Direct Response TV Update – Response Expo

Response Expo 2012 brought together the top Direct Response TV professionals, Infomercial Producers and TV Media giants all at one great trade conference. InfoWorx Direct has attended every one of these since they started 6 years ago. We sponsored the Inventor’s Pavilion and I moderated a blue ribbon panel of Direct Response and DR marketing geniuses. I want to thank my great friends John Yarrington, who runs the Response Expo and Jenny Lawlor, who works with Inventor’s full time.

We met with Comcast, MTV, DirecTV, Turner Broadcasting, ESPN, Bounce and others to solidify those all-important media relationships and, of course, attended lots of cocktail parties at the Hard Rock and the Hilton Bayfront. It was phenomenal to see some of my dearest friends and colleagues and competitors – I love the Direct Response industry!

Each year, I try to help inventor and product developers learn more about what it takes to sell a product on TV and roll it out. Last year, I gave a DRTV 101 presentation that covered the basics. This year, 2012, I wanted to put together a blue ribbon panel of DRTV superheroes and have each of them explain an aspect of Direct Response Television marketing. BJ Fazielli of BJ Global Direct explained cost of goods and overseas sourcing. Al Diem, of Hampton Direct, explained licensing deals and royalties, Doug Frankel, of Broadcast Communications Media, explained media metrics and testing philosophies and Manish Israni, of Telebrands, spoke about the Telebrands product evaluation process and how inventors should pitch their products effectively. I asked some tough questions of the panel because I promised the audience high level information that they could not get anywhere else.

Here are five trends and tips learned from Response Expo 2012:

1. TV still reaches a mass audience and can target specific niches in a way that no other medium does. For any type of full roll out – marketers need TV.

2. Media rates have remained fairly flat, but the economy seems to be doing a little better.

3. Great DR marketers are working on new tracking and metric models as TV drives consumers to traditional inbound telemarketing as well as web, mobile and home shopping. New methods are being developed to track the web sales generated by TV. Traditional MER metrics just calculated from telephone calls do not give the full picture.

4. Hispanic DRTV marketing requires a specialist and many Hispanic homes still speak Spanish at home to preserve the culture even though they speak good English.

5. Celebrities can help – but they must be right for the product and must love the product.

Please check out my DRTV Media blog here for the latest news, updates and trends in the wacky, wonderful world of Infomercials and Direct Response.

Infomercial Producer InfoWorx Wins Platinum and Silver at Worldfest

BOCA RATON, FL (May 17, 2011) – Infomercial production company and DRTV Agency, InfoWorx Direct (www.InfoWorx.com) won Platinum and Silver Remi Awards at the renowned WorldFest Houston Film Festival.  The InfoWorx long form infomercial “Neato XV-11” won the Platinum Remi while it’s long form info-commercial for “OroBed Advanced Sleep System” brought home the Silver.   Both of the award winning infomercials were created under the innovative InfoWorx economy driven Demo Package.

“WorldFest is the most discriminating commercial competition and to win an award at this festival stands out as a very prestigious achievement. For two programs produced through our economy driven Demo Package to win, proves that you can create compelling, award winning infomercials for $55 thousand dollars.” Ron Perlstein, Executive Producer at InfoWorx Direct explained. “I created the InfoWorx Demo Package as a way to help my clients succeed in this tough economy. It scales down production days while it maintains excellent production values including Broadcast HD.  Our two WorldFest awards prove this can be done. Both shows generated great response and conversions using soft offers, and InfoWorx arranged the financing deals for the offers.”

“At InfoWorx Direct we are committed to our mission statement ‘Your Success Is Our Success’ and so when the economy slowed down, I adapted our production packages to serve our client’s needs better.  We’re a full service Infomercial Production and Media Agency with all the latest tools. Money was getting tighter, and the InfoWorx Demo Package was my way of helping my clients get their products on the air with a great-looking and economical $55,000 production.”, Perlstein added. “We’ve been innovators in the DRTV industry for many years.  We introduced Turnkey Infomarketing 12 years ago. We are a full service Direct Response Agency specializing in affordable solutions that allow startups and new products to get started with a low investment. Our new media intelligence systems that enhance our media buying services further maximize our client’s investment and deliver an ROI that allows them to succeed even in a down economy.”

Since 1992, direct response television agency and infomercial production company, InfoWorx Direct, has established itself as a successful, award winning infomercial producer of both short-form DRTV spots and long-form info-commercials. InfoWorx has developed the most affordable turnkey infomercial model in the industry that offers clients award winning television and radio infomercial production as well as TV and Radio infomercial media buying services. The production and media buying agency specializes in all aspects of direct response advertising services and consulting, and offers an entire turnkey solution from script to sales for DRTV clients as well as specific services including production, media buying, telemarketing management, fulfillment, and home shopping placement.

Recently, InfoWorx introduced its economy-driven Demo Package which minimizes the client’s initial investment and delivers award winning production values.  InfoWorx media buying services have also added media intelligence solutions that offer clients the most advanced and effective media buying and tracking technology.

“During these tough economic times it is important that we fulfill clients’ needs especially when investment money is hard for them to find”, Ron Perlstein said.  “Our success depends on our clients’ success and that’s why we must help them maximize their investment throughout in every aspect of their direct response campaign.”

For over 19 years, InfoWorx has established itself as a pioneer in direct response TV advertising, and has generated billions of dollars of major “as seen on TV success” for clients including Emerson Electric, InventTech, SnorEnz, Rubbermaid, and iRobot’s Roomba.  For additional information on InfoWorx, contact Ron Perlstein, or visit http://www.InfoWorx.com.

