DRTV became even more attractive to a wide array of marketers in late 2008 and early 2009 as media budgets eroded and CMO’s faced more pressure to justify marketing spend by way of ROI.  New advertisers tested the DRTV waters, and inventory was available across a broad spectrum of broadcast, cable and syndication outlets. With more vendors willing to work with DRTV advertisers, availability was plentiful and efficiency came relatively easy.  But as we face heavier scatter demand in 2010, and brace for a strong 2011 upfront market, it is important to revisit the basics of what makes DRTV efficient.

Wide Landscape

DRTV was born out of a growth in commercial inventory, and even as CPMs increase and avails tighten on top tier networks, inventory is still accessible on a national level.  Make sure your media partner assesses the full scale of availability while building your tactical plan.  Also, fight the temptation to limit your buy to stations and/or programs that you, personally, are familiar with.  A good DRTV buyer can still reach your target efficiently by looking beyond the obvious.

Flexibility

Another staple of DRTV is flexibility.  Stations offer buyers flexibility in rates and cancellation, and in return expect flexibility in placement.  Allowing for leeway in response or impression delivery on a weekly and even daypart level will allow you to take better advantage of station availability, and improve efficiency.

Tracking and Optimization

This is elementary to traditional DRTV players, but many marketers who entered the space during the recession were content with driving phone or web response as a means to earn efficient DRTV pricing.  But rate is only part of the equation. Tracking – both clearance and response – and campaign optimization based on this data is the core of a successful DRTV campaign.  Make sure your media agency has the tools and experience to track and optimize down to the creative, station, daypart/rotation, and even program level.  Also, remember that unique phone numbers and URLs by station and creative are instrumental in this process.

Testing

A good DRTV marketer knows that you are always in test mode.  With the tracking capabilities available via DRTV, your campaign should continue to evolve each week based on testing new stations, dayparts, and creatives.  Your media partner should identify the correct balance between core schedule spend and testing.

There will be a lot written about the return of the traditional TV marketplace in the coming months, and much will focus on increases in upfront and scatter demand and the subsequent impact on pricing.  This more competitive marketplace will elevate the importance of traditional DRTV principles. The marketers and agencies that execute these principles the best will continue to thrive in an increasingly ROI focused environment.

Rob Schmidt is an Account Supervisor at A. Eicoff & Co., one of North America’s largest DRTV agencies.

Tags: direct response television, DRTV, DRTV Best Practice, DRTV Direct Response TV, short-form infomercial

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 at 5:07 pm and is filed under DRTV, DRTV Account Management, DRTV Best Practices, DRTV Messaging, DRTV News, DRTV Production, Media Buying. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.