You know you’re a direct response fanatic when, with great confidence, you can shout out authoritative statements like “put your money where your metrics are!” or, with an elitist attitude, you boldly stand on your platform of ROI and trump any theories that GRP’s and CPP’s guarantee orders and sales.

Yes, when it comes to bottom-line results, direct response enthusiasts stand proud.

It’s true: the allure of direct response is compelling. The concept of knowing how every dollar is performing is what we strive for – but is it always the best practice?

There is something to be said about the telemarketer who makes a sale because the customer “has seen that ad on TV for years”, or the lift in online sales with the latest radio campaign, or the boost in a retail product launch as a result of that concentrated market TV buy, or even the search marketing terms that are optimized to mimic the key messaging in the latest two-minute TV spot. Ultimately, none of these leads and sales can be accurately attributed back to their media source, but these are the intrinsic benefits of integrated marketing campaigns.

The fundamental objective of any integrated marketing campaign should be to evaluate the overall bottom line, and focus less on the specific channel. Are you direct response devotees squirming in your seats yet?

Too often, different mediums and channels of response are placed in silos. In fact, too often, many marketing departments themselves operate in silos. A well-planned, integrated marketing campaign will eliminate the silos and deliver three key benefits to your overall campaign: You will get more bang for your buck chieve greater reach, frequency and awareness Conversion rates will soar

Let the channels complement each other

Radio, in some instances, has proven to be a great driver of leads, but as a stand-alone medium, radio will not typically produce an ROI as efficiently as TV; however, as a complement to your television program, radio can be a very effective tool.

Radio allows you to increase your frequency by targeting a niche demo at different times of the day that DRTV may not allow. Additionally, while television is the most effective tool in reaching the masses nationally and providing blanket coverage, radio allows you to penetrate key target markets.

Television allows you to verbalize a call to action (toll-free number and URL) and also display it throughout the spot, granting more visibility to the viewer. This is why DRTV should be considered the anchor to your campaign. Radio, as a complement, is going to be used to drive home that call to action and increase retention.

This is where online weaves its way into the integrated mix. The URL in the television and radio spots should always be unique to the campaign, not driving to your corporate homepage. Additionally, to boost conversions, your microsite or landing page should be thematically linked and designed as a continuation of the sales cycle. Think of your landing page as the call centre on the web.

Taking the notion of integration one step further, even with a unique URL, we know there will be a percentage of customers that will traffic directly to your homepage. To help bridge that gap between offline and online, invest some of your marketing dollars into paid search terms derived from the messaging in your TV and radio ads. If your ad repeats a unique offer, don’t just bid on synonyms of your company’s service or product, include key phrases from your ads as part of your bidding matrix to help close that gap.

Always integrate

The ultimate benefits of integrating TV, radio and online are increased reach, frequency, and awareness – all contribute to a very attractive bottom-line ROI. The key to integration is to always be thinking grassroots. Remember, the same potential customer is watching TV, listening to the radio and is active online. Customers don’t behave in silos – and neither should your direct response ad campaigns.

http://dmn.ca/Articles/DM_May_2010(web).pdf