A Beginner’s Guide To Direct Response TV (DRTV)

You may be the greatest inventor of all time or you may have purchased an old patent that no one has cared about in years. Regardless of how you did it, you have a product you think would be perfect for direct response television (DRTV) and now you need to follow through. You’ve all viewed the late night pitchman hawking some sort of gadget at three in the morning. What you may not know is that direct response is a multi billion dollar industry and it takes luck, determination, a good network and lots of money (usually) to find success.

I’ve found from my own experience it takes a lot of phone calls to piece together enough useful information to make headway in the industry if you are a beginner. The people that do this for a living hear thousands of pitches per year and tend to know what works and what doesn’t for direct response and they are usually not easily impressed. Failure in direct response is the NORM. Many more products bomb than do well with DRTV. Hopefully you will be one of the very few to hit a homerun with your product and if you do the rewards can be staggering. The process can be grueling though for the inventor who has invested his or her life savings into the venture. As an inventor, you MUST try to take all those personal feelings you have about your product and put them aside as you negotiate deals and try to get your product on TV. If you are making deals with your heart instead of your brain, you will lose big time. It is very difficult for most people to do this which is why it is extremely important to be able to trust the folks you are working with.

Money adds up very quickly in the direct response business. A typical 2 minute DRTV commercial will cost you between $20,000 and $150,000 depending on who you use and the complexity of the production. 35k is about average for a good commercial with a well known producer. Add in your call center deposit and monthly minimum and a warehouse that deals with DRTV for pick and pack services and you’re looking at another $7,000 – $20,000 and that’s before you’ve sold a single unit or produced anything.

There are several criteria most folks in the industry use to measure success and/or product viability.

The Product:

1. You should be able to manufacture your product for about $4 in order to sell it on TV for $19.99. You typically want to find success selling your product at 5 times your cost. This isn’t because you are greedy. This is because there are so many other things that eat into your margins, leaving you with pennies-per-piece in profits. Some of these include: outsourced call center to handle the orders, order fulfillment, warehousing, returns and exchanges, credit card processing, web hosting and others.

2. Your product MUST appeal to a large audience. Niche products don’t work well on television – at least not for direct response.

3. Your product MUST demonstrate well. I personally believe that most products can be shown in a light that “simply amazes” the viewer if the right creative team is in place. It’s not an easy task to make a mundane product appear amazing but good direct response producers do it on a daily basis. There are of course products that are simply boring and although the product may work perfectly well, it’s probably not going to sell via DRTV.

4. The product should do something to or for the senses. Everyone likes to feel secure. Everyone has arms, legs, feet, noses, eyes, hair. Everyone like to look better. Everyone likes to feel better. Everyone likes to make life easier for themselves. Everyone must eat. See where I am going with this? You want a product that appeals to a very large market and strikes an emotional nerve with the viewer at the same time.

The Players:

Below is a list of some of the largest players in the DRTV industry. What you do with the information is up to you. There are probably hundreds of additional experienced companies not included on the list with whom you can choose to do business with. I am providing this information as reference only and at least its a start. If you’ve got that one in a million product and think it’s got what it takes to be on TV AND you’ve got the money and intestinal fortitude to handle the ups and downs, start making some phone calls.

Telebrands International. Founder A.J. Khubani is considered one of the largest players in the DRTV business. His company has made millions selling things on TV for a number of years.

Some companies out there will pay for the media and will handle the manufacturing costs to get your product on air and in exchange pay you a royalty for your product. If you are broke and have a terrific idea, this may be the way to go. Again, the companies that do this however, see thousands of products each year and are very selective. If you are lucky enough to get your foot in the door with one of these guys, you better have an excellent product, some luck and a GREAT pitch.

Sullivan Productions. “Hi Billy Mays here for Oxi Clean!” You’ve all seen the commercials and probably caught a few episodes of “pitchmen” on TV. Sullivan Productions is the Anthony Sullivan and Billy Mays production company. These two are hooked up unbelievably well and know everyone in the industry. Based out of Tampa, FL.

Concepts TV. Collette Liantonio is the creative genius behind many award winning informercials. She really knows her stuff and has the experience to create a winner.

IdeaVillage. A.J. Kubani’s brother Andy is also involved in DRTV (go figure!). If you’ve got the right product, it might be worth a phone call.

Vertical Branding. Another DRTV consumer products company. Most of these companies will entertain a solid pitch if you’ve got what it takes.

Mercury Media. Media buying company. These guys will budget your funds, buy your air time and plan your broadcast schedule.

Moulton Logistics. Moulton is one of the largest, most experienced and most technologically advanced warehouse and fulfillment shops servijng DRTV. These guys are well connected in the DRTV world and can handle a lot of the “back office” type of things – call center, warehousing, returns, picking and packaging your product for order fulfillment (called pick and pack) and more.

Marcus Productions. I know this company has had a ton of success as producers of DRTV commercials. I haven’t had much personal experience with them but their name was dropped by several “in the know” people I spoke with.

Hawthorne Direct. Another large infomercial producer and media buying company. This company offers a host of services to the DRTV industry.

Hopefully you have enough information to get started on your journey. Be thorough in everything you do when it comes to DRTV. Make sure the production company you choose is well suited to produce for your product. Some companies have more experience in certain niches than others, like kitchen gadgets as an example. Others may work best with testimonial driven commercials. You need to do alot of homework and make a lot of phone calls. As an inventor myself and serial entrpreneur I am yet to get one of my products successfully launched but I’ve done enough homework at this point to comfortably share some of my findings.

I welcome your questions and comments. Yours in success!