Donald L. Potter

Over the years, many advertising practitioners have forgotten that the primary purpose of their profession is to sell stuff.

For more than a century, successful marketers built consumer brand confidence by adhering to a simple, yet effective, axiom: quality + service + price = value.

The media efficiency ratio (MER) is the universal benchmark used by DRTV marketers to determine if a product is paying out and has a potential future in selling direct to consumers. The standard in recent years has dropped to a ratio of $2 in sales for every $1 spent in media.

Retail Otlet: Things to Consider When You Test for Success

It has been said that television time is the world's most perishable commodity. At any given time, an unsold spot has a certain value, yet the moment the time period passes the spot is worth absolutely nothing.

The Pareto Principle calls for marketers to concentrate on the vital few and ignore the trivial many. Proven through years of practical application, it is now simply referred to as the 80/20 rule ? meaning that 80 percent of the sales of a given category or specific product comes from just 20...more >>

Long before Sears, Roebuck & Co. distributed its first catalog, business owners sought ways to appeal directly to potential customers about their products and thereby control the buying situation. Direct response (DR) was the shortest route and surest way to consummate the sale and keep the...more >>

Last month, Retail Outlet reviewed the steps taken by traditional branding marketers to bring their products to store shelves. This month's column will examine the application of the DRTV disciplines as a means of achieving faster and more meaningful results at the retail level.

There is little doubt that launching and building a brand that survives in the retail marketplace takes time, money and plenty of marketing know-how. What is not yet recognized as a universal truth is that proper application of the DRTV model can help many would-be retail brands make the transition...more >>

Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered these historic and inspiring words in his first inaugural address in 1933. Referring to the Great Depression, he was essentially saying, Stop worrying about the economic outlook and start doing something to help make things better. Nearly three-quarters of a century...more >>