DRTV Media Buying

Can Your Social Media Past Hurt Your Job Prospects?

2011-12-07T12:11:00.000-08:00

Although criminal background checks, credit reports and online searches are standard fare these days for employers evaluating potential employees, social media history is growing increasingly important as part of the equation.

Social Intelligence, a social media history aggregation company, is banking on it. It provides a unique service for employers and gives them everything they need to evaluate someone in terms of their online activity.

While this may seem like detective work, CEO Max Drucker is quick to dismiss the connection. “All we assemble is what is publicly available on the Internet today,” he stated in a recent interview. The gathered information is categorized into several different sections, including professional honors, charitable work, racist comments, references to drugs, racy photos, displays of weapons and violent actions.

The service may seem like a safe bet for employers, but the FTC was notified by privacy advocates who are concerned with employers making determinations based on factors that aren’t relevant to job performance. In the subsequent investigation, the FTC determined that Social Intelligence’s business is in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

According to the company, the reports remove references to religion, race, marital status, sexual orientation, disability and other protected information. What is exposed can be damaging – like a woman who was found to be hunting for Oxycontin on Craigslist. With employers looking to make smart hiring decisions in the tight economy and social media data being created every day, Social Intelligence is likely to be joined in the social background check space by competitors soon.

Facebook and Twitter Buttons Track Users Around the Web

2011-07-28T02:46:00.000-07:00

According to a new study by the Wall Street Journal, Facebook and Twitter social widgets are being used to track website visitors around the web, whether or not they engage with these buttons.

The social widgets – Facebook’s “Like” button and Twitter’s “Tweet” button – are ubiquitous. In the past year they have been added to millions of web pages and are normally used to share content with friends and followers.

The Wall Street Journal found that Facebook and Twitter are able to tell which websites the users are visiting even if they don’t “like” or “share” the content. The tracking happens unless users completely log out of their Facebook and Twitter accounts. Facebook says that they only use the tracking function for advertising purposes in order to display ads related to search history on a user’s Facebook sidebar. Twitter reports that they delete tracking data “quickly” and that the tracking is an unintended side effect of the functionality of the button.

Although both Twitter and Facebook deny that the tracking has any other purposes, theoretically the implications are much different: User search behavior can be linked back to a person’s social profiles, which normally includes detailed personal information. A person’s reading habits can be tracked back to their name, email address and offline information – everything from health concerns to past times to political and religious views. Privacy advocates compare it to having someone follow you around the library and taking notes about every book that you look at.

The new revelations come out amidst increasing concerns about Internet user privacy. There have been at least five bills presented before Congress dealing with online privacy issues in the last year.

Google Investors Ask, “What’s Next?”

2011-01-02T11:42:00.000-08:00

Google has become synonymous with the Internet.

Google has also become a fixture in the American home with many people opting to “Google it.” The search engine giant has many things going for it, but even so, there is still some cause for concern.

Growing competition in the areas of search has cut into Google’s action and new emerging markets are still too young to count as assets. Does Google have what it takes to meet its investors’ growing appetites? In world where you are only as good as your last whopping success, can Google pull off a second miracle?

The rise of social networking catapulted Google into the stratosphere. AdWords, a pay per click advertising model created by Google, saw a tremendous rise in revenue thanks to market-targeted advertising. Facebook has taken notice crafting an ad program that bares striking resemblance to that of Big G’s.

Still not convinced? Let the numbers do the talking.

Just-announced 3Q numbers tell the story: Revenue from search drove a revenue increase of 23 percent and a net income increase of 32 percent. Google told analysts that display ads (images and video on YouTube, no text) are set to bring in over $2.5 billion in revenue in the coming year. (And mobile is estimated at about $1 billion.)

Yet for all of its successes, Google is still showing signs of age.

People are getting smarter about search and now with big box style websites like Amazon.com people are able to find all of their needs with less need to hunt around. As Google looks ahead it banks on the mobile market buying out AdMob, a mobile advertising agency.

Acquisition is the order of the day as Google strengthens its engineering and sales division by several hundred strong. The company is taking aggressive moves to make the leap into the new markets. Google’s vision is clear: To become the search engine for the social network generation, a sleeker more user intuitive interface working seamlessly behind the scenes.

Fight DRTV Fatigue With Creative Tweaks

2010-10-17T14:51:00.000-07:00

For many in DRTV marketing, keeping the advertising fresh when the products and offers don't change much is a challenge.

In some cases, such as with Nautilus (which sells the Bowflex line of fitness equipment), the message tends to stay the same while only the faces and testimonials differ. With 20 years of ads and research, though, the company has found a system that works for them and stays fresh enough to keep interest levels high.

Other companies, such as Guthy-Renker (Proactiv and other health products) have an 18-month rule for an ad's lifespan, but change a few pieces of the ad during its life in order to keep it fresh. A 30-minute creative can have seasonal, promotional and competitive changes added or swapped to keep the ad fresh.

Keeping ad copy and presentation fresh is a challenge for those in competitive markets, such as cosmetics or cleaning supplies. In these markets, highlighting differences is paramount and the ability to change an ad mid-stream to cope with and differentiate it from new competition is important.

Some general advertisers have tried DRTV during the recession and have stayed, finding that it works. The Electronic Retailing Association, the industry trade group for DRTV, has added Jenny Craig, eHarmony.com and Avon as members over the past year. This has also changed the market, raising TV ad rates and altering how some are required to do business in light of new competition and higher costs.

DRTV spending has grown to a $4.5+ billion annual market and, despite the recession, is becoming more and more competitive as well. Analysts are expecting a big year for 2010 and continued growth in 2011.

DRTV Industry will benefit on Fast-Tracking Patents

2010-09-17T02:28:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) may soon be offering a way for frustrated inventors to hurry along their patent applications through a new, expedited system.

The Patent Office says this fast-tracking system is a response to many who believe that the patenting system is too slow to keep pace with the speed of technology.

“Some patents need to go fast and some need to go more slowly,” says Patent Office chief David Kappos. The plan would allow those who need a faster decision on their patent applications to pay an extra fee to have it expedited through the system.

The proposal could go into effect next year, after public input is completed this summer. Currently, and for its entire history, the Patent Office has reviewed applications on a first-come, first-served basis. This would be the first major overhaul to the patent process' system of acceptance since the Office's inception.

Many other government offices already offer expedited services at a higher fee, including the State Department's passport processing service. It takes an average of 34.6 months for a patent application to go from initial filing to acceptance, up from 26.7 months in 2003.

Currently, the Patent Office already offers a fast-track program for “green” technologies and that program has had good success. It’s looking to build upon these capabilities for this new, broader-reaching fast-tracking and will sure lead to a more productive drtv campaigns.

Android and Friends to Take On iPad

2010-08-18T18:08:00.000-07:00

The Taipei Computer Trade Show has long been a venue for manufacturers to show their latest wares in the gadget arena.

This year is no different as computer makers Acer and Dell have both announced tablet devices to compete with Apple's popular iPad, released this year. Both companies also said that their devices will be using Google's Android operating system as their software backbone.

This shows that Android is the OS of choice against Apple's proprietary operating system for its mobile smart devices (iPad and iPhone). It also shows that Microsoft may be out of the running, for now, as far as its mobile offerings as Hewlett-Packard is rumored to have delayed release of its tablet computer because of problems with Windows.

In the smartphone world, markets clearly divided and then Apple dominated because of several factors. The first was mobile carriers, with Apple tied to AT&T and others open to many carriers, this seemed like a losing situation for Apple. Fighting back on the software front, however, Apple dominated by giving a leg up to developers and dominating the applications market with more apps available for their devices than any other maker or operating system.

With hardware mostly all coming from the same core sources, such as ARM Holdings, which makes chips that power about 40 tablet-style devices currently or soon-to-be on the market as well as 10 e-reader devices for electronic books, the competition is all in software.

Android's clear advantages are in its free-to-use architecture, its more open availability to developers and device makers and the fluidity between devices. Its weak point currently is application development, for which it has only about 25% of what is available for Apple devices.

With Apple already well on in an early lead, it's questionable that others will be able to catch up, but Android devices are certainly planning to make a run at it.

Shoppers Coming Out of Their Recession-Built Shells

2010-07-12T05:32:00.000-07:00

March saw a 1.6% surge in retail sales this year, one of the contributing factors that is leading economists to conclude that the United States may be recovering from the recent financial crash more quickly than previously anticipated.

Banks are also rebounding quickly; J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. saw a 55% profit gain this quarter, which many see as a sign that investors can be optimistic about the coming year.

For advertisers and retailers, this is good news: consumer spending is expected to grow at an annualized rate of more than 3% in the first quarter. Previous, less optimistic expectations had that number at less than 2% - a nearly 50% increase.

Equally important is what consumers are spending their money on – motor vehicle sales have increased 6.7%, clothing sales have increased 2.3%, and furniture sales are up by 1.5%.

Economists say that consumers generally spend money on these kinds of items when they feel optimistic about the future and more inclined to spend discretionary income. Sales of electronics and appliances are also up 3.6% from the same month last year, though they slipped slightly from February to March.

The one pessimistic point in all these optimistic numbers is the fact that a consumer spending-fueled recovery could indicate that another slump is just around the corner. The recession simply may not have lasted long enough for consumers to have learned their lessons about carrying debt and discretionary spending.

Still, no reason not to enjoy the sun while it shines.

Online TV Gets More Engaging With Interactive Features

2010-06-04T03:31:00.000-07:00

As viewers turn to online venues for TV watching, networks are looking for ways to capitalize on that engagement while simultaneously staying up-to-date with what users expect in an online world.

The web is an interactive medium, with people constantly telling each other what to look at, what they’re doing and what to do; in turn, television networks are discovering that there are many ways they can turn that tendency to their advantage.

NBC unveiled an online video viewer that inserts other content related to the video being shown. Their new design allows users to take quizzes, view deleted scenes, and read blogs that talk about what’s happening on their favorite shows.

On ABC, viewers are mostly looking at the full-screen video, but they also have access to interactive comments and can share the episode on Facebook.

ABC is trying to keep up with the interactive needs of its users by making commentary from producers and actors available with their episodes, along with comments and ways to send the episodes to their friends, netting more page views and more click-throughs.

Indeed, that may be the whole point of more interactive features: online advertisers look at the time spent on a site as a gauge for how much the ad revenue is worth. With interactive features, networks can raise that number – and potentially their ad costs.

Are Facebook Ads Getting Too Personal?

2010-05-10T05:20:00.000-07:00

Ads that are custom-tailored to the user are nothing new in an online world.

After all, any time you open an email on Gmail, Google pops up several ads related to the content of the text inside. Apple’s renowned for targeting its users with custom recommendations for future purchases on their iTunes store. We’re accustomed to a certain amount of information-gathering so companies can deliver relevant ads that we might actually be interested in.

Looks like Facebook may have crossed a line, though.

Facebook’s users post more personal information on their pages than what they’ve been buying lately, which makes for ads that are tailored to personal likes and dislikes, opinions or associations, and even changes in their relationship.

One problematic ad rush has been among women who change their Facebook status to “engaged” and receive a glut of ads offering them wedding-related merchandise.

