essential. And the more disruptive, the better. It prompts people to take notice.

I do not want the prospect to feel comfortable when I write a direct response advertisement in any medium. I want her to feel uncomfortable as she realizes she needs my product. Otherwise, I have lost the sale. So, this disruption factor goes beyond the medium and drives the creative strategy.

Getting people to pay attention and consider your product requires disruption. In the scheme of things, people do not want to hear what you have to say until you show them that you can satisfy some unmet need.

Do you agree with this assessment? Or is this disruptive quality we strive for something direct marketers need to reexamine?

Ted Grigg

Ted Grigg is a direct response strategist who helps growth-focused companies reduce risk by identifying weak assumptions before they become costly mistakes.

Over the course of his career, Ted has evaluated several hundred million dollars in direct response testing across direct mail, digital, print, television, telephone, and other channels. His work combines direct response strategy, acquisition economics, customer analysis, creative evaluation, offer development, and disciplined testing.

Ted has worked on both the client and agency sides of the business. That experience gives him a practical understanding of the pressures facing executives, marketing teams, agencies, and service providers—and of the problems that arise when activity, media volume, or creative preference replaces a clear economic objective.

His consulting work helps organizations examine such questions as:

  • Are acquisition goals economically realistic?

  • Is the allowable Cost Per Sale supported by customer value?

  • Are targeting, offers, creative, media, and response paths working together?

  • Are tests structured to produce reliable business decisions?

  • Are unproven assumptions being treated as facts?

  • Is the organization measuring sales outcomes rather than convenient proxies?

Ted’s experience includes the development of direct mail and multichannel acquisition programs for insurance, healthcare, financial services, technology, nonprofit, manufacturing, retail, transportation, communications, government, and business-to-business organizations.

For a national direct-to-consumer insurance company, he developed a direct mail format that defeated established controls and helped expand the productive use of compiled prospect lists from less than 10 percent to more than 30 percent of total direct mail circulation within one year. He also planned Medicare lead-generation programs for more than 60 regional and national HMO and PPO organizations, with some programs exceeding sales projections by as much as 60 percent.

Ted founded Wyse Direct, a direct marketing division of Wyse Advertising in Cleveland, where he developed acquisition programs and helped launch a new technology product for Seiko Instruments by generating a predictable flow of qualified sales leads for its national sales organization. As vice president of new business development for the Grizzard Agency, he helped broaden the agency’s strategic capabilities and pursue new commercial and fundraising opportunities.

He is the author of The HMO/PPO Marketing Plan—A Step-by-Step Guide, published by Executive Enterprises, and has written numerous articles and conducted webinars on direct response strategy, testing, creative development, and marketing economics.

Ted earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Abilene Christian University and completed two years of graduate study at Texas Tech University. He is the founder of DMCG, LLC.

http://www.dmcgresults.com
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