InfoWorx Direct, LLC, is a full service direct response agency and media buying service with an evolving infomarketing business philosophy. The InfoWorx scientific approach has led to profitable results and success for established companies and newcomers alike. 

 

Ron Perlstein’s Infomercial Update

I, Ronald Perlstein, love the wacky, wonderful world of infomercials and direct response TV!!  For nearly 20 years, I have enjoyed every minute, every production, every media buy and every client.  And when we achieve hit status – WOW!

But how is 2011 shaping up?  Direct response media rates are firming up, and InfoWorx Direct has continued to innovate.  Now, InfoWorx Direct can offer research for all 210 DMA’s in the USA.  What can we discover? 

Which markets have the demographics you seek by age, sex or income?

How has the ethnic landscape changed since 2010?

What market is the best for families with children, early adopters, or over 200 lifestyle indexes?

We have the latest demographics on age, sex, household income, psychographics, lifestyle indexes and more.  Pick any market and InfoWorx Direct can place your media buys.  We offer all 44 local Comcast cable markets and all Cox Cable markets for local cable buys at the lowest rates and best service. 

In 2011, you must have the latest data to be successful with “The Science of Direct Response”.

Ron Perlstein’s Rules for Infomercial Success

Direct Response Television success, Infomercial Success or DR Radio success does not always come that easy. I’ve developed seven easy rules after 18 years running InfoWorx, producing infomercials, and placing millions in media buys.

1. Make practical and rational not emotional decisions. DRTV offers immediate empirical information regarding your offer. Base your decisions on facts, not theories.

2. Be scientific, use the numbers. But the numbers must be handled and interpreted by an expert who has the experience to understand what the numbers are telling you.

3. DRTV Success Test: Is the phone ringing? You should know from day one if your program has life.

4. Frequency is the benefit of success, not the key to success. A top direct response and infomercial agency can push out a successful offer for all of it’s value and prevent you from throwing good money after bad. Media tests are just that — tests to discover what works and what does not.

5. Your offer is King. Great product, weak offer, no calls.

6. Use traditional Direct Response techniques. Branding is a side effect of great direct response campaigns, not the other way around. A great DRTV and infomercial company will buy to your allowable cost per order and generate direct sales and leads. Brand awareness will result from DRTV success.

7. Infomercials and Direct Response TV are a science. Stay with your winners and cut your losers immediately. At InfoWorx we use research to target your best customers, media buying power to get your offer in front of millions, and 18 years experience turning response into revenue.

TV Infomercial Budgets

What is the cost of an infomercial? How much does it cost for TV infomercial production? Are long form infomercials more expensive than short form infomercials? These questions — and others about the cost of TV infomercial media and airtime come into our offices every day. This blog is for you — to answer your questions and help you understand the wacky, wonderful world of TV infomercials — our world!

Let’s start with question number one: What is the cost of an infomercial? First of all, as you may know, there are two basic formats: short form infomercials and long form infomercials. Short form is comprised of commercial lengths of two minutes or less. Long form is generally considered the thirty minute format (actually 28:30 minutes, but there is now some nationwide media distribution for five minute infomercials too. So what is the cost of an infomercial? TV infomercial budgets start with a TV production budget. This cost is a one time fixed cost, and it needs to amortized over the life of the project. Short form budgets can run anywhere from a few thousand dollars to more then $50,000.00 depending on the scope of the production. Long form infomercial costs also run in a wide range of budgets. Talk show formats cost about $20,000.00 and up, demonstration shows usually cost around $50,000.00 to $100.000.00. Again, think production values — or in movie language big action movie budgets verses low budget indie films.

The largest portion of a TV infomercial budget is the media budget. And you may be surprised to learn that long form infomercial media is cheaper than highly targeted CPM short form airtime. Check out our other blog for ongoing discussions about TV and radio media costs, clearance issues, and the latest trends. We recommend testing your offer on national and regional cable with test budgets of at least $5000.00 per week. Remember, repetition is very important in all forms of television advertising, so you must stay on the air to build momentum. Check back here frequently for more information on TV infomercial budgets.

Perlstein’s 10 Questions for Infomercial Success

Success in direct response TV and Radio infomercials often requires several rounds of media testing and tweaks or revisions to produce a successful TV or Radio Infomercial campaign.

The Direct Response Television Infomercial test results need to be drilled into and analyzed to determine the causes that contributed to the positive or negative results. Here are 10 questions about your infomercial you should address:
1. Does the product effectively fulfill a consumer need?
2. Was the price too high?
3. Was the offer compelling enough for people to call?
4. Was the media planning and research well targeted?
5. Was the media buying campaign optimized?
6. Was the call volume high enough?
7. Was the telemarketing conversion rate too low?
8. Was there adequate incremental revenue from up-sells?
9. Was the show effective at communicating the product benefits?
10. Can the marketer afford to make less money upfront by enhancing the back-end revenue?

Ron Perlstein Buys Cheap Media

It’s Economics 101….supply verses demand.  Recessions create cheap media opportunites for smart, savvy media buyers.  And new technology has brought many many ad auction platforms: Google TV, Radio and Print, SpotXchange, and several others for online video ads.

Cheap media means that products that are driven by an allowable cost per order can produce better results in a recession then in a boom. There are more per inquiry opportunities, remnant media, and syndication fire sales.  You can drive a truck through the available media after December 22, 2208.

If you have a product ready to launch, if your product is inexpensive and meets the needs of the recession weary public, then there is an opportunity now like we have not seen since 9-11-01.  By the way, direct response and infomercials had a fantastic run in late 2001 and 2002.