For many, it’s too invasive a method of advertising. On the other hand, many advertisers have come to find it quite successful, though some are using the info they have to get attention for schemes.

One company in particular is fond of using personal info to get users attention (26-year-olds get a free iPad!) and then trying to convince users to sign up for completely unrelated services.

Facebook says they’re still working out the kinks in its online advertising. It might want to hurry; users are not enjoying the experience of ads that get too personal.

TV Finds Unlikely Source to Credit for Viewer Boost

2010-04-08T03:33:00.000-07:00

The Internet has been warily eyed by television networks as a potential rival, but the latest numbers for viewership of live events seems to tell a different tale: the internet is actually working in the networks’ favor.

The Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the Super Bowl and even the Grammys saw huge upticks in their viewership this year, particularly the Super Bowl, which was the most watched program in the entire history of television in the United States. Networks are crediting this surge in television watching to, yes, the Internet, and particularly social media.

With so many people on social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and other chat engines, viewers can talk with their friends about events in real time, even if those friends are on the other side of the globe. The Internet may also be fueling interest as a simple promotional tool; when the entire Internet is abuzz with the upcoming game, it’s more likely that viewers and online media buyers are going to be excited to tune in.

Networks are even finding that viewers tune in to see events that they already know the outcome of. If someone hears about a stunning win by an athlete in the Olympic Games, they’re not willing to limit their experience to one 140-character tweet. They want to see it for themselves.

And that’s shaping up to be a good combination for the networks.

Cable Still Strong Despite Recession

2010-03-20T06:50:00.000-07:00

Network television has been taking a hard hit from the recession, with their advertisers pulling out at the last minute and bidding much lower for the time slots that used to bring in the major advertising dollars.

Since it gets much smaller numbers in terms of viewers, it’s easy to think that cable would be, if anything, in even more trouble than network when it comes to bringing in advertisers.

Turns out that isn’t so. Advertisers cut their budgets for television by $10 billion in the first two quarters of 2009, but cable actually managed to grow nonetheless, getting up to nearly $8.8 billion, a 1.5% increase from last year. Granted, these aren’t exactly mind-shattering growth numbers, but they’re still extremely impressive when you consider that television advertising overall took such a major hit.

The upfronts are of course the most looked-to barometer for how well network television is doing, and the numbers are consistent with the advertising reports overall. Upfront spending dropped 12% to just $6.7 billion. This doesn’t necessary mean that network advertising spending is as bleak as many would speculate from upfront numbers alone, because the recession has forced many companies into a “wait and see” philosophy rather than gambling on the future success of a show.

Even more telling, sellers are depending more on “scatter” than ever before, which continues to improve the return on investment for advertising budgets. The amount of airtime held back for scatter could cause a large excess of unsold inventory, which may very well turn into a bidding war as air time gets closer. Even if such a scenario occurs, it’s not likely to turn out well for the networks, since they need to fill that air time and may need to sell that inventory at lower rates.

While network takes a thrashing, cable is expected to grow over twice as fast this year, with a 3.6% increase to $20.2 billion in 2010.

Is Online Advertising Really a Better Option Than Television?

2010-02-21T06:35:00.000-08:00

Setting aside the question of legality, the availability of full-length TV shows has been growing by leaps and bounds since the first arrival of YouTube, but the battle to make some money off of the venture has been proceeding at a snail’s pace by comparison.

In the last year or so, quite a few leaps have been made to ensure large media outlets get paid for their show’s popularity online in forums like Hulu, where they can run short ads when someone views old and current TV shows.

The rush to make money in online channels has created a lot of buzz as executives fear they’ll lose their television ad revenue as viewers switch to watching online. Their fears seemed founded: TV ad rates are less than they have been in previous years, as advertisers scale back their marketing budgets to accommodate their dwindling revenues.

Online advertising is cheaper and seemed to be reaching a wider audience. Even as they learned to make money through online ads, television execs were concerned for their dwindling revenue overall.

They may not need to be concerned. A new survey by eMarketer indicates that while online ad revenue is fast growing, TV advertisers will actually spend less per hour of viewing than their online counterparts – by a stunning 38%.

Maybe it isn’t time to give up the ghost on old-fashioned TV advertising after all; in short order, it could be cheaper to reach the same audience on the tube than on the net.

Advertisers Win the Battle for Lower TV Rates

2010-01-05T05:43:00.000-08:00

TV giants have been saying they don’t intend to lower their TV rates, no matter how bad the recession gets. After all, it’s still valuable real estate that reaches millions of viewers.

There’s news leaking out that the giants are sinking bit by bit, though, and that’s made them slightly more amenable to negotiating lower rates. The price drops are small, by all accounts – but when the TV networks had been saying they wouldn’t budge at all, even a small drop is a big victory for advertisers.

Broadcast networks have been seeing fewer advertisers willing to spend big money for TV spots for the last year. Declining ratings and the auto industry’s difficulties are also contributing factors, seeing as car ads are one of the most common appearances on TV.

The upfronts are also looking at a makeover. Previously, TV networks would sell commitments to deliver viewers, usually in lots of 1,000 viewers. They would also save some commitments to sell when the commercials were closer to air time, in hopes of negotiating a higher rate if the show were doing well. Advertisers preferred buying in advance if the show did well; the networks preferred selling late.

Now that trend is reversed. Hewlett-Packard has decided to wait and see if the audience they’re seeking actually tunes in, abandoning the upfronts. If their reaction is any indication, networks may have to cut their rates simply to pull in those upfront dollars – though for some, it’s worth the risk to wait.

Rather than get low, but guaranteed, upfront rates now, the networks may take a chance on the strength of their shows and hope for higher rates when it’s closer to commercial time. It’s a lot of pressure on the fall lineup.

Research Creates Better Strategies for Web Advertising

2009-12-10T04:31:00.000-08:00

In the early days of television, advertisers had no idea how to capture audience attention in the new medium. The only precursor to TV advertising was print or radio ads, so they did the best they could to use those experiences and apply them to an entirely new focus.

Today, we’re looking at a similar problem with web advertising. We know print ads. We know TV ads. But do we know web ads?

Research being conducted by the Walt Disney Company suggests that we don’t know it nearly as well as we think. In the research labs, volunteers are asked to scroll through websites while researchers observe them through one-way glass, recording the movements of their eyes as they track objects and text on the screen. One ad catches the reader’s attention. Another goes by unnoticed. What made the difference?

That’s what the Disney researchers are attempting to discover.

Their methods are fairly straightforward, trying out different combinations of ad types and sizes in different places on the web page to see which are most effective at capturing and holding attention. The research also includes keeping records of heart rate, skin temperature, and facial expressions so that enthusiasm can be recorded.

The Starcom MediaVest Group considers Disney’s research “invaluable,” and Allstate, Kellogg and Bank of America are also getting in on the action.

Getting Around the TiVo Ad Problem

2009-12-04T06:14:00.000-08:00

Cable TV networks have long bemoaned TiVo as a way for their consumers to get around watching regular advertisements. And lately, they’ve also been getting a lot of pressure to put their shows online for free as many stations and networks already do – a double whammy for advertising and a serious threat to the cable networks’ profits.

Comcast is bouncing back with a double whammy of its own: In a test of consumer response, it’s launching several TV shows from a handful of major media companies – including CBS and Time Warner – into online venues. The catch? You can’t watch them unless you’re already a cable subscriber, and the online shows have the full panoply of advertisements, just as they would if you watched them on the tube.

There’s some argument as to whether consumers will accept the new dynamic after having been introduced to full-length TV shows, including many cable network shows, in an online forum for free. Beyond the cost issue, one of the benefits of watching a TV show online thus far has been the drastically shortened advertisements.

In a 30-minute show, for instance, viewers might see only two minutes’ worth of commercials – that’s about 8-10 minutes less than their normal exposure to commercials during the course of a show that length.

TV networks are working on finding a happy medium. More ads than the current brief spots might still be palatable to consumers. After all, fewer ads are still fewer ads – even if those online spots get a little longer than they are currently, they’ll still beat out their TV counterparts.

Could That Web Ad Contain a Virus?

2009-11-22T17:40:00.000-08:00

Hackers can be smart people and they have started to strategize to expand their reach and attract new victims.

Online advertising is specifically designed to target a large number of people, often in a specific demographic, and hackers are piggybacking on those marketing efforts to land some serious viruses right where they’ll do the most damage.

The strategies of these hackers usually involve taking over a currently existing ad and infecting it with malware. When interested customers click on the perfectly legitimate company ad, they’re also downloading a vicious virus into their company – unbeknownst to either them or the advertising company.

Companies are responding to the virus problem with serious investments in Internet security in an attempt to protect their customers. Obviously the malware-ridden ads can seriously damage a company’s reputation, as consumers get the impression that doing business with them only leads to potential damage to their computers and personal information.

To keep their names out of the mire, companies have worked hard to remedy the problems as soon as they occur and get the ads taken down within a few hours. Unfortunately, a few hours is all it takes for a well-positioned ad to reach thousands of customers, many of whom will be infected with the malware.

Online security may become one of the few places companies are willing to invest more money, even in a rough economy. With web advertising one of the few marketing strategies that is showing growth, companies can’t afford to have those dollars get killed by a virus.

Social Media Beats Out Conventional Marketing for Procter and Gamble

2009-10-09T05:03:00.000-07:00

Social Media Beats Out Conventional Marketing for Procter and Gamble

If we had any doubt that social media was the future wave of marketing, there’s a case study recently put out by Procter & Gamble that will make you think twice.

Josh Bernoff, the co-author of Groundswell, demonstrated a social media technique that P&G judged four times as effective as their usual marketing tactics. Dollar for dollar, the social media approach was four times better.

Shhh…don’t talk about that product
P&G was marketing tampons, a product that no one especially wants to talk about directly, much less in advertising. So instead of marketing their products through conventional methods, P&G created a website called beinggirl.com, where its users could talk about anything from parents to music to problems at school to health issues – including, naturally, subjects that were handy lead-ins to tampon use.

They didn’t go for the direct sale, though. In sections where it was relevant, they simply put in a small message: brought to you by Always maxi pads and tampons. That simple technique – a place to open a dialogue and a small reminder about the host – was four times as effective as other tactics.

People Switching From TVs to PCs

2009-09-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

Remember when everyone was worried that the DVR made television advertising obsolete? Well, only about one in every five households has a DVR – but over 75% have access to the Internet at home. As more and more TV shows air online with shorter or no commercials, computers with Internet access are proving to be more of a threat than DVRs.

Interestingly, Magid Media Futures did a recent online national study and found that the foremost reason people watched shows online wasn’t necessarily to escape commercials. They usually watched shows online so they could catch their favorites at a more convenient time.

However, that doesn’t mean that escaping commercials isn’t still a factor. Commercials online are both shorter and less frequent than TV ads.

Online media buyers can count themselves fortunate in this respect, though: Consumers may be more likely to watch online ads. With the shorter viewing time, it’s less likely that they’ll get up for a five-minute trip to the kitchen, and there is no ad skipping online.

