New marketing methods and strategies are constantly emerging, but there’s one that’s proven to drive your business forwards and deliver results fast. Most businesses are involved in some form of direct response marketing, but very few have the resources and expertise to fully optimize the returns.

Large corporations like Apple and Nike focus their marketing efforts on branding nowadays, but this isn’t the right approach for most smaller businesses. Huge budgets are required to build brands, and it can take years before the benefit is see n in the form of profits. Saturating a range of advertising media with branding messages isn’t going to have customers knocking down your door in the short term.

Direct response marketing is a more effective strategy for new ventures and smaller companies. If done effectively, it should compel potential customers to take action. This may be to pick up the phone and place an order, to visit your website and sign up to a mailing list or to visit your retail store the next day. Over time, direct response marketing can also help to build your brand and reputation, but its primary objective is to get people to take action.

Direct response methods may not require the budgets of campaigns designed to create a brand or raise awareness, but they can still be expensive. Fortunately, it’s possible to measure and track the results to make sure you’re seeing returns. Tracking and measuring your marketing activities means to you can adapt and refine what you’re doing to ensure the best returns. This is quite easy in the online world, as you can use resources like

Google Analytics

.

Some businesses manage all of their direct response marketing in-house, whereas outsourcing to a firm like 

Koeppel Direct marketing

 will help with everything from developing a direct response strategy to implementation across a range of channels. In-house may be good solution for placing advertisements in print media and running social media marketing campaigns, but additional expertise can offer much broader options. Hiring an outside marketing firm can seem like a leap of faith at first, but there’s nothing to be concerned about if you consider the following points.

1) What are your objectives for direct response marketing?

Be clear on what you want before you talk to any outside firms. It’s good to take advice and have some discussions, but it helps if you know what you want from the outset.

2) What companies have they worked for previously?

A good marketing company will have testimonials and case studies they can share with you. It may even be possible to approach past clients and ask for their views about a company you’re looking to hire. It helps if a marketing company has some experience of your particular industry, but don’t be put off if they haven’t.

3) What services can they offer?

This is where you need to really challenge a potential supplier. A good marketing company should either employ or have access to a broad range of professionals and experts. These include copywriters, designers, SEO experts, social media experts and analysts. As well as print and online marketing experts, a top flight firm will also be able to offer expertise in television and radio. Even with the rise of online marketing, television advertising is still very powerful as

these statistics

prove.