How to Use TV and the Internet to Tap into the Baby Boomer Market
By admin | November 15, 2007
In the past, advertisers have focused on reaching consumers in the 18-49 age range. Today, that may be changing. As more and more companies are realizing the buying power that the Baby Boomer generation possesses, marketers are shifting their ad dollars and campaigns to reach this powerful market segment.
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Full Speed Ahead! The automotive industry turns to DRTV
By admin | October 29, 2007
Expect to see more automakers, dealers, auctioneers and other auto-related firms using DRTV in the future, and complementing those efforts with online video and other tools that help “drive” consumers to trade in their current cars in favor of a new or used vehicle.
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Why direct response television ads remain viable
By admin | October 15, 2007
DRTV ads once relied almost exclusively on viewers’ picking up the phone. Now many also steer consumers to Web sites. “If you give the customer a choice of an 800 number or a Web site, about 30 percent, on average, now go to the Web site,” says Peter Koeppel, president of Dallas-based Koeppel Direct Inc., a direct-response media-buying agency. “Just a couple of years ago, it was 5 or 10 percent.” To goose ROI even more, most DRTV campaigns are also now mixed with banner ads, search campaigns and a Web site. They also include a direct-mail component, as marketers typically follow up with brochures, videos, DVDs, catalogs, coupons and other materials.
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For many companies the appeal of DRTV rests in its speed and malleability. “You see results very quickly” as customers respond or fail to do so, Burke says. Because ads use highly specific phone numbers or URLs, marketers can determine almost instantly what works and what doesn’t and can adjust campaigns accordingly. Meanwhile, growing specialization among cable networks makes it easier to target viewers. “If you’re marketing household products, you have the Food Network or HGTV,” says Koeppel. “You can be pretty precise in targeting your message to reach certain demographics.”
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Those in the DRTV industry say the fast-forward factor isn’t as big an issue as people had originally feared, largely because direct-response ads tend to run on cable and satellite stations that people don’t record as much. “We don’t advertise on regular-program stations,” says Duitch. “We do one and two-minute commercials on CNN and the Weather Channel and other stations that people just watch.”
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What’s more, certain viewers for instance, those considering investing hundreds of dollars in home gym equipment or adjustable beds are still likely to sit through half-hour infomercials, according to TiVo Inc.’s StopWatch data service, which measures program and commercial viewership in DVR-using households nationwide.
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Finally, today’s infomercial ads are designed to build ongoing relationships through, for instance, automatic shipments of recurring orders and follow-up mailings with special offers and new product samples. Burke puts it this way: “It’s not just about the initial sale; it’s about everything that happens after that person contacts the seller.”
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What to Look for In an Infomercial Media Buying Agency
By admin | October 1, 2007
Infomercial media buying is a highly specialized type of media-buying. General advertising agencies do not have the expertise to buy infomercial time. They are familiar with buying general advertising that is designed to build awareness. In researching an infomercial media buying agency, look for a firm with the following capabilities:
Assembling a seasoned team of infomercial industry veterans is critical to an infomercial campaign’s success.
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More Accountability for Offline Advertising
By admin | September 4, 2007
Google has demonstrated their expertise at delivering online advertising where performance can be tracked, adjusted and measured. They are now trying to bring more accountability to offline advertising through their auction platform that incorporates targeting and tracking systems. Direct marketers and their media buying partners already have embraced the principles of direct response advertising that provide these types of measurements offline. If Google can help us to further improve performance, by delivering increased efficiency through better targeting and lower rates, I’m confident our industry will be among the first to adopt Google’s new media offerings.
Disrupting the Media World
I believe that rather than taking over the media world, Google is going to disrupt it. Some in the traditional media business may view this as a threat, but I see this as a positive. Anyone that can bring more efficiency to the media buying and tracking process will only help improve results, which will ultimately benefit everyone involved in the marketing of products and services in today’s more challenging media landscape.
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Direct Response Print Advertising
By admin | June 9, 2007
Next to word of mouth, direct response print advertisements are perhaps the oldest means of marketing a business. They used to be the most effective, too. Not anymore, though.
“I am an avid newspaper reader — three papers every morning with my coffee,” Bailey says. “Yet, I believe the historic form of newspapers are d-e-a-d.”
Denise Patrick, senior marketing counsel for Houston-based Pierpont Communications, agrees. A former small business owner herself, she says that many entrepreneurs chase advertisements in major daily newspapers, which are expensive and seldom read in their entirety. Instead, she says, try buying ads in community newspapers.
“People read their community newspaper cover to cover,” Patrick says. “The grandkid that won the softball game, that’s where his name is. That’s where the church news is and that’s where the pictures of the ladies in the garden club are.”
The key is reaching your target audience — and only your target audience. That’s why community papers are better than city papers, she says — because the readership is more targeted — and why advertisements in BtoB publications or trade magazines are often more effective than those in national consumer titles.
