Infomercial Marketing – Infomercial Media Buying + Media Buying

How can a DRTV campaign compel viewers to take action and win in the long run? In this age of varied media like the television, the internet, radio, mobile phones, cinema, newspapers, magazines, etc, a good DRTV campaign needs to break through the clutter and grab the viewer’s attention. Not only are consumers exposed to various media simultaneously, but they are also becoming adept at consuming simultaneously. For example, people watch TV and compose a mobile SMS at the same time.

They listen to the radio and read the newspaper at the same time. The right way to keep consumers focused on a product in this world of attention dividing channels is to create DRTV messages that are astute and relevant to the consumer. These messages will catch their attention and resonate with them in order to motivate them to purchase your products now or remember the information for the time when they’re ready to act. Integrating other media like the internet and direct mail, reinforcing the campaign with print media and/or radio, going retail – these are smart ways to make a DRTV campaign a successful one.

It is a common practice to use testimonials in a Direct Response campaign. In fact, many DRTV adverts rely mainly on demonstrations and subsequently testimonials of “real” people talking about the advantages of the product and how they benefited from it. Testimonials give an authentic spin to the product and help the target audience relate to the testifying persons and subsequently, to the product itself. Testimonials can be about various aspects of the product including, ease of use, efficacy, its improving effect on people’s lives and etc.

But recently, an NBC Dateline expose revealed how some misleading DRTV infomercials used paid actors to give “real life” testimonials. There was no large-scale product use, no documentation of term use, no statistical significance, no documentation of actual results, no creditable conclusions and so on. Although this unfair practice is not wide-spread, it is important for the DRTV industry to rally and assure the customer about the authenticity of testimonials, by and large. Recruitment of testimonials for compensation without full disclosure is not an accepted practice by the FTC or industry leaders. The DRTV industry should do everything they can to ensure that on-camera testimonials of experience and results are truthful and accurate.

With increased communications choices today, it is essential to integrate the two marketing strategies of building brand awareness and driving response, so that the synergy created by this melding of processes can provide results as well as build brand essence. In addition to this, it is vital in the intensely competitive market today to monitor brand and Direct Response concurrently. From a higher campaign perspective, it is important to measure and evaluate brand metrics along with traditional cost per leads and orders. In many campaigns, the percentage between brand and response activity is shifted based on the campaign goals.

One way to evaluate the success of a campaign is to compare the brand’s place against the competition. Results have shown that brand awareness lift helps our ability to provide a low cost per lead. It is also infinitely useful to use specialized technology which can make a vast difference to a successful brand response campaign. In short, monitoring the response to a DRTV campaign and making optimal use of statistics and patterns can help fine tune the campaign for even better results.

DRTV started off as a medium for unusual, unique or plain outlandish products, ranging from perpetually sharp knives, to gym products, to multi-utility ladders. For a long time this trend continued. Slowly things changed for DRTV. New products started to launch that broke the mold. Mainstream products like pharmaceuticals, computers, and even insurance made their entry into DRTV with great success. More and more of such non-conventional products continue to enter the DRTV fray.

An excellent example is an emergency response system for senior citizens launched by LifeFone which signed Advanced Results Marketing recently to drive a national consumer direct response television campaign. Another unique feature of this DRTV campaign apart from the product itself is the fact that it targets more to the caregiver than the senior themselves, which is quite a challenge. The creative makes an emotional call to the children of senior citizens, paralleling the care a parent gives a child with the care a child wants to provide an aging parent. The 30-second spot then demonstrates how a LifeFone pendant automatically calls the

LifeFone
Emergency
Response
Center. From there, the subscriber’s designated doctor, hospital and EMT as well as family and friends are notified of the emergency.

Such unique and innovative campaigns keep the DRTV medium in a continuous state of dynamic and positive change, and keeps it abreast of all other advertising media.

DRTV is typically a commercial, short form (between 30 and 120 seconds) or long form (half an hour), featuring a highly demonstrable product that has mass appeal is a solution to a common problem, and provides a toll free number so that interested viewers can place an order for the same.

The biggest advantage of DRTV is that prospective customers can purchase your product almost as soon as they see it. This is a big advantage in today’s world where brand recall is a major issue and companies have to literally pour time and money to make their brand more visible. From kitchen gadgets to insurance policies, DRTV is full of success stories both for established companies and entrepreneurs. DRTV today not only helps direct selling, but also in brand recall and retail distribution and sales.

