DIRECT RESPONSE         MARKETING SOLUTIONS. Dare 2b Successful…

By Definition:  Direct marketing is a component of marketing communications that sends messages directly to consumers, using “addressable” media, such as mail and or email/ e-messaging. Therefore, direct marketing differs from regular advertising in that it does not place its messages on a third party medium, or in the agora, such as a billboard or a radio commercial would. Instead, the marketing of the service or commodity is addressed directly to the consumer. Direct marketing is attractive to many of our clients because its effectiveness can usually be readily measured. For example, if an agency/client chooses to send out one million solicitations by mail, and ten thousand customers respond to the promotion, you can conclude with some confidence that the campaign led to the responses. By contrast, measurement of other media must be indirect, since there is no direct response from a consumer. With over 20-years of printing and packaging manufacturing + marketing leadership accountabilities as well as over 10-years in web development, fulfillment, direct mail, and e-commerce:

We have in-depth experience with print and web communications from the source. As such, we are able to maximize quality while mimizing costs to our clients. _________________________________

To learn how we have significantly reduced the cost per unit of direct mail on behalf of clients: click here .

To learn how we will improve your on-line marketing results while reducing your cost of customer acquision: click here .

 Low Cost – High Yield MARKETING SOLUTIONS. Dare 2b Successful…

By Definition:  Low Cost – High Yield Marketing allows you to connect with prospects in a natural, unobtrusive way. It relies on attracting customers through education and openness instead of through disruptive, self-serving marketing techniques. Done right, it lets you combine all of your marketing channels into a cohesive, well-oiled machine that generates more leads with less effort AND less cost per customer acquisition.

There are five main pillars:

1.  Being discovered by ensuring your visibility across multiple online and regional market channels

2.  Converting visitors into leads

3.  Closing business by nurturing leads into customers

4.  Developing viral/ organic reach

5.  Analyzing results to improve decision making and ROI of the initiatives

The more traditional (and more expensive) approach of outbound marketing can be generalized as paying to have advertisements – usually with a self declarative message – distributed over a set length of time and within finite channels. While these elements can and often do provide transactional value if applied correctly – they typically have a shelf life and limited reach that is determined by a known geographical targeted area. Plus, you pay for the creative ad and then you pay for placement and distribution of it. By comparison, Low Cost – High Yield Marketing has a potentially global reach and an endless visibility/ distribution along with geo-target focus. Moreover, many of the elements involved are not static and they can even be interactive. These include: social media marketing videos that can drive traffic to your website; on-line videos that can be testimonials – a commercial – how to infomercials – etc; YouTube; blogging; forums; webinars; email; promotions targeted to attracting new customers while also building a following; – as well as other methods that are all digitally based. Plus, these digital elements can be linked to more traditional methods such as direct response. Your “on-line” cost is generally in the production of the content and or the time involved with managing the vehicle being used, only. We excel in cost effectiveness for the other elements too.

TO ASCENDANT = LOW COST – HIGH YIELD INCLUDES REDUCE THE COST OF ACQUITION, THEN EXPAND THE REACH AND FREQUENCY.

Case(s) overview in-Brief:  What to spend, where to spend it, and what will I get from each $?

CHALLENGES:   While Director of Marketing & Public Relations – a job I absolutely loved doing – for THE largest if not one of the largest Medical providers in multiple states – I was asked early in my term a defining question by the three top level executives. They inquired, “How you would choose to spend an allocation of $10,000 for marketing events? Would you bring in Barry Bonds for a few hours to sign autographs and to be the signature personality at a field day or would you spread the money around for multiple events? Remember, we don’t like spending money for nonsense/marketing stuff.” My answer was – and remains – “that decision depends upon the reputation of the celebrity – for this example Barry Bonds – and how much free media coverage could be obtained before, during, and after the event as well as how many people will attend as measured against each dollar spent. By comparison – we’d also need to determine how much spread and layered viral, planned, and organic reach would likely be achievable with multiple – and potentially diverse – events. In short, it’s about connecting with the target market, longevity of messaging, and optimizing top of mind awareness along with strong public relations interaction.” Off-line, I intuitively felt that at least skipping Barry Bonds as an option was probably an almost zero opportunity cost risk… yet, it’s about the to-be-determined cost-benefit ratio – about the numbers – and certainly not about me, so I was staying 100% open minded until we could take measure of the impact. They abandoned the ideation and we went forward with – dare I say with genuine humility – great “new” marketing and public relations strategies/ approaches, cross-functional teamwork, and business development results… RESULTS: 

With that backdrop… Okay. You’re a small or medium size company that has fantastic product(s) and or service(s). Yet – even being one the best offerings – you are finding it difficult to overcome larger competitors who have greater scale and a wide marketing reach. So what’s a business in this situation to do to get the word out? #1 solution: Inbound marketing is a solid way for small and medium sized business to be competitive. While the term may seem unfamiliar the concept is not. In the non-digital/ non-internet connected past, this form of marketing relied on word-of-mouth, some form of public/community relations, non-paid endorsements, and – if possible – newspaper articles about your company and its offerings. The premise behind the approach: gain an advantage without spending a lot of capital.

We are available to assist you with implementing and managing effective strategy and tactics – whether it’s Low Cost – High Yield or Outbound Marketing or both. And remember – what you post on YouTube will very possibly stay on YouTube forever and whatever you make available through digital format is accessible by the entire world… so you want to get it right and we can be sure it is.

To explore and learn more: Plans and Pricing / Contact Asendant Adverting and Communictions .

We look forward to hearing from you.

