Direct response television (DRTV) is any form of advertising that prompts the viewer to take action. That can be to call an 800 number or visit a website, phone a politician; you name it. Like any form of advertising, however, DRTV does have techniques and tips that can maximize your chances of success. Whether you’re doing your own DRTV productions or work with a DRTV production company, here are a few of them.
Find a Competent Agency
Advertising agencies can be overrated, but with DRTV, it pays to work with someone who understands the medium. Blindly jumping in or working with people who only partially understand the medium is a sure way to undercut your advertising campaign’s chance of success. By working with experienced and competent planning and buying agency, you can create your content and then hand it over to professionals and let them worry about placement. If you don’t feel comfortable creating your own content, most DRTV production companies have a department that creates content that you can use.
Use the Right Analytics
Analytics is the key to measuring a successful advertising campaign. If you’re looking at the right data, you can quickly assess if your campaign is working, failing, or if it should be expanded or retracted. Making sure you’re using the right set of data, however, is critical. For example, if your core audience is above the age of 55 and you’re making DRTV advertising decisions based on data that covers 18 through 65 years old, the data you’re looking at could be skewed. The best DRTV production company will know its market and delivery vehicles as well as what data best reflects your campaign’s performance.
Study and Learn Your Audience
Not every advertising campaign applies to every audience. Sometimes that is obvious, such as if you’re advertising for adult diapers to people in their 20s. Sometimes, however, audience preferences are not nearly as defined. Advertising for an investment firm or fund could apply to people from multiple demographics. That’s why it’s critical you take the time to learn who your core audience is and dig deeper, even if you think you know already.
What you find might surprise you. Some products, like premium coffee, for instance, know no boundaries as it applies to audience appeal. Others, like certain types of clothes, only appeal to a market segment. Knowing where your core customers fall is paramount to molding your advertising campaign in the best manner to capture their interest and prompt them to take action.
Be Provocative
The best DRTV production companies will tell you that the entire purpose of advertising is to grab attention. There’s documented proof that sex and sex appeal has been successful as a hook to grab the attention of potential customers. Every hook grows old, though, which is why every DRTV advertisement must be provocative or captivating. It’s a generally accepted industry rule that there is a five-second window to grab the interest of someone viewing an advertisement. That means you have to get their attention from the onset.
Be Tasteful
At the same time, you want to be tasteful. One of the reasons advertisements during the Super Bowl have taken on a decidedly family-oriented feeling in recent years is that the audience found that to grab attention, several companies were venturing into the uncomfortable or distasteful. The backlash prompted companies and their advertisers to clean up the content and focus more on traditional advertising hooks. It’s important to remember that weird or offensive only appeals to niche markets and your goal is to appeal to the broadest market possible.
DRTV advertising is quickly becoming the go-to advertising mechanism above other forms of advertising because it’s effective and trackable. Make sure you follow these tips as you move forward with your DRTV advertising campaign and check out NEXTV for more advertising advice.