10 tips can put you on the road to successful direct response print marketing

By David Lustig

Okay, let’s get one thing straight. Advertising-regardless of type, medium, size or format-must be done correctly or not at all. No matter how hot the product, how sizzling the idea, how scorching the thought, poorly planned and executed advertising will become just a fruitless exercise in tossing away money with little prospect of anticipated return. Advertising must be executed with thought, care and planning.

At first thought, such comments may seem woefully simplistic in approach and rather obvious. Yet, we still find examples of products marketed badly. To help combat such behavior a number of leading advertising firms share some of their best tips to effective print advertising campaigns in direct response (DR) marketing. Interestingly, the answers on any particular question are not all the same, with various companies emphasizing different aspects of a sales campaign. More importantly, the thoughts and opinions expressed here are all fundamentally basic and sound DR advertising principles.

1. What are some common mistakes that are made in direct response print advertising?
“Placing an ad in a publication that cannot supply you with a copy of the publication,” says Nancy Lazkani, president and CEO of Icon Media Direct Inc. of Sherman Oaks, Calif. “Also,” she continues, “shopping rates between agencies and publications. Publications are very savvy and will not give competitive rates for a client that has a rate history with it. Advertisers can actually prevent themselves from getting competitive rates if they’ve accepted a higher rate in the past.”

Other examples Lazkani gives include not tracking results. “Clients should take full advantage of the direct response opportunity by tracking via telephone, Web, mail-in, et al, to weigh whether the publication is a profitable means of advertisement.”

Jennifer Nading, print director of Synergixx LLC in Glassboro, N.J., believes one of the biggest mistakes is not finding out how the ad performed. “You cannot truly evaluate the response to a print ad unless you accurately tag it with a unique 800 number,” she says.

Celia De Dios, director of sales and marketing for Manhattan Media Services in New York City has another thought on common mistakes. “The headline is not captivating enough, the offer is not strong enough and the advertiser has priced the product too high.”

Jeff Small, president of Strategic Media Inc. in Portland, Maine, says, “Often times, advertisers try to provide too much information in the ad, which can be overwhelming to the reader and lead to a lower response.”

2. How does DR print differ from general print advertising?
“Regular print advertising is about branding; you want to nail home the company name and the image of the product, so the consumer will remember you the next time they go shopping,” explains Synergixx’s Nading. DR print ads are about instigating a gut reaction to make the reader feel the need to call and ‘order now!’”

“Response to DR print ads is tracked and used to determine the success of the ad by publication,” adds Icon Media’s Lazkani. “General print advertising does not have the advantage of gauging profitability per publication, per insertion.”

De Dios of Manhattan Media Services says a DR print campaign is where the potential customer can order the product through an 800 number, Website or mail-in.

3. How is response to DR ads tracked?
Small and Nading believe one of the best ways to track response is through a unique 800 number. So does De Dios, who, along with Nading, feels that adding a key code on an ad can be useful, so when customers call to order, an operator will always ask for the key code. Lazkani also contends that a mail-in order form is a useful tool, as are Websites where each response is tracked electronically.

4. How does the agency determine the types of publications in which the ads should run?
“You should run in publications that are read by your demographic,” says Nading. “You should also run a test that is appropriate to your budget. If you have only $5,000 to do the test, it’s better to test your message with fewer ads rather than blow the entire budget on one.”

“The key is determining which publication to run in as research,” says Lazkani. “Some publications may seem like a good fit for a product, but the proof is really in the numbers. Our approach to any campaign is to run queries in our research database and start narrowing the publications down to those that index high within our target demographic and those that have proven results.”

“Past performance is the best tool,” says Small. “When choosing the best publications, we look for a low CPM and the history of the publication with specific category response rate.”

5. How much should a direct marketer expect to budget for DR print?
“This amount varies for each campaign and the goals the client has,” says Small. “If the goal is to build a campaign with daily publications, the budget will be a lot less than going straight to magazines. A direct marketer needs to budget for several versions of copy and enough publications to get a good sampling to make sound judgments from the gathered data.”