The State of DRTV (Part 2 of 2)

2009-07-13T17:55:00.000-07:00

In our previous post, we talked about DRTV and its newfound rise in the marketing world.

Here are three more great insider tips for how to get the most out of DRTV in today’s consumer market:

You Live in an Online World

When you think of direct response TV, you naturally think of, well, TV. But there’s a big online component to DRTV that you’d be remiss to neglect. Currently, as many as a third of DRTV product sales happen online, not through the 800 number. Don’t forget that many of your consumers will be looking for you online – and may not buy if they can’t find you.

Steal This Product

Your product doesn’t need to be completely new – and in some cases, it can help if it’s not. Think of how many ab machines or slice-and-dicers you’ve seen available. None of them want for customers. Look at what’s succeeded so far and take a hint. It can also give your product validity, since people are suspicious of completely new things.

Shorter is Better

The 120-second spot can do a lot more than you think. They often work especially well for DRTV because consumers can find the product and all of the additional information they’re looking for online. Give them the benefits, the 800 number, and a website, and let them come to you.

The State of DRTV (Part 1 of 1)

2009-06-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

Advertisers of all backgrounds have long considered direct response TV some of the least sophisticated selling in the industry. It turns out DRTV had the right idea – with a dwindling consumer market, people aren’t looking for sophistication.

Making an impulse buy with the promise of their money back sounds pretty sweet to a lot of media buyers, even if they never quite get around to taking producers up on that promise. And as DRTV experts for years have known, they aren’t likely to.

If you’re new to DRTV in today’s market, there’s a few things you should keep in mind:

Prime Time Isn’t an Opportunity

Prime time sounds like a great opportunity for most other advertising types, but for DRTV, it can actually work against you. People watching prime time TV expect to find a certain kind of programming, and they may actually change the channel when they don’t see it. Stick to the audience who wants to find you.

Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket

On average, only about 1 in 5 products put out by major multiproduct marketers actually succeeds commercially. Don’t count on the one product you’re shilling to be your sole source of success.

Tune in for Part II of The State of DRTV.

Experts Weigh in: How Marketers Can Benefit from Both Search and Social Media

2009-05-17T08:39:00.000-07:00

Who doesn’t want to know how to best maximize returns on their search and social media investments? Most online media buying experts will tell you that the best strategy is to integrate both channels.

The difference between search engines and social media. Joel Lapp, Senior Vice President of Account Services at Reprise Media says that lots of marketers view search engines and social media as two completely different entities. However, he states, "These two online mediums have much more in common than you might think."

Social media can improve search rank results. Lapp reveals that social media sites usually rank well in the search engine results.

You'll start to notice that search engines are beginning to provide search media sites results from videos, blog posts and forums. This means you can use search engine advertising to drive people to social media pages. It's a good idea to take advantage of the way search engines rank social media results.

Integrate paid search and social media. Ian Orkondy, Manager of Paid Search at Rosetta, reveals that there are numerous opportunities for marketers to improve the performance of their paid search campaigns by integrating it with social media.

Social media gives marketers an opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and have two-way conversations about their experiences, interests, etc. It's also a great way to test out new ideas.

Find your biggest fans before getting social. Brian Chappell, Social Search Strategist for Ignite Social Media says, "One key element to social media optimization is finding folks interested in your products or initiatives. A way to do this is to find key influencers within a social network that might be interested in your product."

For example, you can go on Facebook and search to find others interested in "real estate investments." The important thing to remember is find your fans before reaching out on social sites.

Cable Finds a Revenue Stream that Works

2009-04-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

Despite the current economy, experts seem to be optimistic about the future of the cable industry. They don't anticipate that cable will experience the same trauma that traditional media is experiencing.

Protected by a dual income stream
One of cable's biggest strengths is its dual income stream which is its biggest protector right now. Even though cable's total ad intake could come in somewhere between being up one percent to being down by three percent during 2009, carriage fees will likely break any fall that occurs.

Broadcast networks fall short
Viewer fragmentation is another big issue. According to Nielsen, data ad-supported cable is up 10 percent in prime season to date, while the Big Four broadcast networks have plummeted another seven percent. The core audience demographic 18 to 49 age group of cable viewers is up nine percent from last year while NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX had a combined drop of 11 percent.

Surviving the economy
If cable giants like Discovery, Turner and Scripps are expected to perform well this year despite the dismal effects of the economy is having on broadcast networks, they still need to make it through the beginning of the first quarter, a period in which media spending typically declines after the holiday season.

To put things into perspective, Peter Koeppel, president of a Dallas media buying agency Koeppel Direct stated, "after 9/11 general advertising cut back significantly and I expect similar cut backs in the second quarter of 2009 which will create more opportunities for direct response advertisers."

Wal-Mart Sails Along in a Sinking Economy

2009-03-28T10:24:00.000-07:00

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is on the upswing despite a struggling economy that is causing consumers to cut back on spending and retail chains to struggle to remain afloat while thousand continue to lose jobs.

Finding success
A week after retailers Best Buy and Starbucks announced more store closings and layoffs to come, Wal-Mart reported that their earnings for the third quarter rose 9.8 percent while sales increased 7.5 percent.

Stores that had been in business for at least a year reported a 3 percent increase in sales – that's twice as much as earnings during the previous year, and much more impressive than almost every other U.S. retailer.

Wal-Mart bounces back
This pattern is largely because of the economic downturn. As consumers seek cheaper products and weaker retailers end up closing up shop, Wal-Mart continues driving down prices, undercutting competitors and squeezing costs from other suppliers.

Tom Schoewe, Wal-Mart's chief financial officer explained, "Our balance sheet is actually stronger than a year ago. If you think of the environment we are in, there are very few people who can say that."

It seems as if the souring economy has resurrected Wal-Mart just as its dominance was being threatened by lower returns on its bigger than life expansion formula, more selective consumers and a growing list of competitors. Now the company's size is its advantage.

Wal-Mart power
According to Michael Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers, for every dollar spent on goods other than cars last year, 8.2 cents went to a Wal-Mart store or Sam's Club, the company's warehouse chain.

DVR Threatens Daytime Viewing Loyalty

2009-02-15T16:42:00.000-08:00

The Syndicated Network Television Association (SNTA) has been telling advertisers for a long time about how day-and-date syndicated programs retain more viewers because people still watch television in traditional ways as scheduled without skipping over the commercials.

But, like so much else in TV, this, too, is changing.

More households are purchasing DVRs. A study of 800 daytime television viewers age 18 to 54 was conducted by New York-based Frank N. Magid Associates. Twenty-five percent to 50 percent of viewers of any particular daytime show are now shifting into digital video recorders (DVRs).

Over one-third of those surveyed had DVRs, while one in five said they planned to purchase one. The survey included 25 daytime shows: all of the network soap operas, seven court shows and eight talk shows.

The number of DVRs in homes is growing according to SNTA. Nielsen reports that 23 percent of homes have a DVR. The numbers are higher among adults 18 to 49 at 29 percent. Media buying agency Koeppel Direct projects that by 2010 approximately one-third of all households will have a DVR.

Why are DVRs such a threat? People use their DVRs to record shows they like that they can then view at any time of the day or night. Many watch nighttime shows on their DVRs during the day. This eats away at a program loyalty and becomes a daily habit.

Bridging the Media Fragmentation Gap: What's on the Horizon? (Part 2 of 2)

2008-11-12T21:19:00.000-08:00

Media fragmentation refers to a range of media options that has more options and content sources than ever before.

Today’s fragmented media playing field is a result of, among other forces, an ever-increasing amount of choices and devices that deliver media to each of us. This presents a “good news/bad news” scenario.

A recent ADOTAS discusses blogs, ad networks and all sorts of solutions. One solution, SRDS, has been used within the ad industry in recent years. It has been recently updated and is now equipped with an improved function and online tools allowing media buyers to navigate the fragmented media environment more effectively.

Media buying and planning solutions. Many seasoned (and newcomer) companies are also offering media buying and planning solutions. They include media research tools and other valuable resources to fit various advertising channels – online, print, events, outdoor, mobile and more.

These solutions include the ability to provide advance planning, knowledge, management and communication features like SRFI and RFP functions for contacting publishers directly.

Media fragmentation will continue to challenge the advertising industry, but new technologically advanced tools along with the increasing number of organizations providing innovative solutions are making great strides toward bridging the gap.

Bridging the Media Fragmentation Gap: What's on the Horizon? (Part 1 of 2)

2008-10-29T05:44:00.000-07:00

Media buyers and sellers are constantly trying to determine the best solution to deal with media fragmentation and the departure from the traditional buying model that advertisers followed successfully for years.

What causes media fragmentation? Consider the following:
• According to Neilsen's “Television Audience 2007” report, the number of TV channels has increased over 53 percent from 1985 to 2007 going from 18.8 channels to 118.6.
• Blog tracking authority, Technorati, reports that every day more than 175,000 new blogs are created.
• A July 2008 Netcraft Web Server Survey reveals that there are more than 175 million unique websites, and the Internet is increasing by 3 million new sites per month.

As these figures show, the media explosion over the past 20-plus years has left both buyers and sellers ill-equipped to deal with the growing number of media options available. It is difficult for media buyers to reach every available media outlet. Media sellers are also left to figure out how to represent an increasingly fragmented audience and guide them towards the relevant buyers.

Ad networks. Ad networks were once heralded as a solution. Buyers would benefit from the way ad networks aggregate smaller audiences and provide much more impressions cheaply for a single purchase. The sellers benefited from how ad networks aggregate buyers, offering a simple process for monitoring any left over inventory.

Still, ad networks were only a short-term solution. They don't effectively deal with the root issue behind media fragmentation. Networks provided no solution for making targeted media purchases more efficient in spite of media fragmentation.

How an Infomercial Can Generate Thousands of Leads

2008-09-21T07:12:00.000-07:00

The perception of the infomercial has changed tremendously since the 1990s.

Now, many mainstream businesses in the mortgage, healthcare and insurance industries can maximize lead generation by producing an infomercial as long as the product presented is good and resonates well with American viewers.

Thousands of leads. Daytime advertising spots are very popular for “nine-to-five” industries like mortgage, healthcare and insurance. A good product and infomercial can generate thousands of leads within the first 10 to 15 minutes that it’s aired.

At least 30 to 40 percent of DRTV infomercial orders are placed online. Most consumers choose to place their product orders online because they have already spent some time on the web getting more information about the product and company after seeing the spot advertised on TV.

Each customer who purchases a product or requests additional information is a viable prospect and a qualified lead. An infomercial is a powerful tool for lead generation because it attracts such a wide audience.

Consider these statistics: Ninety-eight percent of U.S. homes have at least one television, and 60 percent of all television viewers have some cable service providing a much larger channel selection.

According to Advertising Age, 23 percent of women ranked watching TV as their number-one leisure activity. Advertisers are responding by targeting their ads to these (and other relevant) demographics to increase lead generation and, ultimately, sales.

