Advertisers looking to make the most of tight marketing budgets have plenty of reason to want to extend their investment in print advertising into other vehicles - notably direct mail and e-marketing. Besides the inherent cost savings, the reasons companies most often quote for turning print ads into direct marketing campaigns are:

• to gain synergy by generating multiple impressions of the same message,

  and

• to reinforce a consistent brand image in the marketplace.

Here are some questions to consider next time the boss says: "Make it look like the ads!"

• Are the objectives of the two campaigns the same?

  Direct marketing is designed to do one thing only - generate response. Print advertising, on the other hand, is generally designed to build brand, generate awareness, or create "buzz". Unless the ad's creators had response in mind, chances are their creative won't translate well into a direct marketing medium.

• Does the headline invite the reader to take action?

  An effective print ad is one that successfully grabs the reader's attention and motivates him or her to read further. Good direct marketing copy, however, and especially e-mail copy, does more. It communicates an immediate benefit and a reason to act now. If your ads's main message or tagline is devoid of key components like offer or call to action, don't be afraid to make it more action-oriented.

• Does the layout expect too much of the reader?

  Print ads are often dominated by visual elements. Effective direct marketing, by comparison, is typically much more compact and copy-driven. Translating ad creative into an HTML e-mail, for example, may mean requiring the reader to scroll down past the visuals - a striking photograph, say - to reach the meat of the copy. A better plan would be to shrink the image dramatically, or eliminate it altogether, and compress key copy points - benefit, offer, call to action - into the space "above the fold".