Direct Response (DRTV) with Brand Marketing

By Rick Petry

Many products are successfully sold via short-form direct response television, yet programs that are asking for the order, versus just trying to generate a lead, frequently require a full two minutes. The one hundred and twenty seconds is required because it takes time for a commercial to set up a problem, offer the solution in the form of the product’s unique selling proposition, and then do an offer build and provide the requisite order information. However, whenever a marketer is putting together a “deuce”, as the industry sometimes refers to it, they should also include a 60 second version of their commercial for the following reasons:

Two-minute short-form DRTV inventory can be challenging to clear depending upon what is happening in the marketplace. General advertisers pay a premium for guaranteed placement, whereas DR advertisers are immediately preemptible. Therefore the strength of the general media marketplace determines how much inventory is left over for DR and that inventory can ebb and flow depending upon a variety of factors. For example, if a show under-delivers the audience of a particular demographic that was promised to the general advertiser, the network or station may run free airings to make up the audience shortfall. This siphons inventory away from DR. - READ THE ARTICLE: Why Short-Form DRTV Marketers Need a 60 Second Spot

By Marianna Morello

With more than 30 years of experience in the print media arena, I can confess that 2009 has been a bit of a shocking year, to say the least. Rates for print media have fallen to their lowest levels in 15 years. I am buying opportunistic remnant buys at costs-per-thousand (CPM) that range from $1.25 to $8.00 for publications that would have never offered this in the past.

What does all of this add up to? A buying opportunity for anyone smart enough to get into the print media world. A number of clients have been bitten by the print media bug. They are reaping incredible returns-on-investment, with some reaching media efficiency ratios (MER) of 5.5 and better.

As we are all aware, the stock market and banks are not the places to invest your money right now. If you believe in your product, create a print ad and test the waters. Now is the time to dive in and see your profits grow. Print can give you a better ROI when you consider all the alternatives.

The DRTV industry has always felt that print ads do not pay out. On the contrary, during the economic crisis, print media is the cheapest way to invest money into your product or service, with as little as $3,000-5,000 enough to test a newly developed print campaign.

Remember one thing: you can always use another revenue stream, and print is a stream that keeps on flowing. Even after your short-form campaign or infomercial is off the air, your print ad will keep on returning responses for weeks and months to come.

Need more reasons to try print media? Here are nine reasons (courtesy of Magazine Publishers Association studies from 2007 and 2008) to give it a shot.- READ THE ARTICLE: Why Print Media — and Why Now?

By Todd Gelman

In today’s online environment, virtually everyone you speak with will tell you about all the different ways that you can drive traffic to your Direct Response website. Search Engine Marketing, display ads, email marketing, text ads, and of course social media are all ways to get more visitors to your site. It’s difficult to pick up a direct response industry magazine these days without finding an article that tells you as such.

But what about the other side of the equation? The other side that I’m referring to is a site’s conversion rate. Conversion rate measures the percentage of your site visitors that actually pull out their credit cards and buy your product. After all, what good is driving traffic to your site if the visitors who come don’t make a purchase? Most direct response marketers virtually ignore this notion. Rather than focusing on how they can increase their conversion rate by 20%-30% and generate additional dollars that go straight to the bottom line, their only web related concern is how they can get more Internet traffic. As such, they simply put up a simple landing page that is essentially an afterthought. This is surprising to see – given that this shoestring approach is probably costing them tens of thousands of dollars a month in lost revenue.

Here are some tips to ensure you maximize your odds at having higher conversion rates and increase your website’s contribution to your overall MER:- READ THE ARTICLE: Do you treat your website as an afterthought?

By Joey Hastie

There are a number of ways to obtain your ROI goals using the available DR outlets. The question you should consider is, "Am I effectively buying the opportunities that are available to me?" The market is an evolving place and currently a majority of the DR efforts are focused on Television. Of course, this makes perfect sense. This has been the formula that has created a multi billion dollar industry for years. But the digital world is progressive and these changes have sparked an assortment of new opportunities for marketers to take advantage of. Targeting specific demographics becomes more and more of a fragmented process because consumers are accessing media in non-traditional ways. Advertisers using the old model of "broad" casting are finding that obtaining their ROI goals are becoming increasingly challenging.