Measuring Audience Engagement

2008-07-30T11:18:00.000-07:00

Measuring Audience Engagement

Some advertisers are starting to look at audience engagement, instead of viewership (eyeballs), as a measurement of the effectiveness of TV programming in connecting with viewers, according to the April 28 issue of Broadcasting & Cable (B&C). Chief Marketing Officers are under pressure to come up with new metrics to measure advertising initiatives and the engagement metric is apparently more acceptable than ROI among general advertisers and their agencies.

IAG Research has come up with a ranking for the top 12 programs by engagement. This ranking reveals some surprising findings. A CW series One Tree Hill is ranked 184th among primetime network series among adults 18-49, based on ratings, however it is tied for sixth place in the IAG engagement rankings. More familiar shows comprise most of the other slots in the top rankings, such as Heroes (ranking #1), Lost, Prison Break and 30 Rock. However, there are other, lesser-known shows, such as Welcome to the Captain and Chuck that also make the list. Heroe’s had an engagement index of 121, which means that viewers of this series are 21% more attentive than viewers of the average primetime series, according to B&C. It’s interesting that Prison Break has more than twice the audience of One Tree Hill, but they are tied in terms of audience engagement.

To read more visit our media buying archives.

DRTV Ads Viewed More Than Others

2008-05-13T14:06:00.000-07:00

More sophisticated marketers, TV networks and their media-buying firms will start looking at data from multiple sources, including Nielsen, TNS and TiVo to better assess viewing patterns. The increased competition may be forcing these companies to improve their measurement techniques. TiVo is recruiting viewers who are willing to provide demographic data, so they can report viewing patterns by demographic groups. Nielsen is working on something called "Anywhere Anytime Media Measurement" that measures all forms of video media consumption. And Nielsen is now measuring DVR data, which looks at programming and commercial minutes most watched in real time and up to seven days later. Even CBS recently teamed up with TiVo to develop new ways to deliver better results for advertisers.

DRTV Ads Viewed More Than Others

One surprising finding from TiVo's data was that direct response TV ads were some the most viewed commercials. Who would have guessed that direct response TV ads would be viewed more than more expensively produced ads with celebrities? Todd Juenger from TiVo, "surmises that the celeb-laden commercials may not do well in TiVo because they tend to be purchased for maximum reach across a broad rather than targeted audience, and targeting appears to be a key ingredient for TiVo viewers," according to Jack Myers’ Digital Video Report.

It's encouraging to see several new companies now competing to provide a more comprehensive profile of TV viewing habits. Infomercial media buying firms armed with this type of data should be able to further improve their client's ROI in today’s more fragmented media environment.

Direct Marketing Success Story Pt. 6

2008-04-01T06:45:00.000-07:00

JDS: What are your thoughts about having and/or dealing with business partners? Some businesses partnerships seem to thrive, while it destroys others.

Peter: In the previous ad agency I worked with I was one of four partners. We each had our own area of expertise, so each partner provided unique talents to the company. We all started off as friends, but I found that over the nine years we worked together we started to grow apart and egos got in the way of working effectively together. I think you need to choose your partners carefully and make sure you feel you can work with those partners through both the good and bad times and that you have similar philosophies about how you plan to manage and grow your business. A partnership is like a marriage, so you need to be prepared to live with your partners over an extended period of time.

JDS: What's the best advice you've received?

Peter: My wife told me it was a great idea for me to start my own business and go out on my own. At the time I started my business I had a fair amount of anxiety and fortunately she had the confidence in me to know I had what it takes to make my business a success.
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JDS: What most impresses you about a person?

Peter: I admire people that are self-starters and who work hard to achieve their goals. We've had several people in our company who started out as receptionists and worked their way up into important positions within Koeppel Direct. My COO started working with me as a college intern and eventually worked her way up to a top position in my company. I'm also impressed with entrepreneurs who have a great idea and are able to do whatever it takes to bring that idea to market. Often this type of person has the ability to bounce back from rejection and has the ability to maintain their drive and desire to succeed through some trying periods.

JDS: If you had it to do all over again, would you do anything differently?

Peter: I probably would have started our online division sooner than I did, looking at the tremendous growth in online advertising over the last five years. I also would have invested in an advanced, direct response media buying and tracking system sooner than I did. The system we have today gives Koeppel Direct some definite competitive advantages.

JDS: Who inspires you now?

Peter: I think that Donald Trump and Donny Deutsch are two successful entrepreneurs that have some good advice for people looking to start or grow their own business. I'm also think that Steve Jobs is a marketing genius and the guys that started Google seem to have a real vision and the resources for growing their business over the long term.

JDS: Do you have any pointers or words of wisdom to give Entrepreneurs and small businesses that want to follow in your footsteps?

Peter: Get involved in a business that you enjoy, since it will consume a big part of your life. Also, surround yourself with smart people that you like to work with and understand their strengths and help nurture those strengths.

JDS: I would like to thank Peter for taking the time to share his insights and story with all of us.

Direct Marketing Success Story Pt. 5

2008-03-25T08:03:00.000-07:00

JDS: How has today's technology helped you?

Peter: It helps us tremendously. We try to hire the best people no matter where they live. So this requires us to communicate with these employees through online and other technologies that weren't around when I started my business. For example, technology allows us to rapidly communicate ideas, strategies, results, etc. both internally and with our clients, which results in us running our business and our clients' direct response media campaigns more efficiently. New technologies have also enabled us to create a proprietary media-targeting platform that allows us to track, analyze and optimize results in real time, which gives us a leg up on our competitors.

JDS: How have things changed in marketing since you started, and how has it stayed the same? What do you think the future holds for marketing your company?

Peter: There's been a definite shift from offline marketing to online marketing over the last five years. I see the online portion of our marketing efforts continuing to grow. The media industry is undergoing profound changes. There's been a dramatic shift in the way marketers are advertising their products and services over the last 10 years. When I first got into the direct response advertising business it was generally thought to be a medium where people would sell slicers and dicers on late night TV. Today, marketers have seen the way that advertising can be measured on the Internet and now they are looking for this same type of measurement in their offline media, such as TV, radio and print.

In addition, the average tenure of a CMO is now only 23 months and they are under increasing pressure to deliver a ROI from their marketing efforts. So marketers are now looking for the type of measurable advertising programs we can offer through direct response marketing. Koeppel Direct's positioning in the marketplace has also evolved over time. We started off as a direct response television media buying agency. Now we've branched into offering our clients multi-channel direct response media buying, including TV, online, radio, mobile and print, in order to efficiently reach consumers through a wide range of media options available to them in today's more fragmented media environment.

JDS: What are your future goals for your company?

Peter: I feel that we are well positioned to capitalize on the trend of clients demanding more of a return on investment from their marketing expenditures, which should translate into continued growth for Koeppel Direct. However, there will always be new challenges that we will face, such as TiVo's affect on consumers viewing of commercials, Google's impact on the media business and consumers gaining more control over the media they consume. So we are constantly assessing theses challenges and adapting our business strategies to address these types of changes in the marketplace.

JDS: How educated do you think you have to be to start and build a business? Do you think you need a college education to be successful? Or do you think any average person can start and build a business in today's world, if they work hard and are persistent?

Peter: I don't think you necessarily need a college education to be a successful entrepreneur. There are many examples of successful entrepreneurs who didn't attend college or dropped out of college to start their company. Both Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, who started Facebook, dropped out of Harvard and Steve Jobs dropped out of Reed College. And all three of them are billionaires today. I went back to school to get an MBA because I didn't have a formal business background and I thought it would provide me with the basic business knowledge needed to effectively run a business. I also thought it would allow me to be considered for certain jobs that require that type of degree. A good business education can be helpful, but many people have built great companies without a college degree.

Direct Marketing Success Story Pt. 4

2008-03-18T08:15:00.000-07:00

JDS: How did you first start promoting your company?

Peter: Our early growth was primarily through one client, Hair Club. I realized this was a dangerous position to be in, but the client was demanding, which didn't leave us much time to pursue business development.

Based on the strong growth of Hair Club, the owner decided to sell the company and the new owners thought they could save money by forming an in-house agency, so we lost the business. (The in-house agency was eventually shut down, so I guess it didn't end up saving the company money.) That year we made about $40,000 in profit. I decided to invest all that money in an annual ad campaign in a direct response trade industry journal and I was able to negotiate a favorable rate by pre-paying for the advertising in advance. During that year a new prospect responded to the ad in the trade journal. That client ended up being one of our largest clients and spent a substantial amount of money with us over the next three to four years.

JDS: Was there any big break that really got you off the ground?

Peter: Our big break was the opportunity to take over the Hair Club corporate advertising in 1997, based on our performance for their franchisees. At the time we started working with Hair Club they had stopped advertising, so we started from scratch rebuilding their marketing campaign, starting with radio advertising, then we got them back on national cable TV and finally we helped them develop a successful infomercial campaign. We proved ourselves each step along the way and worked closely with the client helping return the company to profitability.

JDS: What was the toughest time you had in your business, and how did you get through it?

Peter: I would say there were three tough periods. First was the start up phase. During that phase, our head media buyer quit because our key client was too demanding and during that period we had to scramble to cover our overhead. The second tough period was the loss of our biggest account when their company was sold. A third tough period was when one of our largest clients ran into legal problems, which forced us to resign that business. I would say that we were resilient in all those situations and never gave up and continued to work hard for our clients and simultaneously pumped up our business development efforts. As a result, we also were able to replace the business we lost and continued to grow. During these difficult times we also learned an important lesson about diversifying our client base, so that the loss of any one account would not seriously impact our business.

JDS: What do you think was/is the key factor that made YOU successful, when so many others have failed in starting and building a business? Were you just lucky?

Peter: I think it was a combination of factors that contributed to our success, including doing something I really liked, never giving up, providing a quality service, employing talented people and aggressively marketing our DRTV company. Luck played a part in the process, but it can only carry you so far. I believe if you work hard. It puts you in a position to be lucky more often than usual.

JDS: If you had to choose between good luck and good instincts, which would it be?

Peter: I would have to say that good instincts played a bigger role in my success than luck. Different instincts come into play as the company developed, but being able to guide the company through the inevitable ups and downs and having a vision and direction for the company has been crucial to our success.

JDS: When you're making business decisions, are you more likely to go with your head or your gut?

Peter: I try to look at all the facts, solicit input from key members of our management team and then go with my gut in making business decisions.

JDS: When do you do your best thinking?

Peter: I tend to do my best thinking in the morning while working out and on weekends. I'm constantly jotting down notes to myself regarding new ideas or information that I want to pass onto our management team.

Direct Marketing Success Story Pt. 3

2008-03-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

JDS: How did you get into the "business you're in now"? How did the "Big Idea" come to you?

Peter: I feel that my background working for a diverse range of companies in various marketing positions, including large Fortune 500 companies, a large ad agency, a start up ad agency, combined with my Wharton MBA in marketing, provided me with a strong background for starting and growing my business, Koeppel Direct. When starting my business it wasn't really a big idea that came to me, but more that I liked how direct response advertising allowed companies to measure the ROI from their marketing investments. It was more of a niche area of advertising at the time I started, but I saw firsthand the potential for companies to transform their business utilizing direct response, when I started working on the Hair Club business. Over the course of five years, we were able to help take their business from near bankruptcy, to a high level of profitability. This allowed the owner to sell his business for a high multiple of earnings, and the amount he received for the company greatly exceeded what he had been offered for the company when we first started working with them.

