Infomercial Marketing – Infomercial Media Buying + Media Buying

“Call to action” is also known as a CTA. The CTA is the portion of a DRTV commercial that asks for the order. Some infomercials have anywhere from 1-3 that typically run a minimum of two minutes long throughout a long form infomercial. The call to action features the main benefits and advantages the product offers. The call to action also highlights the contact info for the sale to be made.

For a DRTV campaign to be profitable there are a few things to keep in mind.

· First of all every element of the campaign has to be painstakingly attended to in detail. Products kept ready for shipping, call centers in place, scripts for the operators fine-tuned, prompt processing and shipment – all these will affect the success of the campaign.

· There should be ideally at least a 5 to 1 mark up between the cost of goods and the final product. Anything less than 3 to 1 will be a loss making venture.

· Detailed demonstrations are a must, especially for the more complicated products. Every aspect of the item should be given consideration so that the viewer is left in no doubt as to the usefulness of the product.

· Make sure you make the right choice between the long form and the short form of the commercial. Complicated products have to be shown in the long form, while simple, inexpensive products do well in the short form.

· Make good use of testimonials. Celebrities are not required, Just “real people” with earnest testimonies work really well. Remember, your viewer will take it better if they can associate with the testifier.

· Make good use of upselling and continuity programs. Filling up the retail shelves is also very important as any successful DRTV campaign owes its profitability to upselling and retail sales.

DRTV has mostly been used for innovative products, with household, health and beauty, and utility products being chiefly promoted through the medium. But more and more atypical entrants are making their presence felt in the DRTV scene now. Resort and casino properties are a fine example of this recent phenomenon.

Many Las Vegas resorts like Mandalay Bay, Monte Carlo and other properties on the strip are using DRTV to entice scores of travelers from across the nation. As direct response airtime costs up to 70 percent less than standard airtime, it is the most efficient way to reach across to travelers nation-wide. Also, from Day One, it is possible to assess the effectiveness of a campaign. The results are measurable and if a particular campaign does not get the phones ringing, it can immediately be pulled down, set to another time slot or aired on a different, more relevant network.

Travel websites like Vegas.com and LasVegas.com are using DRTV in a big way to make their brand a nationally recognized name and attract tourists from across the country. Their campaigns are just like traditional advertisements except for the 800 number and the website address that appear at the end, which prompt consumers to call or log on and book their rooms right away. Instead of the conventional route where the customer would watch an advert, go to their agent and make the booking (assuming that they still remember the name of the resort), now customers watch the direct response advert, and can pick up the phone or log onto a website and make their own bookings.

DRTV has, for many years, been used as a way to get orders direct from customers over the phone. A product is demonstrated and an 800 number is displayed for interested viewers to place an order straightaway.

This is now slowly changing. One of the newer ways that DRTV is being put to use is to generate leads rather than get orders. The travel industry has woken up to the possibilities of DRTV as a medium for advertising. Las Vegas resorts like Mandalay Bay and Monte Carlo for example, are investing in DRTV adverts to reach out to a national audience at a very low cost (up to one third the normal advertising rates). Putting an 800 number at the end, and also the website address if they have one, can bring in customer leads either by phone or through the website – a campaign which would otherwise be cost-prohibitive. The lower cost means that a brochure-like presentation can be made, enticing would-be travelers into calling to enquire, or even booking rooms right away. In fact branded DRTV is an excellent complement to direct mail campaigns too. Offering a free travel brochure in a DRTV commercial for example, carries the ad campaign further.

Using DRTV to promote holiday resorts gives them much more exposure and in a more focused way. DRTV is inexpensive media in which a campaign can be operated on a moderate budget and is one of the most effective ways to drive traffic to the resort website. With more and more people having access to the internet, it makes perfect sense to put in a website and email address on the DRTV commercial and have people check out the resort features online.