Even more effective, however, is another tool entirely, according to Patrick — public relations. That’s because the modern equivalent to a printed ad is printed news coverage. The former costs money, but the latter is free, and only one benefits from the credibility of a legitimate journalist’s byline. Before buying an ad in your favorite publication, therefore, consider doing something newsworthy — organizing an event, donating to a charity or launching a notable new service — and sending it a press release, instead.
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Buying Media Time
By admin | May 4, 2007
When buying media time it’s important to work with a media buying agency that has extensive experience buying media for other products or services in your category of business. Buying media effectively for a branded advertising campaign involves knowing how to reach the target audience cost efficiently. Buying media for a direct response advertising program requires employing a media buying agency that has the knowledge and systems to track and optimize their media buys in real time.
Buying media has become more complicated over the last several years due to media fragmentation, including a proliferation of cable and satellite TV and radio networks, growth in gaming and use of iPods, more time being spent by consumers surfing the Internet and the increasing use of DVRs to skip TV commercials and to view programming when the consumer wants to view it.
Buying media in an environment where the consumer is in control requires a different strategy than in the past when advertisers had more control. Buying media in today’s more challenging advertising market demands that you utilize a media buying firm that understands how to reach the consumer in broad range of ever changing mediums. Buying media effectively in today’s marketplace also involves staying on top of the latest trends and adjusting your media plans to capitalize on media buying opportunities as they arise.
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Does Media Buying for online video actually pay off?
By admin | April 23, 2007
There is a lot of debate over whether online video actually pays off. Direct response media buying experts are wary of the cost associated with rich media video ads, which tend to occupy premium ad space on the major networks and have a costlier CPM than traditional banner ads. Despite the higher-than-average conversion ratio of video ads, many marketers prefer search engine text ads and email blasts to get the most out of their CPO. Are they leaving money on the table?
Direct response media buyers also question whether streaming video on their Websites actually accomplishes anything. In the DRTV space, most streaming video is provided by third-party online marketers who claim that their mini-infomercial videos lead to more conversions. Who is right?
The answer to this debate is that you need the right mixture of technology and creative to make online video pay – no matter what your CPM is or where you are advertising. Simply putting your video in a rich media ad unit, or streaming it in a simple player on your Website won’t necessarily generate more conversions.
Video is most engaging when it is interactive. Video players that turn on the moment someone visits a Website can be distracting to consumers, and in some cases lower rather than lift conversion rates. Self-selected video, on the other hand, can make a Website more interactive and sticky. Video that consumers control with interactive hotspots (e.g. a button to select and buy a product within the video itself), can be powerful conversion tools.
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Trends in Media Buying
By admin | April 18, 2007
Savvy marketers are increasingly looking for media buying firms that have the ability to buy all forms of media, whether its direct response television (DRTV) or traditional TV buys, print, online or radio. They are also seeking media buying firms that have the ability to track, measure and optimize results in real time.
A multi-channel direct response media buying firm is best suited for handling this type of media buying. This type of media buying firm understands the mediums that have a history of performing for each category of product or service, which translates into greater profitability for clients’ direct response media campaigns.
A reputable direct response media buying agency employs direct response media buyers that have a track record of buying media for successful DRTV campaigns, as well as for other types of direct response advertising, including online, radio and print media buys. It’s also important to work with a direct response media buying firm that has the research and analytic capabilities to help manage your media buying campaign through both good and bad times.
By aligning your firm with an experienced direct response media buying firm, it will help ensure that your DRTV, print, online or radio campaign will have the best chance of succeeding in today’s challenging media environment.
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Maximizing the Return from Media Buying
By admin | April 16, 2007
Media buying is no longer a process where you can make media buys for the quarter and sit back and hope your media buying expertise delivers the results you are looking for. Media buying in today’s media environment is an ongoing process of monitoring, tracking, reporting and optimizing media buys based on performance.
Marketers are now aligning themselves with savvy multi-channel media buyers, who understand all the media buying options available on TV, radio and in print and online. More and more marketers are looking for a return on investment from their media buyers. Direct response media buying can provide these marketers with a platform for accurately measuring response on a real time basis, which allows them to adjust their media plans rapidly, in response to changes in campaign performance.
Make sure you do your research before hiring a media-buying firm. Experienced direct response media buyers have the tools to accurately track consumer response on a network and daypart level. This type of media buying system provides the media buyer with the type of information that is utilized to maximize results for each campaign. Improved results can be achieved by allocating more media spending to the networks and dayparts that are performing, dropping networks/dayparts that are not performing and buying other networks that are similar to the ones that are working.
Experienced media buying firms understand that the media buying process is now an ongoing process that needs to be executed on a real time basis in order to maximize results for each campaign.
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