JDS: Did you layout a detailed business plan for it, or was it more a napkin-sized outline?

Peter: I didn't really have a detailed business plan when I started. I liked the direct response business and I saw the potential for growth. I liked the fact that if the client did well you could also do well, so you were really looking out for the client's best interest. In contrast, I had seen brand-advertising agencies spend huge amounts of a client's money, but they couldn't provide their clients with a way to accurately measure the impact of their advertising campaign on sales.

JDS: How did you finance your start up? i.e. Savings, Family, Mortgage, Bank/SBA Loan?

Peter: Fortunately, in the direct response TV business clients pay for their media time in advance, since at the time they tended to be higher risk, start up type businesses. I was able to use the float on the prepayments and the media commissions earned, to initially fund the company. I also put some of my own money into the company and I didn't take a salary for six months, so I could cover the payroll.

JDS: Did you have a detailed spending plan in place for the money you started with? If so, in ballpark percentage terms, how was the money spent; (product/inventory, marketing, employees, tools/equipment, location of operation.) Or was it more, I have this much money to start and I'm going to wing it the best I can?

Peter: I didn't have a detailed spending plan. My strategy was to improve the ROI for the client's I had, which would enable them to increase their advertising spending. I realized early on that the more money they made from their direct response media campaigns, the more money Koeppel Direct would make on media placement. Many of the successful infomercial marketers at the time were hard-core entrepreneurs that were highly demanding and still are today. We always kept in mind that we were spending their money, not a big corporation's money, so it was very important for us to be able to account for every dollar spent and demonstrate how that spending translated into profits for the client. Right from the beginning, I decided we would differentiate ourselves by offering better service, advanced analytics and superior performance, because I knew that was what successful entrepreneurs demanded from their media buying firm.

JDS: As your business progressed, was your growth self-financed through its own success? Or, did you need to raise outside money to grow? If you needed outside capital, how did you get it?

Peter: Our growth has been primarily self-financed. Later in our development, we established a line of credit with our bank, but we rarely have used that line of credit to fund growth.

Direct Marketing Success Story Pt. 2

2008-02-14T08:34:00.000-08:00

JDS: Were you entrepreneurial at an early age? For instance, did you sell lemonade on the corner, shovel sidewalks or deliver newspapers? And if so, did your parents push you that way, or was it more part of your DNA?

Peter: I was not particularly entrepreneurial at an early age, but some of the jobs I had as a kid growing up peaked my interest in a business career. My parents wanted me to be a doctor. My mother often said to me, "If you're not going to be a doctor what are you going to do?" So there was definitely pressure on me to pursue a career in medicine or to pursue an advanced degree or become a professional in some field. I think that was one of the reasons I was motivated to earn an MBA in marketing from The Wharton School. I think the Wharton degree helped to establish my credibility with employers and new business prospects, but once you started working with a company or client the bottom line is the type of performance you can deliver for them and most could care less about your degree.

JDS: Were you ever involved in any other business before you started the infomercial business you're in now? If yes: What happened with it?

Peter: I worked as a brand manager on the Heinz Ketchup business when I got out of Wharton and then I worked at a large advertising agency, The Richards Group, before three other guys from that agency and I left to form our own ad agency, which I discussed earlier. We worked together for nine years before I broke off to form Koeppel Direct. That agency is still in business, but my DRTV agency has grown significantly and is now much larger than that agency.

JDS: Did you ever have a business idea you didn't act on? If yes: Do you ever catch yourself thinking, "Why didn't I do that?" or was it more, "Thank God I didn't do that."

Peter: I've definitely have had business ideas I didn't act on. I decided a number of years ago it was more fruitful for me to concentrate on ideas for growing my business rather than developing new businesses that might be outside my field of expertise.

Direct Marketing Success Story Pt. 1

2008-01-28T08:28:00.000-08:00

Starting from scratch, Peter Koeppel has grown Koeppel Direct into one of the leading direct response media-buying firms in the U.S. Peter is a Wharton MBA, with over 25 years of marketing and advertising experience. Koeppel has helped Fortune 1000 businesses; small businesses and entrepreneurs develop direct marketing and infomercial campaigns to increase profits. Here is part one of an interview of Peter Koeppel by John D. Schulte.

JDS: What was your life like when you were a kid? Were your parent's business owners, or show other entrepreneurial traits?

Peter: My father was an entrepreneur. He owned a car dealership. It was a family business. I worked there growing up doing everything from answering the phones, to moving cars, to helping out in the service department. My parents believed in a good education, so they moved to an area with a good school system in New York. Many accomplished entrepreneurs lived in the area, so I was exposed to a wide range of hard working business people that had achieved financial success by starting their own business.

JDS: Did you have any business people you looked up to, or wanted to be like?

Peter: I was greatly influenced by my uncle, who was an extremely successful entrepreneur. He was a son of an immigrant, who started with nothing and built a banking, real estate and hotel empire. Starting as young boy and through the time I was in college, I worked at his hotel during the summer in various positions, such as a caddy, being in charge of the golf carts and working as a front desk clerk. This experience gave me insight into how a successful business was run and it also gave me the opportunity to see how my uncle conducted business. My uncle was a very hard nosed and intimidating businessman, but he had a soft spot for kids and enjoyed helping them with their careers and other life issues. So he was definitely a mentor to me during my formative years.

One lesson my uncle taught me still stands out in my mind today. My cousin and I were running the driving range at his hotel one summer. While we were picking up golf balls on the range, we left the cash register (it was actually a cigar box) unattended. Later on that day, our boss came by and asked us for the proceeds from the register and then we noticed that the money was missing. He informed us that we were in big trouble and that we needed to tell my uncle about this. My cousin and I were quite nervous about telling my uncle about the loss. We decided that I would be the one to tell him. After he listened to my story, he let us know that my boss had taken the money when we weren't looking to teach us a lesson about keeping track of the company's money. It's a lesson I never forgot.

JDS: What made you want to start your own business?

Peter: I helped build a general ad agency business over nine years with three other partners prior to forming Koeppel Direct. I started working with a few of the franchisees for direct response television marketer, Hair Club for Men, towards the end of my time at that agency. I really liked the accountability of direct response advertising, but the other partners at the agency were more brand advertising oriented and were more interested in winning awards than generating results. They, like many other general ad agency people, looked down on direct response advertising and considered it more selling than advertising. At that point, I felt it would be best if I parted ways with that agency and I decided to start up a direct response media buying business, where I could focus on working for clients interested in measuring and tracking the ROI from their advertising campaign.

It was scary breaking off on my own at a time when I had two young children and my wife wasn't working. My wife was supportive of my endeavor and believed that if I worked hard I could make it a success. It turned out to be a good move. Based on strong results, I was able to secure the media buying for most of the Hair Club franchisees within a year of starting Koeppel Direct. The franchisees then introduced me to the parent company, which was struggling, and they tested my company against their current agency, a big direct response media-buying firm in New York. We were able to reduce their cost per sale by 75% and eventually won their entire business.

The Writers’ Strike: What might it mean for DRTV advertisers?

2008-01-08T12:16:00.000-08:00

As the Hollywood Writers’ Strike continues on without the likelihood of an acceptable compromise in the near future, many wait with anticipation to see how television will hold up.

Even in the face of emerging competition of digital media by way of YouTube and MySpace and the proliferation of shows created exclusively for online distribution, television networks have maintained a position of stability, not considering these additional media outlets to be significant competition.

The Writers’ Strike could change all of that.

Television execs were perhaps unconcerned by the competition of new media because the networks continued to deliver quality, innovative programming that consistently and even increasingly drew viewers and advertisers. But, without the writers, these fresh shows will be no more. Instead, viewers will be subjected to re-runs and more reality-based programming. This could, down the road, lead to decreased ratings and in turn, decreased advertising dollars.

Does this mean a gloomy death for television? Absolutely not!

DRTV marketers would be wise to hold off on reallocating all of their advertising dollars right now. Instead, they would be best served by taking advantage of lower television advertising rates and ramping up dollars spent in online advertising and other new media outlets.

The outcome of this event will be a direct response advertising diversification of sorts, representing a great opportunity for advertisers to take advantage of a growing trend while it’s still in this early stage.

Increasing the Reach of Google's Advertising

2007-12-03T08:28:00.000-08:00

Google is looking to become the dominant player in mobile advertising, just like they have been the leader in online advertising. Google hopes that making it easier for consumers to access the web from their cellphones and making the experience more like that of a personal computer will increase the reach of their advertising. Google said it will likely share ad revenue with the wireless carriers, according to the Wall Street Journal (11/6/07).

Energizing the Mobile Industry

"Just like the iPhone energized the industry, this is a different way to energize the industry," stated Sanjay Jha, COO of Qualcomm (NY Times). Mr. Jha also said Google's efforts will bring more Internet features to moderately priced phones. By allowing outside software developers access to their Android software platform, Google also hopes they will create new types of devices that have both cellphone and wireless Internet capabilities. "As a result of the platform, you'll be able to do amazing things on your phones that you've never been able to do before," says Google CEO Eric Schmidt. (USA TODAY 11/6/07)

Diversifying their Revenue Base

Google is going up against some strong competitors, but they certainly have the clout and resources to gain a significant foothold in the mobile marketplace. Google's surging stock price clearly indicates that Wall Street and investors anticipate that Google will be able to diversify their revenue base from new businesses outside of online advertising. In my opinion, mobile advertising has the potential to be as big as online advertising for Google. It will be interesting to see how Google's venture into mobile plays out over the next few years, since it has the potential to transform the industry.

Peter Koeppel is Founder and President of Koeppel Direct, a leader in DRTV direct response television, online, print and radio media buying, marketing and campaign management. With a Wharton MBA and over 25 years of marketing and advertising experience, Peter has helped Fortune 500 companies, small businesses and entrepreneurs develop direct marketing campaigns to increase profits.

Peter started Koeppel Direct in 1995 and has built it into one of the leading infomercial direct response media buying firms in the U.S.

How To Market to Baby Boomers

2007-11-15T08:47:00.000-08:00

Boomers were the first generation to grow up with TV, so it makes sense that they still prefer this medium as they age. In fact, on average, Boomers watch 22 minutes more TV per day than younger people, according to Nielsen Media Research. And since TV viewership increases with age, as the Boomers mature, their TV viewing time will continue to rise. What does this mean for infomercial marketers?

Focus on the right type of programming. Boomers tend to watch programs that center around life stages. For older Boomers, shows like CSI and Law and Order are favorites. Older Boomers also prefer news programs and are less interested in reality TV. For younger Boomers, shows like Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives are popular. Additionally, science fiction programming is popular with all Boomers, perhaps because this generation watched so much of the genre while growing up. Therefore, if you want your TV ads to reach Boomers in the most cost efficient manner, you have to place them during the shows that Boomers watch.

