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.

Ron Perlstein’s Rules For DRTV Success

Direct Response Television success or DR Radio success does not always come that easy. I’ve developed seven easy rules after 17 years running InfoWorx, producing infomercials, and placing millions in media buys.

1. Make 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 17 years experience turning response into revenue.

Infomercials Were Then Infomarketing Is Now

In 1992,I launched Concept Media (later renamed InfoWorx) to focus on the most measurable form of advertising, direct response television. In its 16 years of business, my direct response and infomercial marketing company has achieved international success. InfoWorx’ Turnkey DRTV  approach has led to marked success for both established companies breaking into the direct response arena and newcomers looking to build initial brand awareness via DRTV. We changed the name from Concept Media to Infoworx in the summer of 2002 to reflect the company’s evolving turnkey infomarketing business philosophy. Infoworx is the only company that markets products from script to sales in a cost effective manner that gives the client total control of their product and the profits. We believe that DRTV success depends on much more than producing an infomercial: it’s all about securing the largest market share in the shortest amount of time, putting the least amount of money at risk…thus the evolution from infomercial production to infomarketing.