If cash flow is the oxygen in your business, effective marketing is the heart that pumps cash into your business. Growth marketing is a vital entity within the marketing scheme of the business model and has altered the manner in which marketers conceptualized driving demand and establishing fortunate customers. Growth marketing focuses on attracting new customers and sustaining existing ones.

There are two forms of marketing commonly used in business development: (1) brand-focused marketing, and (2) direct response marketing (DRM). Brand focus marketing is costly and may be ineffective for start-ups and small business owners; however, direct response marketing done well makes a small business exceptionally successful.

Traditional marketing campaigns, such as brand marketing, make it a challenge for the young entrepreneur. It requires you to saturate various types of advertising media, e.g., TV, print, radio, Internet, etc. on a very regular basis and over an extended period. Brand marketing is highly effective for most giant corporations such as Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, Nike, Apple, and McDonald’s. Organizations who implement brand marketing set extremely high budgets with the understanding that if the marketing strategy is successful it will generate an exceptionally high return on investments (ROI). Brand marketing targets the various aspects of the decision-making processes in both people and businesses.

Brand marketing is highly effective for developing repeat business because a successful campaign increases a customer’s awareness and perception of the product. In 1975, McDonald’s branded the Big Mac sandwich with a jingle (two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun) created by Keith Reinhard, and set to music by Mark Vieha, who performed the original jingle. McDonald’s invested millions into the branding of the Big Mac sandwich, and as of 2016 McDonald's operates 36,899 restaurants worldwide, employing more than 375,000 and with annual revenue of 24.6 billion dollars. Despite only airing for a year and a half, at the time this book was authored in 2018, that jingle still resonated in the minds of many and McDonald’s got a return on its investment.

Brand marketing focuses on the cognitive thought processes of the audience. The campaign aims to communicate what the company does and how well they do it while continually sending purposeful messages to the audience. Nike is a master at corporation brand marketing. When you think of the phrase "just do it” you most often think of Nike. Brand marketing is often communicated via a highly publicized logo that has a direct relation to the brand no matter when seen, with or without words denoting the company name.

To implement such a brand recognition takes two vital resources that most entrepreneurs who are navigating their entrepreneurial journey cannot afford: time and money. The expense and time involved are not a problem for the major brands as they have massive advertising budgets and product lines are planned years in advance. However, a problem arises when small businesses try to imitate the big brands in this type of marketing. Hence, the need to focus on direct response marketing via the web and social media.

Direct response marketing (DRM) is designed to elicit an immediate response and urge potential clients to take some specific action, such as signing up to join your email list, calling the advertised number for more information, placing an order or being directed to a web page. Direct response marketing is a targeted approach to elicit specific customers. These are customers whom you’ve identified to have an interest in the products or services that your business offers. And, because of direct response marketing cues, potential customers get an explicit call to action, and the strategy allows entrepreneurs to see how effective their marketing efforts are immediately.

Despite significant advances in technology and communication over the years, it’s important to note that the essential elements of direct response marketing have remained constant. The only notable change has been in the tools and resources (Instagram, Twitter, Google +, Facebook, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and various modes of print advertisements) that provides entrepreneurs the ability to place their message in front of their identified targeted audience. Direct response marketing is time effective and beneficial for the money conscious entrepreneur.

DRM provides the ability to measure virtually every aspect of your direct response marketing campaign. DRM allows you to narrow down your efforts — eliminating those that don’t work and strengthening those that do. Immediate benefits of DRM include trackability, measurability, and compelling headlines. In addition, it enables you to target your niche market, provide specific offers, demand a response (call to action), and increases follow-up abilities. In essence, direct response marketing is a highly ethical way of marketing. DRM focuses on the specific problems of the prospect and aims to solve these issues with education and targeted solutions. To learn more about direct response marketing and how we can best create a campaign to maximize your business potential click on or copy & paste link into your search engine https://www.drrickygallaway.com/consultation