We prioritize listening to you. All of us at Ascendant greatly value understanding your business and your actionable opportunities. Another priority is collaborating with you to establish measurable, defined goals before beginning work as your consultant, as your creative spirit, and as your marketplace voice within selected channels.

TODAY’S MARKET FOR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES IS FRENETIC, NOISY, AND CLOGGED WITH INFORMATION.

We start your initiative by gathering consumer marketing information from, and about, the people important to your success. We already know through experience that a tailor-made plan will move you beyond building brand awareness to actually influencing buyer behavior.

Our business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) marketing teams help find your strongest voice, strengthen it – then makes sure your true voice and value is heard in your most important venues.

BASICs
1. Identify your reasons-to-believe.
2. Identify your customer touch-points.
3. Determine influential touch-points.
4. Design the optimal experience.
5. Analyze the competition.
6. Align processes to consistently deliver.
7. Make good happen.

Your brand image creates expectations. It defines who you are, how you operate, and how you’re different from your competitors. In essence, your brand image is a promise – a promise that must be kept. If the brand is a promise you make, then the customer experience is the fulfillment of that promise. The customer experience can’t be left to chance. It should be actively designed and controlled in a manner that enhances your brand image. It must consistently reinforce the brand promise across every customer touch-point or the value of the brand itself is at risk.

Your Ascendant Agency team believes culture can be more powerful than strategy and that effective branding must tap into culture. We will keep your messaging focused to be certain that all communications for all touch points reflect a defined and uinified cultural connection.   Our approach delivers integrated and layered marketing elements that present clear, compelling messaging to a mix of targeted, high-impact media channels. ________________

It’s not for all market segments nor is it unilaterally appropriate for all enterprises – yet, the effectiveness, the progressiveness, and the value of cross-cultural marketing is stronger today than just a few years ago. Moreover, we think it will be an even more significant part of the mix 10-years from now. With the US Census predicting that 80% of population growth over the next five years attributed to what have traditionally been known as minority groups, the American consumer landscape is changing. Plus, the immigration influence – legal or otherwise – is undeniable.” The past year has been filled with talk about virtues and issues associated with the concept of total market advertising. This evolving lexicon is infiltrating the agency side of the business. Increasingly – agencies focused on Hispanic, African-American and Asian segments are adopting monikers like “cross-cultural agency” to describe themselves and have gone out of their way to label new ethnic assignments as “total market” agency of record assignments.

Think about it: Coca-Cola’s touching and diverse “America the Beautiful” Super Bowl ad (which sparked online political controversy) provided a high-profile example of the debate occurring in ad land regarding these different marketing models. Many ad industry folks touted the TV spot/campaign as a great example of the total market approach in action. By comparison, I see it as an example of what we see as the future of advertising – cross-cultural marketing. Cross-Cultural Marketing – one marketing program that leverages ethnic markets to reach across ethnic and general markets. The difference between cross-cultural and total market approach advertising is subtle, but important.

As important as seeing things through the client’s eyes is the ability to see things through your audience’s eyes.   Our marketing and creative professionals share such a dynamic range of experience in various industries and levels of business. As a collective whole, they/ we represent an impressive library of market insight, human behavior, and common sense.

Productive marketing is a result of productive planning.

…Enter online reputation managers.

Yet, there can also be impactful downsides to social media over-sharing. Consider that we have only limited control on how we appear on The WEB. On-line marketing can and will improve reach, awareness, branding, and customer engagement – this happens more readily when it is scaled and executed proportionately with your objectives. Targeted and managed properly you win – and if done wrongly… well?

_________________________

Part PR gurus, part tech experts, our associates specialize in providing online makeovers—often by burying negative search results and promoting content that accentuates a client’s desired image.

Most clients have a mixture of promotional activities but tend to favor one over the others.

That main emphasis is generally determined by the external environment as well as by certain aspects of your company’s products, services, approach, trends, budget, and markets.

Some factors Ascendant Advertising & Communications considers when formulating a plan and measuring its effectiveness upon meeting your goals include:

Ascendant Advertising & Communications firmly believes in monitoring and measuring the campaign deliverables to determine the return on investment, to make adjustments if appropriate, and to maintain the most advantageous emphasis.

  A new era of engagement »

A constant flow of new technology, new thinking, and new ideas.

It is clear to us all that the world is changing rapidly.

Digital has given rise to a whole new world of brand and communications engagement. Marketing is now much more integrated, interactive and experiential. It is no longer top-down, one-way, mass-audience and simply focused on building awareness. Instead, it is more targeted and personalized, designed to seed stories and stimulate people-to-people communication. It spreads ideas and content and ultimately builds advocacy.

Research isn’t just measuring performance of campaigns, perceptions, and marketing elements – it is also important to exploring, quantifying, and qualifying strategies before you begin investing.

Ascendant Advertising & Communications values the psychology and the science of decision making. We recognize that there are vast elements that factor into making a choice or selection. These transcend industries and categorical definitions. Nothing should be assumed. We believe that understanding the emotional underpinnings of why someone buys is informative and beneficial when grasping how to connect and communicate with them.

         

 

While the potential for reaching many is great – when used for business purposes, social media can be a great benefit, it can also prove to be a significant resource drain and filled with diminishing returns on investment. Your enterprise needs you to lead and manage it. That alone is the greatest value. Ascendant Advertising & Communications can readily handle the promotion as a member of your team. Social Media can and will improve reach, awareness, branding, and customer engagement – this happens more readily when it is scaled and executed proportionately with your objectives. Targeted and managed properly you win – and if done wrongly… well?
_______________________________