Everyone wants to know the secret to DRTV.  Advertisers who wouldn’t have touched it a few years ago are intrigued, and are siphoning funds away from traditional brand-only television.  Predictably, general market agencies are scrambling to learn more, to become facile in this estranged world of selling.  After more than fifteen years in the brand advertising world, I’m a convert.

What’s the secret? Guess what, there isn’t one.  There isn’t a step-by-step chronology or a secret sequence of events.  At least not one that I could divine.  Here’s what I came up with: commercials either work or they don’t.  And as much as some like to say they have decoded the process, as far as I can tell nobody’s got that figured out.  It remains, so far, a creative process.

Still, I thought, there has to be some method to the madness, right? I tried to uncover consistencies across the successful DRTV spots that we’ve done at Eicoff.  It seems like there are four essential elements that make up the DNA of successful DRTV advertising.  How you put them together, well, that’s up to you.

Element #1: Engagingness

Chances are good that the person watching your commercial hasn’t been sitting there waiting for you to invade their world.  Your best chance at avoiding the tyranny of the remote or the mouse is to engage your prospect.  It’s been said that the most important skill of a good salesperson is to be a good listener.  But what do you do when you’re not even in the room? In the monologue of pre-produced video – on TV or online – the listening happens beforehand, off screen, with loads of research, as much as you can get your hands on.  Immerse yourself in your target audience, appreciate the value of your product or service to them, and figure out how the two fit together.  The days of shameless schilling are, if not completely gone, numbered.  You’re really stacking the deck against yourself if you think you can bully someone into buying with repetition and volume – too many other choices out there.  You have to engage, not assault.

Element #2: Value

Before you can sell anything, it has to have value, and I don’t mean how much it costs.  At the onset of your message, remember that the value of the product or service you’re offering is exactly zero.  Your commercial has to create value, enough that someone will not only be willing, but indeed want to spend their money and invest their time to get it.  If you think the viewer is going to help you here, you’re mistaken.  This isn’t the time or place to imply or intimate.  Be clear and concise (more on this below).  Be explicit.  Demonstrate.  Explain.  Educate if you can.  Share a success story.  Does it resolve a conflict? Does it solve a problem? Does it do something surprising? Construct your case, and make it airtight.

Element #3: Clarity

Seems like a no-brainer: communicate with clarity.  But you’d be surprised how easy it can be to get yourself off track.  Know what you want to say, and then say it as simply as you can.  Repeat important points if necessary.  Don’t get too fancy.  This doesn’t mean boring – it means focused.  And there’s another threat to clarity of communication.  When a client is in love with their product, they sometimes yearn to mention every detail.  But if doesn’t mean anything to the consumer, leave it in the meeting room.

Element #4: Sell

Wait for it…wait for it…

Timing has a whole lot to do with making the sale.   Sell too soon, and you’re likely to get the proverbial door slam.  DRTV practitioners tell you to get the phone number up early, it’s a proven tactic.  But it’s going to have more impact when it coincides with something meaningful in the script.  If you can, sweeten the offer in case someone is on the fence.  Don’t be demure, clearly ask your prospect to buy and tell them how (you’d be surprised how many people assume consumers know what they need to do).  If your commercial works the way it’s supposed to, the selling is easy, because your consumer is anxious to buy.

Done well, a commercial that engages the audience, creates value, engineers exclusivity and sells soundly is a beautiful thing.  It makes the phone ring or the website light up.  It strengthens, or even builds, the brand, which provides value long after the sale has been made.  David Ogilvy said, “If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.” I can’t say it any better than that.

Mike Powell is Executive Creative Director at A. Eicoff, one of North America’s largest DRTV agencies.

Tags: advertising, direct response television, DRTV, short-form infomercial

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 at 4:18 pm and is filed under DRTV Best Practices, DRTV Creative, DRTV Messaging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.