PRODUCING YOUR OWN TV INFOMERCIALS
A comparison of infomercials and DRTV Spots with all types of TV
advertising from 30 years ago reveals what made direct response
TV advertising feasible. Three services made available during the
last decade made direct response television possible.
They are:
TOLL FREE 800 NUMBERS -
The consumer is now able to respond or interact directly with the
advertiser. The numbers are widely available, convenient, and
most importantly, free to the consumer.
PROLIFERATION OF CREDIT CARDS -
Over 100 million credit cares are in circulation in the U.S. alone.
This tool enables a huge number of consumers to make purchases over
the telephone.
OVERNIGHT DELIVERY -
To get consumers to respond to your sales offer right away, make
sure you give them the satisfaction of having you product right away.
Remember, consumers are willing to pay a premium to get you product
overnight. They want it now!!
MERCHANT ACCOUNT - Service bureaus that handle order taking for you will
almost certainly require you to have your own merchant account.
Without a merchant account, you will not be able to accept credit
card payments. Needless to say, this will seriously affect your
overall sales figures.
If you do not have your own merchant account to process
credit card orders, it is essential that you use a service bureaus
or enter into a joint marketing venture with a company that is able
to extend you this privilege.
ACCEPTING CHECKS OVER THE PHONE - Don't limit your phone in sales to credit
card holders. By expanding the way TV viewers can pay for their
purchases, you increase you probability of making a sale (with the
introduction of checks-by-phone, your potential market is likely to
grow by another 30%). Check Verification makes you product available
to millions of people who do not have a credit card but do have a
checking account. Here are some practical reasons why you should
consider accepting check orders over the phone:
IT COMMITS THE BUYER - The buyer doesn't have to write a check,
write his name and address on a piece of paper, look for an envelope,
get postage, and then mail the order. These steps can take anywhere
from a few minutes to a few days. The longer it takes, the higher
the odds your potential buyer will change his mind.
INSTANT GRATIFICATION - Your customer's order can be cleared and
processed faster if he doesn't have to mail a check which you bank
has to clear before the order is processed. With Check Verification,
you get the money within 48 hours and you customer receives you
product sooner.
COMPETITIVE RATES - If your ticket price is over $58.00, you unit
cost to process a check order by phone will be almost the same as
the commission the bank charges your merchant account. As this
service become more readily available, and as merchant account
become more difficult to acquire, accepting check orders over
telephone is a feature DRTV marketers can no longer ignore.
CONTINUITY PROGRAMS - Develop a product or service that will fit into your
back-end marketing program. Remember, the easiest person to sell is
one who has already purchased from you.
A continually program will product sales or products or services to
customers who have just made a purchase through an infomercial.
The best way to promote a continuity item is through a brochure or
other sales literature inserted with the original order.
Developing a successful continuity program will only enhance you
bottom line, particularly since your advertising message is usually
delivered at not additional expense to you. Furthermore, your
continuity item is being offered to satisfied customers, because
your company made their TV buying pleasant and satisfying.
SEEK RELATED ITEMS - Continuity items should normally be related to
the initial product. The consumer purchases your initial product
to satisfy a specific need, so it stands to reason that auxiliary
products catering to this same need stand a higher chance of success
than totally unrelated products.
For example: If an exercise machine is you main product in
the infomercial, a monthly vitamin subscription plan can be an ideal
continuity program of you.; It is related to the customer's
original need (to be healthy and fit), and you can count on a hefty
profit margin because you advertising costs for the vitamin
subscription are minimal.
RELATIONSHIP MARKETING - Continuity may also be looked at as a means
to establish a marketing relationship with your customers. Through
profile response cars and other dynamic data, you can product a
catalog that features several products that cater to the needs and
wants defined by your customer base.
To continue with the example above, you can offer your customer
(who originally purchased exercise equipment via your infomercial)
a wide variety of products and services in a catalog - duffel bags,
running shorts, portable CD players, you name it. As the cost of
acquiring new customers increases, selling more to the same customers
expands the potential for DRTV in almost any market.
BE YOUR OWN COMPETITION - When a product becomes an infomercial success
story, vultures hover in a hurry, trying to duplicate your product
and you marketing campaign. Such competitors are called knock-offs.
In more cases, knock-offs are cheaper versions - in both quality and
price. However, one of the most brilliant knock-off DRTV campaigns
we've seen broke all the files:
- The company introduced a product of a higher quality and at a
higher price than the original.
- Both products came from the same company, so the company was
actually competing against itself.
- The same celebrity hosted the infomercials for both products.
The product was Stair Climber Plus, an upscale version of its
predecessor, Super Step. Both infomercials featured Bruce Jenner,
clearly showing the manufacturer's intent to present competition
that did not exist - in the process preempting any legitimate
competition. Neither infomercial mentioned the other product, and
for a while they were running at the same time.
WHAT DOES THIS STRATEGY ACHIEVE?
Producing your own knock-offs, by competing against yourself,
preempts competitors by giving them less room to maneuver. Instead
of competing with just one other brand, they have to position their
products somewhere between the two that are already in the market.
BROADER MARKET FOR YOU - There is nothing wrong with producing a
cheaper or more expensive version of your own product. It expands
the appeal to other market segments that may be outside the range
of you original product.
GUARANTEED SUCCESS - If people bought you original product, your
knock -off is likely to score the same success with its respective
market segment.
CREATES A BANDWAGON EFFECT - When viewers see two stair-climbing
exercise gadgets competing against each other, it creates more
awareness of stair-climbing as a method of exercise. Furthermore,
the competition creates the sense that the product is both a popular
and effective way to exercise.
