The history of direct response advertising.

When direct response advertising came about it was because people who advertised products wanted to have some way of getting a specific response right away. They didn't want to have to wait and see whether people would respond to what they had done at a later date, because it made it more difficult for them to gauge whether they were having an effect with their advertising and which particular advertisement was working the best for them. The main goal, of course, was to get action right away in the form of a yes or a no as to whether the product or service would be purchased. The customer contacts the marketer directly in this type of advertising, after seeing the advertisement, which is different from direct marketing where the marketer contacts the customer directly.

The direct marketer tries to contact customers directly in the hopes that they will buy his or her products, and instead of waiting to receive contact from the customer. It avoids traditional media such as radio and television ads and instead works toward a more direct approach such as mailing things to the customer's home or sending that customer an email. Usually these items are unsolicited, which many potential customers find very aggravating. It also generally asks for a specific action to be taken and has a reason why the customer should be taking that action at that precise moment. Not every company likes or uses this type of advertising, and many companies seem to think that it angers more customers than it brings in. Much of this depends on the customers themselves and on what type of product or service the advertising is trying to sell. This is how direct response marketing got started, and then it evolved as the needs of both businesses and customers continued to change.

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This article was written on behalf of Accord Direct Response Advertising and Accord Agency .