Branding vs. DM

Do you ever feel that your direct marketing message is lost in a focus on your brand? That the call to action is diluted in your attempts to confirm to the brand strategy?

Thought this was an interesting thread....
http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/story/story.bsp?sid=50583&var=story&publication=Target%20Marketing&publicationDate=4/1/07&slug=TM0407_BtoBInsights&category=Sales%20&%20Marketing&section=Unknown

I have too often seen the CMO-vision for the brand corrupt the direct marketing message. It is critical to remember that direct marketing is about selling....the offer and the call-to action are key. Branding is an entirely different exercise - one that will likely help the response to your direct mail but should not be the reason for it.

I remember having this discussion with an organization I worked with. In an attempt to become customer, rather than product, centric, they lost the strong call to action in their direct marketing. Their messages were diluted into brand messages - and direct mail was the wrong medium. The result: dismal 'response' rates to the dm messages .....because they really never told the customer what to do to "respond".

This article comes from B2B but the same applies across the board.