Rejoice! According to the DMA, Brand and mass marketers are now using direct techniques in their campaigns in much the same way I’ve advocated before.
More than half use one or more direct marketing channels such as search, email, or SEO in conjunction with their brand advertising. According to Peter Johnson of the DMA,
“We began this report with the hypothesis that brand and direct marketers would differ substantially in their responses, but when we analyzed the data, we discovered that, for those marketers with more experience, the differences have faded away. Marketing experts are combining direct techniques into brand advertising — and in all media, too.”
The DMA added that these findings confirm that marketing activities designed to increase awareness are all but the same as those that drive awareness and mirror those of a 2006 SEMPO study showing that the top goals of search marketing campaigns were 1. Direct sales and 2. Branding.
The most important consideration marketers still overlook is that direct marketing with search is critical to responding to the demand created by an awareness or brand campaign. Not running both puts you at risk of promoting someone else with your ad dollars and missing out on the opportunity to measure the effectiveness of your campaign.