The changing face of direct response marketing

Two years ago, direct marketing was chugging right along, with everyone getting in on the band wagon. Ten years ago, it was like the old wild west gold rush – stake out your claim, and just pick up the nuggets. Well two years from now, we’ll probably hardly recognize the medium.

Does that mean DR is going away?

Hardly. It’s just moving more towards customization, personalization and more efficient ways of getting your product to the consumer who is looking for it. Sure, there will still be the :30, :60 TV informercial spots and probably still the longer format spots. But look for the content to change. And with more digital options available, I see them moving off of broadcast and more towards internet broadband download sites like AOL, iTunes, YouTube and others. You can then produce multiple spots each targeting a specific area or condition. Got a weight loss product that’s better suited towards men and you have a celebrity athelete spokesperson? Or how about a the same product but you want to target sedentary office workers? Come up with unique content for each and get specific about how it benefits that group. Then market directly to them.

The same goes for direct mail. You’ve already seen the jump in response rates with variable data marketing. One postcard design with specific graphics, consumer name and copy – all data base driven.

So what does that mean for copywriters? Boom time baby.

Because we can now talk very specifically to each group, crafting controls and measuring response rates with almost pinpoint accuracy. That’s a lot of copy – but the results will be worth it. Think about it this way. TV didn’t kill radio advertising. Cable TV didn’t kill network TV advertising. And the internet won’t kill cable and network TV. It’s all about the consumer being exposed to and finding the exact content that they are interested in – however it’s delivered. When the highly anticipated convergence happens with the net and TV, look to be able to insert specific spots geared right to the consumer on their particular home networks.

Now that will be fun!

It’s niiiiice. High five!

Ok, I’m going to drop down into the media morass surrounding the upcoming film surprise from the Toronto Film Festival “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”. This film is definitely going on my ‘guilty pleasures’ list. My first exposure to Sascha Baron Cohen’s character was a photo on Yahoo’s most emailed photos section. The picture of this hairy foreigner in a lime green ‘dong thong’ was too outrageous to miss. Then I saw the preview at the movies and it all clicked.

Now I was on a mission.

I had never seen Cohen’s HBO series ‘Da Ali G Show’, where the character was fully developed. A quick sumary if you don’t know, Borat is supposed to be an official Kazakhstan reporter with a TV show dedicated to finding out more about the ‘US and A”. Ripe with commentary about our society, the film and the series under his bumbling guise as Borat, gets everyday Americans to unwittingly expose their true feelings, instead of the usual PC statements we all make. Jewish himself, Cohen’s character is heavily anti-semitic and you don’t have to go to far to find people sympathetic to his opinion.

I like the fact that he is using humor with his antics, mangling of the English language and physical comedy to let us take a look at ourselves, laugh, and (hopefully) think about our beliefs and prejudices. He does skewer Middle White America pretty well with what I’ve seen so far. I’m sure with a successful movie, future TV shows or films will go after everyone, just like Carlos Mencia. Now there’s a good buddy flick!

Discovering your inner ‘hero’..

Ok, I admit I’m an avowed “Heroes” fanatic. Not since the first few seasons of the Sopranos have I been immediately counting down the days, hours and minutes until the next episode. From a writer’s perspective, TV doesn’t get much better than this. The intricacies of the plot, the unfolding character development and those darn last five minute plot twists and shockers makes this compelling viewing. It’s exactly the kind of stuff I wish I could right.

And that’s my point.

Inside all of us is that inner ’secret power’ just waiting to be developed. The difference between us and the ‘heroes’ on screen or ones we meet in everyday life is that they have recognized something different or special about themselves – and not turned away from it. Oh, initially you might fight it or deny it (Claire and Nathan for those of you who watch the show) or you embrace it, nurture it and try to take it to the full potential (Hiro, Peter). So rather than just wake up wondering ‘what if’ when you’re old and gray, take time each day to discover or develop your ‘inner hero’ or talent.

And see how far you can soar.

Excuse me… can I borrow a cup of discipline?

As I write this post, exactly one month after my last, I took out my trusty wet noodle and whipped myself 3o x, 1 for each post I didn’t do. You see, if a writer isn’t disciplined and doesn’t make writing a part of the daily routine, well, nothing gets written. Actually, plenty gets written, just not on my blog. You can apply this to any part of your life. Whatever your dream is or your goal, try to do something related to it everyday – and before you know it, it will appear and in greater abundance than you ever expected.

I just updated (again, finally!) my latest batch of writing assignments. I know I can write and write well. It’s the self promotion that’s lagging. Besides work, I’ve rallied my neighborhood against unregulated yardsales – 14 out of the last 16 weekends at one neighbor – and got the Town Council to weigh in on the subject. I’ve motivated my church to stop the laborious process of a monthly newsletter and go to a much easier to update, easier access blog. So – I will make this blog a part of my daily list of ‘must do items’.

Hmmm… if I could get Wi-Fi access in the ‘throne room’, I could kill two birds with one stone.

Cheers!