Direct Response Marketing

DRTV Best Practices Primer: The Fundamental Building Blocks of DRTV - Home Shopping

1 Jun, 2003 By: Rick Petry Response

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Like infomercials and DRTV spots, home shopping has fundamental components that comprise its mix; however, where this category of direct-to-consumer selling varies for the marketer is that you have less control over some of the basic ingredients for success. Unlike a traditional commercial, the home shopping broadcaster or network has a great deal of say about the elements that comprise the pitch that have a direct impact on its success. Nonetheless, it's definitely worthwhile to examine those key pieces and what variables can impact them.

A Finite Window of Time

Once your product has been accepted for a test run on a home shopping channel, the network's programming department will attempt to marry it with a proper environment. As a rule, categories of products are grouped together thematically. Therefore, jewelry might run during a particular block of airtime while home improvement items would be in another.

Different home shopping networks build their schedules differently. One network may be more aggressive about giving you repeat exposures in a day, whereas another might give you one eight- to 10-minute slot to prove your product's mettle. In the latter case, a product that is easy to demonstrate will do better, whereas if more time is required to convey product attributes, an item might benefit from the repetitive nature of another venue. Regardless, it is critical that you have your pitch down and that whoever is going to deliver that pitch be capable in every way.

Obviously, the broadcaster has an incentive to put your product in a slot that gives you the best opportunity to achieve success, as the network will evaluate its performance based on the ability of the product to produce sales on a second-by-second basis in comparison with others. It's really all about maximizing a finite window of time that is evaporating moment by moment. Hopefully, your inventory will follow suit. However, the marketer has little to no say about where his or her product will be showcased, so it's crucial to have your pitch down so that you can take the greatest advantage of the time allotted.

Leveraging Trust

Just as infomercials employing celebrities attempt to draft off the charisma and goodwill of the stars they employ, the hosts on home shopping channels have developed a virtual relationship with their respective audiences that can have a halo effect for marketers in the environment. Hence, the potential exists for your product to be imbued with the trust that these hosts have developed with their TV buyers.

In many instances, a representative of the company will be paired with the network host to interact in such a way that the product's attributes are favorably featured. The company spokesperson could be the product's inventor, a company executive or a hired professional who specializes in such presentations. Careful consideration should be given to who is going to represent the company. This person must not only be knowledgeable about the product but also appealing and telegenic enough to carry the sales pitch in concert with their network partner. If no company representative is adequate, the network can direct a company to professionals who specialize in such sales pitches.

The pitch itself can unfold in the form of a dialog between the personalities or a direct appeal to consumers. The idea is to emphasize product benefits and features. Because the pitch unfolds in real time, network personnel monitor what is being said and how it affects sales so they can communicate to the host through an earpiece, creating a more optimal mix in real time. For example, if a host mentions that a product is made in the United States and that prompts a spike in activity, the effectiveness of that will be communicated to ensure that point is reemphasized.

The marketer should be prepared to provide the network with B-roll videotape demonstrating the product's unique qualities. Graphics depicting the underlying technology of an innovative cleaning product would be one example of such footage. In addition, filmed testimonials can help fortify a sales pitch.

The network will take this B-roll, which may be culled from existing advertising or created expressly for home shopping, and their executives will make the decision about what to use. The key is that the marketer be prepared to provide the broadcaster with all claims substantiation, testimonial releases and any other relevant paperwork so that the footage can be cleared well in advance of the broadcast. Once on air, the pitch team can use the footage to spice up the pitch.

Going, Going . . . Gone

Home shopping employs a number of tactics used to create a sense of urgency among consumers that are unique to its "live" quality. First and foremost is the idea that the product being offered may or may not appear on your screen in the future. Hence, if you are interested, the time to buy is now. Limited quantities are emphasized in a variety of ways, including showing how much product has moved ("Will there be enough for me?") and even going so far as to show certain sizes of an article of clothing (e.g., sold out, available in limited quantities or only available on a wait-listed basis). All of this is contrived to inspire a "scarcity" mentality in consumers that gets them to pick up the phone or go online to order immediately.

Working in concert with this element is home shopping's approach to pricing. Value is emphasized by showing three tiers of pricing akin to the following:

• 1. Retail price
• 2. Network's "normal" price
• 3. Today's special price

These prices never end in $.95 or $.99. So, for example, an item that might normally be $29.95 has a special price of $29.79, reinforcing the notion that every penny has been whittled down to give the consumer the best deal possible. Shipping and handling costs are characterized in a similar manner. In addition, offer configurations, particularly for products that are available widely through alternative channels, will be varied so that the pricing and price-to-value relationship cannot be easily compared on an apples-to-apples basis to other alternatives.

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