“Budgets for DR print can vary widely depending on the client’s goals and the type of product or service being advertised,” says Lazkani. “The rationale and strategy for each print campaign takes the actual product into consideration and molds this into the client’s goals and budgets. Some clients allocate only 10 to 15 percent of their advertising budget to print, while others assign as much as 50 to 75 percent. A children’s product, for example, may have a different approach than a household product, thus requiring different percentages of budget allocation and seasonal placement.”

6. What size ads are the most effective?
“Effective ad sizes vary depending on the product or service you are selling,” continues Lazkani. “For example, a children’s toy would require much less copy than a home loan service. The key to determining ad size is to effectively catch the reader’s attention with the amount of space available. If your ad requires a lot of copy, you would want to increase your ad size to a full page or spread so the reader is not overwhelmed by the amount of information. If little or no explanation is needed, the advertiser can get just as much response from a well-placed one-half or one-third page ad for a fraction of the cost.”

Put another way, Nading says, “For direct response, a successful ad is one which allows you to clearly state your message.” De Dios makes it even more definitive when asked which size ad is the most effective. “7×10, standard magazine size,” she suggests Small, however, feels advertisers can find significant success with one-quarter-page ads, which he says, are effective with proper layout.

7. Should a DR print campaign come before or after a DRTV campaign?
“Your print audience is different from your TV audience,” says Nading, “so your advertising can run independently.” Some products, she adds, do not cross platforms, while others support each other. Which should go first should be discussed in the evaluation process.

“We encourage an advertiser to do the campaign simultaneously,” says De Dios. “Print is a great support for DRTV, and it gives credibility to the product.”

Lazkani says there is no magic formula for every client to determine whether their campaign should either be in print or on television.

“Each client has specific goals for their product or service, which we weight against our research and recommendations,” she continues. “What works for one client may not work for another. Print can be an effective way to create an additional stream of revenue when successfully advertised on TV. Print can work hand-in-hand with a television campaign by reinforcing the brand’s awareness and credibility.”

Small, however, feels it is important not to co-mingle the different media forms to determine whether you should test print or TV.

“Just because a client has success in TV doesn’t translate into immediate success in print or vice versa,” he says. “Each media reaches out to a different audience and it is important to create your message specifically for each.”

8. What elements should be included in the ad’s creative context?
“Identify the problem, pinpoint the solution, have a great testimonial, plus a before and after shot,” says De Dios. “Also, your headline must be strong.”

“Creative should always contain a design scheme that appeals to your target demographics,” explains Lazkani. “Through research you’ll find that certain color schemes appeal to men more than women and some age groups are more interested in copy rather than graphics, for example.

“The key to creative design is to understand the target demographic. The product should be clearly represented with copy supporting the benefits of the product. Some advertisers overwhelm the reader with too much copy, while some don’t include enough. The less complicated and more targeted the ad, the better chance it has of larger appeal.”

Nading adds that a good hook that focuses on a gut reaction like fear, guilt or sex is important.

“That, plus a unique 800 number, a brief product or service description and an appropriate and eye-catching visual, especially if you are advertising a before-and-after product,” says Nading. The offer and how to place the order, including telephone number for credit card orders and address for check or money order, are also important.

9. In what cases should direct marketers not utilize the DR print medium?
Lazkani contends that if a direct marketer has advertised through DRTV with little or no success, she would not recommend starting up a print campaign.

“Chances are,” she says, “if the product did not succeed through valid attempts at DRTV, it is likely to produce similar results across any DR medium, including print unless the product is targeted and has a narrow audience.”

10. What’s the best advice that you can give to direct marketers who are looking at starting a DR print campaign?
Lazkani suggests, “Always ask for research. We provide research statistics with our proposals, which allow the marketer to see how we arrived at where a particular product should be placed.”

Small advises, “Test, test, test.”

Nading suggests, “Don’t rush into a DR print campaign just to get your message out. You need to know why you are placing the ad, what you want an ad to do for your overall campaign and what you need to be able to consider it successful.”

David Lustig is a contributing writer to Electronic Retailer magazine. We would appreciate your feedback. To submit comments, point your browser to printfeb.marketing-era.com.