Boomers don't multi-task. While younger TV viewers are likely to be online while watching TV and may even interact with the program via online voting, text messaging or chat rooms, don't count on that with Boomers. They tend to focus on one media at a time. For media buying experts, that means Boomers won't likely type in your displayed web address while watching your commercial spot. Rather, they'll pick up the phone and call the toll free number you display or go to your website after they finish watching a TV show.

Help Boomers identify with your ads. Since Boomers are not in their 20s and 30s anymore, make sure your ads reflect the needs, wants, and images of older Americans. A 20-year-old perfectly airbrushed model touting an anti-wrinkle cream won't speak to the Boomer market. Go for more mature spokespersons and really do your homework to determine how your product or service helps Boomers. The big categories or "hot buttons" for boomers are security, longevity, money management, wealth transfer, lowering their bills, and travel.

Is the DVR the Demise of TV Advertising?

2007-10-24T15:14:00.000-07:00

The Leichtman study predicts that the number of U.S. households with DVRs will grow to over sixty million by the end of 2011. Does that mean that drtv advertisers will have a harder time reaching people who can fast-forward through the commercials? Not necessarily.

The study also points out that while eighty-four percent of DVR owners rate the ability to skip commercials as very important, only eight percent of DVR owners say it is the greatest benefit of having a DVR. Additionally, forty-five percent of DVR owners record five or fewer programs per week, again pointing to the preference for live TV.

The Growth of DRTV

2007-10-01T11:46:00.000-07:00

Sieglinde Friedman, VP of communications and strategy at the Electronic Retailing Association, has followed the growth of DRTV and infomercial advertising. "The Geicos and Procter & Gambles are using the actual methodology of direct response – basically, wrapping content around anything in a compelling way with a call to action: 'Come to my Web site!'" Friedman says.

Observes Koeppel: "Consumers who view direct response television appear to be more engaged consumers. And, because of that, marketers are able to develop more of a relationship with those consumers, because they're going to the Web and doing research, or they are talking to a customer service person. It's more of an interactive relationship."

Even in today's fragmented media world, consumers still turn to direct response television. Marketers are integrating multimedia approaches into their strategies, while embracing the essential elements that have made DRTV so effective for so long

Infomercial DRTV

2007-09-17T09:04:00.000-07:00

Infomercial DRTV is the leading web site for cutting edge information about infomercials. The site is designed to answer all your questions about infomercial marketing. Infomercial DRTV will help explain the entire infomercial marketing process, including evaluating infomercial products, determining the optimal price points, measuring infomercial ROI, understanding the infomercial target audience, infomercial production, infomercial media testing, campaign rollout, infomercial back end sales, the role of the Internet in infomercial marketing, and taking infomercial products to retail, among other topics. Inventors, entrepreneurs and infomercial marketers rely on Infomercial DRTV for the most comprehensive information on infomercial marketing.

Click Here to visit Infomercial DRTV

The Expanding Influence of the Googlopoly

2007-09-04T08:54:00.000-07:00

An article titled Googlopoly in the July issue of MEDIA magazine explores Google's expanding media empire and how it might affect the drtv ad industry. Google has gained a foothold in the TV, radio, newspaper and online ad businesses, and they now own the largest online video site. Here's how Google's media assets are allocated among the various mediums and how those assets were created over the last year:

They purchased dMarc to establish a presence in the radio industry and also formed a relationship with Clear Channel to gain inventory on 675 radio stations.

- Their acquisition of YouTube for $1.65 billion establishes them as a leader in the user-generated video business.

- They formed a partnership with EchoStar (Dish satellite TV), which provides them with access to the ad serving and viewer research from Dish's 13 million+ TV households.

- They are partnering with major newspapers to offer print media to their advertisers.

- They are attempting to purchase DoubleClick, to help them dominant the online display advertising business.

Peter Koeppel is Founder and President of Koeppel Direct, a leader in DRTV and direct response television online, print and radio media buying, marketing and campaign management. With a Wharton MBA and over 25 years of marketing and advertising experience, Peter has helped Fortune 500 companies, small businesses and entrepreneurs develop direct marketing campaigns to increase profits.

Multichannel marketing fuels DRTV growth

2007-07-26T14:46:00.000-07:00

By adapting interactive media and using direct response television for nontraditional purposes, multichannel marketers are growing the DRTV industry as a marketing medium, according to a new study from the Electronic Retailing Association, called The Evolving Role of Direct Response Television in Multichannel Marketing Execution. The report, conducted by the Winterberry Group, attributes the growth largely to DRTV marketers who are accelerating their adoption and customization of emerging technologies, especially in the interactive sphere of the Web.

"The consumer is in charge - that is the big message here," said Sieglinde Friedman, vice president of board and strategy at the ERA. "It used to be all about the call to action call, right then and there: 'Call this number: We're having a 75 percent sale.' That's an old model in a way, because the consumer is finding its product in many different ways and DRTV recognizes that. [Marketers] are much busier now than [when consumers were just driven] from an 800 number."

The report shows that the DRTV industry is being reshaped by the increasing number of brand marketers in the DRTV space, the growing use of DRTV to develop and nurture customer relationships rather than merely sell individual products and the increasing use of DRTV to drive Web and retail traffic.

"This study helps to reinforce that direct response is really coming to prominence and more and more marketers - larger marketers, brand marketers, marketers looking to drive retail and looking to drive their Web traffic and sales - are going to be adopting and considering direct response," said Peter Koeppel, president and founder of Koeppel Direct, a direct response media buying agency in Dallas.

"It also helps to reinforce what we've been trying to sell to marketers - Fortune 1000 marketers - who haven't maybe entered the space yet: that DRTV does really have value," Koeppel added. "In today's more fragmented media environment you have to understand different media channels and how they are going to impact on your sales and work together to build sales or build brand or drive retail."

The study aimed to understand the rationale behind the perpetual success of DRTV and involved interviews and surveys with about 100 senior industry executives in North America.

source:dm news

Smokin' DVD sales through DRTV

2007-06-19T07:04:00.000-07:00

Northern Lights Direct Response Television has launched a campaign to promote a 50th anniversary DVD edition of the classic Western TV series "Gunsmoke," the longest-running drama in TV history.

The national campaign, which includes both 60 and 120 second DRTV commercials, was created for BMG Columbia House as part of their promotion of the Columbia House TV on DVD club.

"This campaign is really media-specific driven, targeting people who are watching nostalgia stations, Western stations and re-run stations," said Ian French, president/chief creative officer of Northern Lights Direct Response Television. "It's a small thing but it's a fundamental shift in the way that Columbia House has used DRTV. It's really niche, which is common in the brand world, but it's very uncommon practice in the DRTV world."

The campaign looks to broaden the audience beyond "Gunsmoke" to target those viewers who enjoy learning about the history of the frontier.

Christena Garduno, chief operations officer of Koeppel Direct, the multichannel direct response television (DRTV) company that handled the media buys for the "Gunsmoke" campaigns in the last two years, said Columbia House had not had success with TV in the past and turned to direct mail instead.

"What's made this campaign unique and successful is the strategy we recommended about how to go about buying media," Ms. Garduno said. "What we would do is take the classic titles that we knew networks were airing with frequency and knew there must be an audience for." Using this strategy, the company ran ads against "Gunsmoke," "Murder, She Wrote" and "Little House on the Prairie."

This is a different strategy than the one the company used for its direct mail pushes.

"What works for Columbia House in direct mail doesn't necessarily cross over into TV and vice versa really," Ms. Garduno said. "It's almost a very simple strategy: 'Let's use our understanding of the media and how networks select and what's involved with that and use that knowledge and apply it to a campaign like Columbia House.' " The previous "Gunsmoke" campaign, which was season-specific, aimed to persuade viewers to order the first season of the show by offering them the second one free. The new campaign offers volumes instead of seasons and each volume includes "best of" shows from all 20 years the show ran.

"It's designed with a very strong sales message, of course, but it starts off with a little bit about 'Gunsmoke,' " Mr. French said.

The latest spot shows a toll-free number and offer URL at www.gunsmokecollection.com.

The financial details of the current and the previous "Gunsmoke" campaigns were not disclosed. However, Ms. Garduno said Koeppel Direct definitely exceeded its cost-per-order goal on the first run.

Mr. French said Columbia House had success with the first "Gunsmoke" DRTV push.

"That's why they've gone back to this one," he said, "because it's proven so effective."

Mix Up Your DRTV Marketing Mix

2007-06-09T06:01:00.000-07:00

When San Diego's modern art museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD), decided to market its expanded downtown location early this year, it wanted to attract an entirely new population of museum-goers -- young ones. Specifically, the museum wanted to find art lovers under the age of 25, to whom it would offer free admission.

There was one problem, though. Used to interacting with an older audience via traditional advertisements, the museum realized that its tried-and-true media buying and marketing tools were the very same ones being rejected as suspect and old fashioned by most modern-day young people. A standard newspaper ad would no longer do. It needed something different.

"Our greatest results are coming from a combination of more traditional media outlets with other, more extreme non-traditional ones," says Jonathan Bailey, CEO of Bailey Gardiner, the San Diego-based integrated marketing company that MCASD hired to help it reach its new demographic. "Our ideal strategy for clients is at least a 50 percent spend on non-traditional mediums."

The strategy his team recommended for MCASD was no different. The museum launched a traditional ad campaign via magazines and billboards in order to reach its older base of customers. It coupled that, however, with an interactive viral Web site, www.feedthegreedyorgan.com, designed to encourage younger consumers to "feed their greedy organ" -- their eyes -- with a free visit to the museum. The museum's traditional ads drove traffic to the non-traditional Web site, resulting in a 200 percent increase in museum attendance by the under-25 set.

The lesson for small business owners is this: In order to succeed with your marketing dollars, integrate, innovate and interact. "You need every marketing dollar to count," Bailey says, "so simply relying on methods that might work for Fortune 500 companies and household brand names will not work for emerging companies."

Peter Koeppel Selected for Honorary Committee & Advisory Board for The Wheelchair Foundation Dinner

2007-06-04T15:12:00.000-07:00

Dallas, TX -- (MARKET WIRE) – June 4, 2007 – The Wheelchair Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to providing wheelchairs to those in need, announced today that Peter Koeppel, president of a leading direct response television DRTV media buying firm, Koeppel Direct, was chosen to become a member of the Honorary Committee and the Advisory Board for the Wheelchair Foundation dinner.

The Wheelchair Foundation event will take place on October 26, 2007 at the Trump National Golf Course in Ranchos Palos Verdes, CA. The event is being coordinated by Imagine Fulfillment Services (IFS) and will kick off with a reception at 5 p.m., followed by dinner and a program at 6:30 p.m. “Peter will make a great contribution to this very special and important event,” said Andy Arvidson, Imagine Fulfillment Services. Peter is also supporting the Wheelchair Foundation Auction www.Flippid.com that went live on May 20, 2007, in order to raise funds for the Wheelchair Foundation.

The Wheelchair Foundation is a nonprofit organization leading an international effort to create awareness of the needs and abilities of people with physical disabilities, to promote the joy of giving, create global friendship, and to deliver a wheelchair to every child, teen and adult in the world who needs one, but cannot afford one.

