Branding vs Direct Response (Alex Hormozi Podcast Discussion)

[MitchC]

I was just sent this podcast episode by a friend who I’ve had a similar conversation with before.

I really enjoyed it and think it could be interesting to discuss here.

I remember when I first learned about direct response thinking that all these big brands were stupid and were wasting their money on marketing and that they should all be doing direct response.

But recently as my business has grown and I think also with the rise of tik tok I’ve started to change my thoughts on that, I’ve started to really see the value in just being known by people.

Alex Hormozi takes this thought further in this podcast episode and says basically you can’t grow a big brand with direct response.

I’m not sure I entirely agree with that but I can see his point.

My thoughts on branding have always been, it’s a residual effect of mass direct response advertising, and of course your brand is what your customers say about you so make sure you deliver a good product.

But recently I’ve been trying to incorporate simple messages in my direct response ads so that there is a lot more of a residual branding effect if that makes sense.

I’m also planning to try and go viral and become known on tik tok, maybe use some bigger influencers even if they don’t ROI, and also paying for some news publication features.

Maybe I’m just going to waste a lot of money and stroke my ego a bit, or maybe Hormozi is right and this is how you grow a big brand.

Anyway, I’d love to hear peoples thoughts on this episode if you have time to listen.

Branding vs Direct Response (#ThrowbackThursday) | Ep 506

Oh and I just want to take a second to recognise that Hormozi looks to be releasing an episode a day. What a beast. Everyone I know who even remotely is interested in business or has a business is following him at the moment. Crazy to see.

 

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[MitchC]

Forgot to tag people

@biophase i listened to your call about branding with Foxes web school and thought you might have something interesting to add to this, it sounded like you’ve switched to a similar approach

@AllenCrawley mostly just curious how your business is going actually? I imagine it’s a prime example of a brand built with direct response, which is exactly what I was going for but Im starting to think it’s being held back by the focus on immediate returns of direct response

@Lex DeVille @NeoDialectic @BAUCE curious how you approach this in your businesses

 

[Stargazer]

Think of branding as a company's DNA

Ferrari v Ford from day one had different personalities; that of the founder.

Cartier v Timex same thing.

Virgin v British Airways

L'Oreal v The Body Shop (L'Oreal bought Body Shop by the way for that brands image)

etc, etc.

You, Mitch, have a personality and that should run through anything you do. If you have a company and it grows your employees should buy into that brand image too and all of your marketing should be aligned with this.

So with regards to the branding v DR large companies tend to do both.

Ford will run a national TV advertising campaign that is not asking you to do anything. It's both top of mind for consumers but also reaffirming their DNA. I guess in US it would be strong, workhorse trucks that do the job without fuss.

But on a local level what is the Ford dealership doing? Yep, DR Marketing. 'The Marketing Directors Gone Mad And Allocated $xyz Which Has To Be Used Up This Weekend' that sort of thing.

Ford are running both in conjunction with each other. It's not an either or. Get the name Ford out there and when you are looking for a car you suddenly see the local DR Ads to get you into the dealership.

You should do the same at whatever level you are.

No idea if that helps answer your question

Dan

 

[Black_Dragon43]

I was just sent this podcast episode by a friend who I’ve had a similar conversation with before.

I really enjoyed it and think it could be interesting to discuss here.

I remember when I first learned about direct response thinking that all these big brands were stupid and were wasting their money on marketing and that they should all be doing direct response.

But recently as my business has grown and I think also with the rise of tik tok I’ve started to change my thoughts on that, I’ve started to really see the value in just being known by people.

Alex Hormozi takes this thought further in this podcast episode and says basically you can’t grow a big brand with direct response.

I’m not sure I entirely agree with that but I can see his point.

My thoughts on branding have always been, it’s a residual effect of mass direct response advertising, and of course your brand is what your customers say about you so make sure you deliver a good product.

But recently I’ve been trying to incorporate simple messages in my direct response ads so that there is a lot more of a residual branding effect if that makes sense.

I’m also planning to try and go viral and become known on tik tok, maybe use some bigger influencers even if they don’t ROI, and also paying for some news publication features.

Maybe I’m just going to waste a lot of money and stroke my ego a bit, or maybe Hormozi is right and this is how you grow a big brand.

Anyway, I’d love to hear peoples thoughts on this episode if you have time to listen.

Branding vs Direct Response (#ThrowbackThursday) | Ep 506

Oh and I just want to take a second to recognise that Hormozi looks to be releasing an episode a day. What a beast. Everyone I know who even remotely is interested in business or has a business is following him at the moment. Crazy to see.

There are some things you can’t sell with direct response.

You can sell a dildo with direct response.

You can’t sell a $20,000 coaching program with it unless you have OVERWHELMING social proof.

Direct response works for most things that don’t need a salesman to be sold.

 

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[Andy Black]

Yeah. I listened to that last year. Definitely worth discussing. I'll come back to this later with my thoughts.

It always tickles me that I provide a direct response service for businesses but have grown my own business by word of mouth and building relationships (I don't want to call it personal branding).


In the mean time, I relistened and made the following notes:

The longer the delay the bigger the ask.

Good will compounds faster than revenue does.

When you monetise with an Ask you decrease your good will and have to start from zero again.

Branding = reinforcing stories, not making Asks.

The difference between direct response and branding isn't the ROI but the time horizon for getting the ROI.

Your brand is your reputation and what people say about you.

The consumer is the one who creates your brand.

Give people the words to say about your brand. (Andy, he's a "Google Ads Guy".)

Talk about who you are and what you stand for.

You get a higher ROI for branding, but over a longer time horizon.

Not "Give give give, ask."

But "Give give give, give give give, give give give, get."

Ideally don't ask. Keep giving.

 

[valuepoint1]

All big brands use direct response. Apple's product pages lean heavy into direct response principles. They're not aggressive but they most definitely "use" direct response. Hormozi started in DR and his book $100M offers basically shows you how to frame your service in DR terms.