Why the struggle? What is the stigma behind steering away from the tried and true DR TV campaigns that we are so comfortable with? The obvious answer is fear of the unknown. What advertiser is going to risk failure on a platform they have no background on when the DR TV formula has proved itself time and time again? The reality of the situation is that consumers are rapidly gravitating towards new technologies. DVR's computers, portable music players, and advanced cell phones are now affordable and accessible to most demographic groups. If you were to survey your close friends and family, it is likely that you would find that a majority of them have an mp3 player, messaging cell phone, and minimum of one DVR.- READ THE ARTICLE: Marketing DR Across Platforms

By Mark Lopreiato

Moving furniture, appliances, mattresses, hot tubs, HVAC units, cabinets and the like has taken on new meaning throughout 2010: supporting the fight against breast cancer. A.A.C. Forearm Forklift, Inc. (FF) has launched their newly pink-packaged, pink leverage straps! They’re proud supporters of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF). In fact, a donation of $10,000 will be made by FF to help fund the charity’s work.

“My co-workers and I feel like we’re supporting women who look after their wellbeing,” said Mark Lopreiato, inventor of the Forearm Forklift. “All of us here are committed to help protect women’s health and we’re impressed that BCRF is the most highly rated breast cancer organization in the U.S. I found documentation that over 90% of the resources raised by the foundation go directly to research grants and awareness programs. They’re an efficient charity, with a great cause and we’re honored to support life-saving research.”

FF joins many other companies that have “turned” pink to improve awareness and fight one of the most common causes of fatality in women. “BCRF is honored to have Forearm Forklift as a dedicated partner in our fight against breast cancer,” said Robbie Franklin, Dir. of Mktg. at the foundation. According to 2009 findings from the American Cancer Society, women in the U.S. have a 1 in 8 chance of developing invasive breast cancer in their lifetime and a 1 in 35 chance of dying from breast cancer.

ABOUT FF
Forearm Forklift moving straps have a patented design that employs leverage which makes the furnishings carried seem 66% lighter. They also encourage proper body mechanics which reduce the chance of potential injury due to heavy lifting. The straps are also easy-to-use and adjustable. They move furniture off the ground which keeps dollies’ wheels off your sensitive floors. Their suggested retail is only $19.95 for a pair. (www.BuyStraps.com)

Based in Azusa, California, FF is still owned and operated by the former mover who invented the product right after college in San Diego and who shortly thereafter founded the company in Pasadena more than 10 years ago. His company produces and distributes the straps which can be found at U-Haul, Home Depot, Target.com, Ace Hardware and Sears. More information and its complete product line can be found at www.ForearmForklift.com

With help from its one, two and five minute spots for both the English and Spanish markets, to date MORE THAN 6 MILLION PAIR HAVE BEEN SOLD! That’s also a testament of how well the product works and how they’re marketed and quality controlled!



“Without the spots airing on nationwide television, we couldn’t have achieved all the success we have enjoyed for more than 3 years now,” said Mark. “Our direct response campaign has turned our straps into a household name which translates to super-quick turnarounds at retail and big box placement is where the huge volume has been realized for us.” Mark added, “There are two things that I always recommend to people who are where I was ten years ago. First, buy patent abatement infringement insurance because it gives you access to millions of dollars per occurrence to fight against infringers. In fact, we’ve won every defense and earned some high dollar awards through judgments. Second, have a spot produced and invest in media. Buyers love As Seen On TV products. I recommend Direct Avenue!”

MORE ON BCRF®
The foundation was founded by Evelyn Lauder as a non-profit organization dedicated to funding innovative clinical research. In 2009, nearly $29 million was awarded to 173 scientists across the globe. BCRF directs at least 90 cents of every dollar raised directly to research. And for the 8th consecutive year, BCRF has received Charity Navigator’s highest rating, four stars, thus outperforming over 99.8% of the 5,400 evaluated charities. The American Institute of Philanthropy has awarded the BCRF its highest possible rating of A+. BCRF is, in fact, the only breast cancer organization in the U.S. to receive these accolades. For more information, visit www.bcrfcure.org - READ FULL DIRECT RESPONSE ARTICLE: Forearm Forklift supports The Breast Cancer Research Foundation

By Brett Astor

Direct response television (DRTV) advertising can be very effective at driving profitable sales. If there were a downside to DRTV, most would say it’s the high cost of creating and modifying the ads and the lead times associated with that process. Direct response radio advertising compliments DRTV on these specific points, ad development costs and lead-time, extremely well. Furthermore, done right, DR radio can significantly enhance the profitability of any DRTV effort.

