"There are countless research reports that conclusively prove that response advertising scores the highest of all the response mediums, yet it is sorely under-utilised in South Africa. The failure of local marketers to fully understand and promote this effective medium is why it does not get the share of wallet as it does in other countries, even though it delivers measurable results," says Ambrogioni.
The understanding of where the customer's mindset is in terms of the relationship to the brand is critical for marketers to address where their advertising spend should be placed. "Every organisation should have their acquisition and retention strategy in place and understand where the priority lies in accordance with their business plans. Through this, one can determine where the money should be spent and through what medium. If the 80/20 principle still applies, surely marketers need to place emphasis on a medium that delivers measurable ROI to a captive audience," says Ambrogioni.
Understanding the mindset of a customer when addressing a purchase in association to the brand is key. "Advertising awareness is the first phase in which a customer has knowledge of the brand and what it stands for and will most likely induce trial. Traditional advertising tactics are being used without any thought given to what happens after a customer identifies with the brand - this is where acquisition and retention strategies need to dovetail and direct marketing should take over. However, what usually happens is that the budget is spent exclusively on brand advertising (acquisition) and all the effort put into keeping these new customers (retention) is lost."
Ambrogioni explains: "If the role of brand advertising is to build communities of consumers that will eventually be the advocates of a brand, why is it that marketers neglect to allocate budget to the most effective means of ensuring a ROI from their brand advertising? Response advertising can build brand communities and is immensely powerful in doing so on a one-to-one level, particularly when used in conjunction with data marketing.
"To convert identity and awareness into purchase and trial, different communication tactics need to be used in order to track measurable results. Thereafter, further communication tactics must evolve to then entrench from trial through to relationship and advocacy of the brand. In doing so, a marketer needs to understand at what point the shift takes place from awareness through to trial and relationship so that marketing spend can shift accordingly," he explains.
Response advertising delivers measurable results irrespective of whether it's building a brand, selling products or enticing a call to action. There's a plethora of marketing mediums to choose from of which Response advertising is one, Ambrogioni says.
"Launching, growing and entrenching a brand to ultimately secure brand advocates requires different approaches at different stages of brand maturity. Make sure that each stage of your brand strategy is planned and has a dedicated budget - failure to do this will create silos that work in isolation rather than symbiotically to the benefit of the whole brand."