Although traditionally, DRTV has been used by manufacturers of products like home appliances, health and beauty, etc. Today, more and more diverse services and businesses have woken up to the huge potential of DRTV advertising.

The travel industry is taking advantage of the fact that DRTV has a wide reach, can be used for branding, and yet is significantly less costly than traditional advertising. Unlike traditional DRTV advertisers, travel companies benefit by generating leads for room bookings, holiday packages, shows and events, etc. Holiday resorts and travel companies are including DRTV as part of their marketing campaign and reaping the benefits in a big way.

If you have a new product to market and want to effectively target your demo at a substantially reduced cost, than DRTV will be able to achieve these goals better for you than traditional advertising.

What kind of products do well in DRTV? The best products are those that are unique, demonstrable, and appeal to the masses. Beauty & personal care products, health & fitness products and household gadgets are the most commonly featured in DRTV. An immediate, transformational result or a great demonstration always grabs the viewers’ attention.

For example, a “miracle” hair straightener has a better chance of attracting viewership because it is very demonstrable and shows a dramatic difference than a self-help book that will improve your personality gradually. Items that are tailored to a very niche audience also tend not to do as well on direct response television than ones that can appeal to members of every household. An example of this is the One Touch Can Opener, this item has had great mass appeal because every person has had to open a can in their lifetime, as opposed to a special brush for horses that is tailored to a very small section of the market who ride or have horses.

Whatever your product, make sure you consult an agency that specializes and has had a vast amount of experience in DRTV. Then you can let them handle the work and start raking in the profits!

DRTV can be the most effective medium for your product or service. By purchasing wide dayparts on various national cable networks, you will be able to reach a wide variety of viewers and target your consumer demographics. With many national cable networks available, it is possible to reach virtually any audience segment whether it is children, teens, hobby enthusiasts or even boomers. In addition to national cable, direct response buys can be made on local cable networks as well.

Traditional advertisers measure the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns by comparing the audience rating points delivered against their audience rating point objectives. DRTV is much more accountable. With DRTV, it doesn’t matter how many people see your spot unless the phones ring with inquiries and orders. And with DRTV, you can monitor your cost per order or lead on a daily basis and adjust your offer, creative and media buys accordingly.

What is Infomercial Production? | What is Media Buying? | What is a TV Infomercial? | What is DRTV Marketing? | What is Short form DRTV? | What is Short Form Commercials? | What is Infomercial Media Buying? | What is Direct Response Television? | DRTV in the travel & tourism industry

Direct Response commercials are looking to get an immediate response from viewers, usually by enticing him/her to pick up their telephone or visit a website. DRTV short form commercials can be :30, :60 or :120 seconds in length. The creative begins by displaying a problem then provides the product/service being advertised and shows how it solves this problem. Various product/service benefits are also presented to motivate the viewer to respond, as well as a clear “act now” message and high level response information.

 DRTV advertising can be highly cost-efficient. With an increasing number of satellite TV channels, advertisers can target their advertising to their specific audience with increasing accuracy. This data is tracked by different toll-free phone numbers that are inserted on a per network basis. This allows the advertiser’s media agency to accurately track where all responses are coming from and provides a basis for media optimization.

 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 website traffic. With more and more people having access to the internet, it makes perfect sense to put a website as well as a telephone number at the end of a DRTV commercial.

Great advertising is essential to the marketing of your product. An experienced DRTV agency will produce a first-rate campaign for you, however if your product does not live up to the claims made in the advertisement, it can actually work against your brand and company. For example, imagine if a DRTV spot has great demonstrations, a great call to action and constant assurances that the customer service is nothing less than perfect. This type of creative will motivate the viewer to call or log on to the number/web address displayed on the screen and place an order. When the order is placed a representative will collect the consumer’s information and send out the product to them. If for some reason the customer is not happy with the product or if the product is faulty, they will want to return it or get it exchanged.

Now, if even one of the above steps does not work smoothly, the campaign looses instant credibility. In other words, if your customer service and your after-sale support do not live up to the claims made in your advertising you’re setting yourself up for failure. It is very important to evaluate not only your product, but also your customer support system, shipping & logistics, as well as the complaints department. If any of these are not ideal, it might be a better idea to tone down your DRTV campaign as well.