During the past year, many companies in the direct response business, such as Koeppel Direct, have contributed to a fund raising effort for the Wheelchair Foundation. As little as $75 can provide a wheelchair for someone in need. To date, the direct response industry has raised more than $200,000 for the Foundation.

About Peter Koeppel

Peter Koeppel is founder and president of Koeppel Direct, a leader in direct response television (DRTV), online, radio and print media buying. Peter is a Wharton MBA, with over 25 years of marketing and advertising experience. Koeppel has helped Fortune 1000 businesses; small businesses and entrepreneurs develop direct marketing campaigns to increase profits. For more information visit www.koeppeldirect.com or call 972-732-6110.

New Niches for DRTV

2007-05-02T07:09:00.000-07:00

I read an article recently in a housewares industry publication about a bidding process that has been established by major retailers called a reverse auction. The way it works is that suppliers are required to submit bids, typically online, and the lowest bidder gets to sell its product line to the retailer. This bidding practice has further squeezed the already thin profit margins realized by the suppliers.

If you think about it, this creates a great opportunity for the DRTV industry. Household product suppliers that manufacture products suited for direct response should now be more open to marketing their products directly to consumers, in order to increase profit margins. And the proliferation of new cable television networks, such as HGTV and The Food Network, allows marketers to more precisely target their message to specific audiences.

Explaining the Latest Technologies

Another industry that could benefit from utilizing direct response television advertising is technology. There are many new, high-tech gizmos being introduced that are confusing to consumers and, as a result, fail.

An infomercial is the perfect platform to explain how these new technologies work, how easy they are to use and how they can make your life easier and save you time and money. AOL, Windows 95 and TiVo all had varying degrees of success utilizing infomercials to introduce new technologies. And technology oriented audiences can now be effectively targeted through networks such as Tech TV and the Sci-Fi Channel.

DRTV CROSS-CHANNEL THINKING

2007-04-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

DRTV advertising is a metrics-driven business, and media buying is all about efficiency. How many dollars do you get from an advertisement or a particular media channel in return for the dollars you spend? Upon entering the online world, agencies agree, advertisers thinking strictly in those terms will tend to put all of their money into paid-search ads on engines, such as Google and Yahoo. Paid search usually has the highest efficiency, by far, of all forms of online advertising, so that strategy seems obvious.

But it quickly leads to problems, says Jeremi Karnell, president and co-founder of One to One Interactive, a Charlestown, Mass., marketing agency specializing in digital media. "It's a mistake to throw all of your money into paid search," Karnell says. "It's like a drug: Companies see how efficient it is at the beginning, and they can't get enough. They pay no attention to testing other channels, and then they're left hanging when the inventory runs out and the efficiency is gone."

Paid search often is the best place to start with online advertising, Karnell says; it just isn't the place to stop. "Any single channel [for DR products] has a short lifespan," he says. "That's true everywhere, but especially online."

It's easy to track and measure the number of clicks on a paid-search ad that translated directly into sales on your website. What isn't so easy to figure out is what motivated those ready buyers to click through to you in the first place. Did they recognize your name when it popped up among the paid listings on Google, because they had seen some of your seemingly inefficient banner ads previously? Or, maybe visitors clicked on one to check you out before they were ready to buy. Karnell points to recent research by the Atlas Institute showing a 20-percent increase in sales when DRTV campaigns mix paid-search ads with display (banner) advertising, rather than relying solely on one or the other.

DRTV Hybrid Media Plans

2007-04-16T06:46:00.000-07:00

Direct Response TV Vendors

In order to maximize your chances of having a successful direct response television marketing campaign, it's important to align yourself with experienced vendors in all aspects of your DRTV program, including direct response TV media buying, telemarketing, DRTV production, fulfillment and card processing. Make sure you do your homework and work with seasoned DRTV vendors. They understand how to construct a successful direct response TV campaign and have worked with other successfully direct response television marketers, so they know the formula for success. They also can help evaluate your product to determine if it's appropriate for DRTV.

DRTV Hybrid Media Plans

Many savvy marketers are now utilizing a hybrid DRTV approach. This allows the marketer to take advantage of lower DRTV media rates, while also incorporating traditional advertising metrics such as CPM's, impressions and rating points into their DRTV media plan. Frequently, the buyers at the leading retail chains are looking to stock successful direct response TV products at their stores. However, they are accustomed to reviewing media plans with traditional advertising metrics. That's why this type of hybrid DRTV media buying approach is particularly valuable for direct response television marketers looking to impress retail buyers. In addition, this type of hybrid DRTV media plan can deliver a larger audience than a traditional media plan, at a lower cost. A comprehensive hybrid direct response TV media program can help differentiate your product from other's in the marketplace and result in stronger sales DRTV and retail sales.

Is the Decline of Cable an Opportunity for DRTV Marketers?

2007-04-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

This is the time of year that all the drtv media experts attempt to predict advertising spending for the coming year and analyze trends for the past year. In reviewing various reports and articles, one trend that stood out was the growing weakness in national cable TV sales. The growth in total cable ad spending was expected to slow to 6% in 2006 from 11% in 2005, according to TNS Media Intelligence. This represents a significant drop in ad spending. Cable ad sales were described as "very, very weak" across the board, according to an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. (Wall Street Journal 11/25/06)

Cable TV has enjoyed consistent growth over the last 25 years as the service expanded across the country and drtv advertisers shifted their budgets to this medium. Now those days are over according to the WSJ. Money is shifting to the Internet and Internet ad spending is experiencing double-digit growth in the range of 15%-30% annually.

Innovative Direct Response to Launch DRTV Campaign for Homefield Financial

2007-03-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

Innovative Direct Response, LLC has won the contract to launch Homefield Financial's, www.homefield.com, national DRTV campaign.

As one of Inc's 500 Fastest Growing Companies in America, Homefield Financial offers consumers a wide variety of loan options while making the home buying experience process fast and convenient. To that end, an extensive DRTV marketing campaign targeting homeowners of all ages and credit levels is being developed to include a 60-second and 30-second short-form commercial campaign driving customers to an 800 number and/or website to find out more about special loan programs. A strategic blend of DRTV and branding elements will be incorporated in the spots to aid in the long-term branding. The national media strategy will be developed by Koeppel Direct.

The New High-Tech Face of DRTV Advertising

2007-03-12T12:29:00.000-07:00

Advertising your toy store on blogs, mobile phones and podcastsm ay seem surreal to you now, but high-tech forms of communication are merging into the mainstream.

Rapid advances in technology have changed everything from health care to communication. As the latest technology becomes more accessible to a broader market, the DRTV advertising field is changing too. Ten years ago, you could plan your direc response advertising campaign around a few television commercials and print advertisments. Until now, most companies would never have considered spending a sizable portion of their advertising budget on the Internet, but in 2006 online ad expenditures are expected to reach $17 billion.

Advertisers who want to reach their audience and remain competitive in this high-tech world have to change with the times. They must keep abreast of emerging new technologies, what direct response media types are most popular, and how consumers use what is available to them. If you want to stay current and advertise your products and services in ways that reach your target audience on their turf, consider the following forms of emerging media.

Radio Advertisers Want More Of 'Less,' Short Ad Formats Gain

2007-03-06T07:46:00.000-08:00

RADIO AD SALES FIRM INTEREP says demand for short-form direct response television radio spots is booming--although overall numbers remain low, as measured by billing figures. According to Interep, the number of 10- to-15-second spots it sold and placed jumped 400% in 2006 compared to 2005, while 30-second spots grew a remarkable 1000%, for a total rise of 680%. Still, these short-form spots represented only about 10% of total ad billing, but 30-second spots take the lion's share of that--about 7%.

Kirk Combs, general manager of Interep's D&R Radio, said: "Clearly, we are going to see more and more business availed in 2007 requesting shorter-form commercials. The Interep numbers, as well as supporting industry data, speak for themselves."

Although Interep's report made no mention of industry giant Clear Channel Radio, the national radio owner's concerted push to reduce ad clutter, with its "Less Is More" initiative, doubtless played a role in the move to shorter spots.

All Clear Channel stations participated in the "Less Is More" campaign beginning in December 2004. Clear Channel controls 11% of the country's radio stations. The campaign wrapped up in January 2007 with an internal memo from Clear Channel Radio boss John Hogan declaring victory.

Clear Channel maintained the push in the face of widespread skepticism.

Media Daily News

Billboards draw DRTV customers

2007-02-28T12:30:00.000-08:00

According to the Direct Marketing Association, using photos in outdoor advertising creates a 300-percent greater recall than ads without photos. Also, a colored background organizes the information and enables the viewer to read it 26-percent faster, according to the Pennsylvania College of Optometry.

"Billboard advertising works and it works very well, if it is used properly," said Cleveland. "High-quality graphics are critical. One of the great things for drtv advertisers is that the technology for printing outdoor graphics is photographic. It is like product packaging - you have to have an appetizing photograph."

Cleveland added that billboards can fail when an advertiser tries to do too much. "So many times billboards are ineffective because we try to use them to communicate more than they can communicate, or to communicate too complex an idea. It takes too long for a person viewing the billboard to understand the message."

An example is a sign plastered with a number of Web site addresses, phone numbers and logos. Too much of a good thing has the wrong effect when passers-by have seconds to read as they speed past.

For a billboard to maximize its per view direct response television potential, Cleveland suggests first determining what the ad needs to accomplish.

"There are certain products or services that may not benefit that well from outdoor advertising," said Cleveland. "A branding message that isn't complicated works the best."

Cleveland warns against a message that grows stale. Depending on the location of the billboard, most target consumers see a billboard's message continually - on their way to and from work, for instance. Constantly refreshing messages is the solution to keeping the billboard from being ignored.

DRTV Marketing Tactics

2007-02-23T11:42:00.000-08:00

What are the challenges that entertainment executives are facing today and how can drtv marketers help them?

Consumers are downloading TV shows, videos and music on their iPods and other mobile devices. They are watching less TV and using DVRs [digital video recorders] to skip through commercials. They are going to fewer movies and renting fewer DVDs from traditional bricks-and-mortar stores like Blockbuster, instead accessing films through on-demand services or outfits like Netflix. Giving executives new strategies and options to not only deal with these changes but also to capitalize on them will differentiate savvy vendors from those who don't understand what's going on in the industry.

What are the best media vehicles for reaching these execs?

This audience can be reached through industry publications and Web sites from such trusted and longstanding b-to-b [publications] as Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, as well as through certain consumer publications such as Vanity Fair .

What direct response marketing tactics are best to engage this audience?

DRTV marketing messages need to be highly creative in order to appeal to this audience creativity is their business, after all. The messages also have to be informed and accurate. Direct Response companies targeting this audience need to be well-versed in all the latest trends and technologies, and present themselves as solutions-driven experts in this field.

Peter Koeppel is Founder and President of Koeppel Direct

Common DRTV Mistakes

2007-02-22T09:17:00.000-08:00

NOT DEVELOPING A COMPETITIVE PRICING STRATEGY AND A COMPELLING OFFER

Make sure your product has a competitive price and that the offer will capture the target audience's attention. If your product is priced at $29.95 or under it can generally be sold through a short form commercial (:120, :60). Products priced over $29.95 are usually sold most effectively through an infomercial (28:30). Lead generation DRTV campaigns can be marketed through both short form and long form direct response TV campaigns. Develop and test several offers, in order to determine the offer that will generate the best results. The offer consists of the product, pricing, number of payments, etc. By offering the consumer an incentive to call now, through a discount or a free, related item can be an effective method of generating more calls and additional revenue.