DRTV is often the core engine of huge direct marketing success. Why? Put simply – the numbers are bigger. However, it's also the most expensive media channel - so one has to consider the risk/reward tradeoff. As you'll learn, direct response radio plays the role of "risk minimizer" - that's why including radio advertising in your marketing efforts is such a smart business move.- READ FULL DIRECT RESPONSE ARTICLE: Why DRTV + Direct Response Radio = More $$

By Scott Richards

If you’re a direct marketer then you know how tough it is to get a consumer to raise their hand by calling in to an inbound call center, especially in this economic environment. Among the many challenges that marketers face is the fact that within the direct marketing industry and the call centers that they rely on, there is no clear definition for the various broad categories of call types. These general categories include calls that were:

* Answered
* Short
* Incomplete
* No Answer
* Busy

Within these broad categories, there are sub-categories of various call dispositions. These include:

* Caller Hung Up Before Connecting
* No One On Line
* Prank or Obscene Call
* Wrong Number
* Test Call
* Computerized Autodialer
* Customer Service
* Hung-Up Mid-Script
* Misunderstood Offer
* Doesn’t Have A Check/Credit Card Info Ready
* Question About Payment
* Question About Product
* Will Call Back
* Order Calls
- READ FULL DIRECT RESPONSE ARTICLE: Control Your Telemarketing Data To Control Your Fate

By Hal Altman

This year, the retail industry has experienced the closing, bankruptcy or near bankruptcy of some of the largest and most successful retail names of the last twenty-five years. Others such as Wal Mart, Costco, Sam’s, Target, and Bed Bath and Beyond seem to not only survive, but are also able to show profits in our unstable economy.

What does this mean to the Direct Response industry? Less outlets to sell product that television, radio or web has worked hard to advertise, establish and create a brand for.

Retail chains have not only breathed life into Direct Response products, but in most cases, successfully outsold traditional Direct Response sales exponentially.
In tough economic times, retailers search for recognized Direct Response product and know that with continued television and radio coverage, combined with retail exposure, this can be a win-win situation for all.

The next question is how do Direct Marketers prepare and get into the lucrative world of retail? The answer is easy, and doesn’t cost any more to prepare for retail distribution while you introduce your product via traditional Direct Response channels.

Look into a retail distribution company that can guide you through the process of packaging your merchandise so that it can be easily and inexpensively ready for a rush retail test. You don’t want to ever be caught in a position of not being able to immediately furnish your product for a retail test if the opportunity arises. - READ FULL DIRECT RESPONSE ARTICLE: Having a Plan Will Save you Money

By Scott Richards

One of the oldest and most effective forms of direct response marketing has been the “per inquiry” (PI) model of advertising. PI advertising has been around decades before Google popularized the model online. Simply put, with PI advertising, the advertiser pays only for qualified responses. What constitutes a “qualified response” has always been the tricky part.

While technology has changed, the core model of PI advertising has not. Therein lies the problem. The success of Google’s online advertising platform can be attributed, in part, to its tool, which brought a degree of transparency to the process. - Putting the Trust Back in Per Inquiry Advertising

By Brandon Reynolds

As a Direct Response marketer, how often have you experienced the frustration of trying to maintain consistent soft-offer performance (conversions and upsells) while increasing your call volume? Most direct marketers know this roller coaster ride all too well. A soft-offer campaign is performing well, so you buy more media. Suddenly the numbers go down, so you have to pull back on media spending. And so it goes. Moving into the future with Dedicated Agents

By Shari Altman

It’s always a topic of conversation among DR marketers – What’s “hot”? But what is “hot” today may be a bad bet in terms of profits and sales. The so-called “flash in the pan” like the “pet rock” of yesteryear is not a trend to follow. There was only one “Pet Rock”.

So let’s take a look instead at what trends are popular, with an eye towards those that have longevity and thus opportunity for sales and profits not just today, but over the years to come. The key – long-lived marketing trends are always based on real societal changes. Offer and Product Trends in DR - Fall 2008

By Leo Gorcey

When was the last time you saw a good movie?


Did your favorite actor sound like she was reading a script? Probably not. If you’re like most moviegoers, you were caught up in the emotion of the story and wondering what was going to happen next. But somewhere at the beginning of the movie-making process, that actor who just made you laugh out loud and even cry, was handed a script and told by the director, “These are your lines. This is what we want you to say when we film you.”
So how come it sounded so real? What's in a Script?