Donald L. Potter

The first article in this three-part series (Response, July) identified why the 65-plus market offers big sales potential for DRTV products. The size of the market today is an impressive 30 million consumers with a meaningful escalation coming in 2011 and continuing through 2030. During this...more >>

In the July and October issues of Response, I discussed the size and scope of the 65-and-older market, their thinking and behavior, along with that of the cutting-edge boomers who will soon swell their ranks. They represent the fastest-growing consumer group in America and around the world. This...more >>

Why struggle trying to cultivate unfamiliar market segments when there is a growing consumer group ready-made for your product? Whether you sell through direct response channels or have extended distribution into retail outlets, millions of pre-Boomers — already proven spenders — await your ad...more >>

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 >>