AVOID PRODUCTS THAT DON'T SOLVE A PROBLEM AND AREN'T DEMONSTRABLE

Products that allow consumers to quickly solve a problem work best on TV. Television provides the marketer with an ideal environment to demonstrate how a product works and how it can benefit the consumer. Products that are highly demonstrable work particularly well in DRTV advertising, since the format provides the marketer with ample time to show the consumer why their product is worth purchasing.

We buy media and do the campaign management for the leading ladder infomercial product. The ladder turns into 25 different ladders. Their infomercial does a terrific job of demonstrating all the ways you can use it around the home and how it can make your life easier, so it's a perfect product for an infomercial format.

NOT UNDERSTANDING A DRTV MEDIA TEST

A direct response television media test is designed to provide the marketer with a read on the viability of successfully selling their product on TV. The media test usually runs over one to two weeks and $10-$20,000 is typically budgeted. A short form media test is often run on national cable and satellite networks, since they deliver the best CPM's (Cost Per Thousand Viewers reached). An infomercial media test typically consists of airings on smaller national cable and satellite networks and local broadcast stations. The larger national cable networks are usually too expensive for a media test. There are 1700 local broadcast stations, so there are some excellent infomercial media deals in local markets.

The media buying agency will provide you with daily and weekly reports that will show how each network/station performed during the test. By analyzing these results, the media buyer will be able to buy more of what's working and to drop the networks/ stations/dayparts that are not working, in order to optimize performance.

During the rollout phase of the campaign, the idea is to build up the media budgets, while maintaining a profitable ROI. For example, if you are spending $100,000/week in media and bringing in $200,000 in revenue, you are going to make more profit than buying $10,000/week in media and bringing in $20,000 in revenue.

Peter Koeppel is Founder and President of Koeppel Direct

Consider Your DRTV Options

2007-02-20T07:52:00.000-08:00

Many types of online advertising and marketing services exist, such as pop-up or pop-under ads; banner ads; rich media ads, which include flash ads, interstitials (a page inserted in the normal flow of content between a user and the site), and superstitials (a page that loads behind an active web site, meaning the user doesn't see the ad until it's totally downloaded and ready to run); streaming audio video; skyscraper ads; rollover ads that expand as your mouse runs across them; e-mail sponsorship ads; newsletter and e-zine ad sponsorships; advertorial placements; search engine optimization; and affiliate programs where one web site promotes another web site's products in exchange for a commission and transactions are tracked through unique codes. Each of these options offers drtv advertisers unique advantages for reaching their target audience.

A huge demand for Internet advertising on the major net portals, such as CNN, Yahoo, MSN, etc., exists. This demand has actually caused a shortage of time slots. As a result, companies who are interested in running their ads or commercials online should consider doing so on their own web sites. Recent technology enables anyone who comes to your site to view your commercial regardless of what type of browser they have. So when a person goes to your site, the commercial automatically starts playing.

The complexity of all these online advertising options requires that you work with an ad agency that has a thorough knowledge of the medium. An experienced online direct response television media buying agency can help you decide what Internet options are most cost-effective and effective for your company.

Peter Koeppel is Founder and President of Koeppel Direct

Return on Your DRTV Advertising Investments

2007-02-16T15:09:00.000-08:00

The largest single expenditure of many marketers is allocated toward media spending. But not all advertising investments are effective. Ad content aside, marketers may spend thousands on a direct response television campaign that reaches the wrong people. Or worse yet, they may pay a premium price for mediocre media exposure. Ultimately, to reach the right audience and get the most response, you need to invest your advertising dollars wisely.

Wise media investment means knowing what outlets are available, what spots on each one should cost, and how to plan the right mix of media outlets appropriate for the particular product or service. But when you're busy managing your business or running your department, you may not have the time or experience to make well-planned and researched advertising investments. For this reason, you shouldn't attempt media planning alone. The most successful marketers seek the advice of seasoned media buying experts to ensure the ongoing achievement of their advertising campaign. A multi-channel media buying agency has expertise in buying all forms of advertising.

A seasoned media buyer can maximize the return on your advertising investments. Consider the following four ways a media buyer can help increase the effectiveness of your advertising:

1. Maximize Advertising Profits

With all the media options available today, you need to work with a DRTV media agency who knows how to put together a plan that maximizes the results for your product. When you do it on your own, you won't be able to figure out what will work best for you, and you will probably end up paying too much. Good media buyers have access to information that allows them to secure the best rates and the optimal level of media clearance. Keep in mind; media buyers probably have a long list of clients, so they may also buy time for companies in the same industry in other markets. This is great news for you, because they can then apply what's working in other markets when buying in yours.

Because of their buying power and leverage, media buyers have access to cheaper advertising rates. For example, magazines always have a few pages left at the end of each month to get rid of, so they sell this space at a reduced, remnant rate. While you probably won't have access to this space on your own, your media agency will.

Peter Koeppel is Founder and President of Koeppel Direct

Branding for DRTV Success

2007-02-15T15:57:00.000-08:00

1. Develop an Ongoing DRTV Advertising Campaign with a Consistent Message

Don't run a TV ad one day where you call your company the "low price leader," and then do a radio ad where you call your company the "solution for the discerning customer." Those are two completely different brands and images, and you'll only end up confusing your prospects. Realize that no brand is born overnight. It takes lots of repeated messages to get the brand into people's minds. So be consistent with your advertising messages. Additionally, advertise on a continuous basis. That's the only way people will become familiar with you, thus increasing your name and brand recognition.

5. Use Public Relations to Get Your Name Out There

Along with advertising, you need to do some public relations to make your name known. One great way is to write and publish articles about your business and industry. You can also be a featured guest on radio and TV programs. A good PR firm can help get you in the media's limelight. Without a doubt, public relations is a great and easy way to increase your name recognition.

6. View Branding as an Ongoing Business Strategy

Branding is not something you do for a few days and then forget about it. Branding must be a constant in your company's business strategy. Brand loyalty and brand recognition can decline unless you revitalize your brand on an ongoing basis. Many businesses reinvent or rebrand themselves every few years to achieve a higher level of consumer recognition or because of problems or negative stigma associated with their current brand. Regardless of your product or brand, or how long you've successfully had it, to remain competitive, you must adapt your brand based on changing trends in the marketplace.

Branding for Success

Remember that direct response television branding takes time. That's why you must integrate all these strategies over the long-term to build a brand. No matter when you start your branding efforts, branding your business is an important part of any successful marketing strategy. You want your customers to think of high value and quality when they think of your product or service. By branding your business, you make that happen. A strong brand also makes your company more valuable. When you successfully follow these strategies for branding your business, you can enjoy the name recognition and increased profits that come from having a great brand that everyone knows and loves.

Peter Koeppel is Founder and President of Koeppel Direct

Future Trends in DRTV Advertising

2007-02-14T10:53:00.000-08:00

The future of advertising seems to be heading towards:

A convergence of TV watching and the web, where consumers will be able to order directly off their TV by clicking icons.

A blurring of the lines between direct response television advertising and programming.

Consumers having greater control over access to programming and commercials.

The current advertising model is not going to hold up forever based on ad viewership trends. Perhaps, in the future, consumers will be required to watch a certain number of ads in order to receive TV for free. PVR's can track this type of activity. This type of arrangement has been offered by some Internet service providers, who provide free service in return for the consumer being exposed to advertising.

Even though the number of viewers using PVR's now is relatively small, this is a good time to start formulating strategies to respond to the growing ad zapping trend. If the DRTV industry and people associated with the industry do not address the issue soon, we could end up in a position similar to what happened with the recording industry, which has seen their business decimated by downloading.

Peter Koeppel is Founder and President of Koeppel Direct

Optimize Your DRTV Media Campaign

2007-02-14T08:47:00.000-08:00

Koeppel Direct is a world-class direct response media buying agency specializing in multi-channel direct response Television, online, radio and print campaign management. The firm is headed by Wharton MBA Peter Koeppel. The agency places an emphasis on direct marketing, because of Peter Koeppel's 25 years of direct response marketing and advertising experience.

What We Do

Koeppel Direct manages media campaigns for DRTV advertisers seeking measurable, consistent, positive results, immediately and long term. Our experts create targeted, effective, direct response media buys that optimize our clients return on their media investments.

How We Do It

We integrate all the key elements of a direct response media buy, to ensure the success of a client's direct response campaign. Prior to launching a campaign, we use competitive media research and analysis, which allows us to buy the most efficient media for each campaign. We then apply proven statistical techniques to successfully manage our direct response media buys. Our approach enables Koeppel Direct to deliver direct response media buys that generate profitable results.

A Staff of Seasoned Media Experts

Our staff consists of seasoned, top-level advertising professionals, who came from prominent direct response television media buying firms and ad agencies. Our staff works closely with our clients, guiding them through all the stages of the buying process, from media testing and analysis, through rollout. All of our media buyers have significant handson experience. Our expertise is second to none.

How We've Been Doing

We've built a powerful reputation for success. Our clients have the final say:

Koeppel Direct's media buying expertise has played an integral role in making my company successful. Koeppel generated so much business for our company, occasionally we had to limit their media buys, in order to handle all the new business.

Peter Koeppel is Founder and President of Koeppel Direct

DRTV Upsells & Continuity

2007-01-24T07:54:00.000-08:00

Make sure to utilize upsells and continuity programs in your DRTV program. These can help your direct response Television (DRTV) campaign generate additional revenue that will result in a more profitable DRTV campaign. An example of an upsell would be selling the customer a related item or additional item at a discount when they order your product through a DRTV ad campaign. Continuity programs involve sending a product to a customer, with their permission, on a regular basis, for example each month or every 60 days. Continuity programs provide ongoing income from your direct response television campaign. With a typical DRTV campaign, 30-40% of the customers decide to become part of a DRTV continuity program and stay on the plan for an average of 3-6 months. The amount of time that consumers stay on the continuity program differs depending upon the type of product you are marketing through your direct response TV advertising. There are specific rules regarding continuity programs. Make sure to work with telemarketing and law firms that are well versed in these rules.

Direct Response TV and the WEB

2007-01-24T07:51:00.000-08:00

It’s essential to include your website in any DRTV commercial or infomercial. Between 15-50% of direct response TV (DRTV) sales are now occurring on the web. Approximately 50% of people who are watching TV are also online at the same time, so it’s easy for them to go to your website after viewing a DRTV commercial. Many direct response TV marketers also air their commercial on their website, so a consumer can watch it again if they missed part of it on TV. Websites are also a great place to further educate consumers about your DRTV product. Many consumers nowadays prefer to research a direct response TV product on the web before making a purchase decision, so it’s essential to make sure you develop a website that complements your DRTV commercial or infomercial.

Peter Koeppel is Founder and President of Koeppel Direct