How would you like to guarantee the absolute highest profits possible from your Yellow Page ad? Think about that for second. What if, before you commit to a one year long, unbreakable contract with your phone company, that you have an ad that will flood you with new business?

Would you be quivering with the excitement of anticipation? Would you be making consolation phone calls to your competitors? Apologizing in advance for the customers you will be stealing from them. I can't really blame you. Because in your hands you will have a proven, tested ad, to publish in your Yellow Pages.

And that leads us to a very big question?

Just How do you test a Yellow Page ad, when your are stuck with it for a year?

Simple. Print your ad on yellow post cards, and distribute them. Any mailing service, flyer distribution service or newspaper will distribute them for you. The great thing about doing this is that you find out before you commit thousands of dollars to an advertising contract, if you have a winner or not.

Here is your step by step Yellow Page ad testing campaign.

Pick your sample market: Your market may be very small (a few hundred people) to very large (hundreds of thousands). But try to make your sample size at least 2000 people up to 20 000 people. The purpose is to get an accurate reflection of your market place. This can be done using list brokers for targeted mailing lists, or just selecting the neighborhood your ideal client would live in.

Arrange your distribution: How will your get your test ad post card out to your target market? Will you use a mailing service, bulk ad mail with your postal service, flyer distribution service or will you use a newspaper insert? In order for this test to be successful, your need to get your test ad post cards in your target markets hands.

Print your ad on post cards and split test: Print out your ad on post cards using yellow card stock. Why yellow stock? You want a test that will resemble your inserted ad as closely as possible. So use yellow stock.

Split testing is testing one ad against another. So half of your post card printing order should be Test Ad A, and the other half should be Test Ad B.

Get the ads out: Regardless of the distribution method you choose, arrange delivery as soon as your post cards get printed. Here is a time saving tip. Arrange with your post card printer to deliver your post cards to your distributor directly.

Track your results: Now that your post cards are out in your test market, you should start getting response. Determine which of the two test ads pulls the most response. Discard the poor performer, and make the better one your new control ad.

Gone are the days when glossy printed handouts would suffice in attracting customers to your restaurant. Today, in their quest to catch eyeballs, advertising agencies have created a nonstop marketplace that knows no limits.

Restaurant Advertising Gets Customers

Will Rogers, the late entertainer, once said, "All I know is just what I read in the papers". Restaurant advertising generates interest in the papers along with the news coverage. Although, people know them to be mere ads, they start believing in them when they encounter them again and again not only in the print media, but also on the radio and television.

So, if you want to promote your restaurant through advertising, keep these tips in mind:

* Before you embark upon advertising, strategize how you want to promote your restaurant. Is it a traditional place or a fast food joint? What kind of fare does it offer? Questions like these will help you ascertain your target audience and help you in evolving the kind of advertising or brand promotion most suitable for it.

* Generally, you'd need to hire an advertising agency to help in formulating the brand strategy, as also to suggest the media for advertising. The cost factor for print, TV, radio and the Web can vary greatly, so be careful in budgeting.

* The process of selecting the advertising campaign is the next important step. Although, your advertising agency will generally try to sell you their creations, you need to consider them from the potential customers' point of view. The ads should not only be attractive to catch eyeballs, but simple to understand too.

* How and where are they placed in the print media or which slots are they aired on radio or TV, has a bearing on the exposure of the ads. The rates, too, vary accordingly.

* The best course is to weigh your budget with the kind of exposure desired for the ads and their frequency. And here your negotiating skills will help, as there's a great scope for bargaining.

* Credibility of advertising is important, which only you can ensure. Your ad shouldn't claim what you don't or can't offer. Also don't attract people with disguised prices, as it may disappoint them. Be upfront in whatever is or isn't on your menu or in your restaurant.

It'll be difficult to catch the attention of the masses with minimal advertising. You'll have to bombard their senses with ads until they get tempted to pay you a visit!

There is no shortage of Yellow Pages advertising gurus and their various (and often contradictory) "secrets" for success! Some preach that it's your WORDS (aka copy) that are most important. Others claim that all you need are eye-grabbing IMAGES to suck readers into your ad. Some say that cartoon-type ads are rare in the Yellow Pages so therefore; CARTOONS are most likely to attract attention and rake in the calls. Still others believe that your ad should look and read like an EDITORIAL, not an advertisement. With so many different Yellow Pages advertising strategies, what's an advertiser to do?

First, let's come to grips with Yellow Page Reality: While successful Yellow Pages advertising is all about differentiating your business from the numerous competitors appearing right next to you, you must do it in a powerful and meaningful way because just "being different" will NOT make your phones ring! While most of the “secrets” of the recent crop of self-styled Yellow Page ad gurus can be used to differentiate your business, none of them will persuade customers to call you.

Why? Because prospects don’t search the Yellow Pages for ads that stand out; they search them for solutions. Prospects only search the Yellow Pages because they don’t yet know who to call for a particular need or problem. So while almost any company within any business category has an ad offering their services as a “solution,” the prospect is still forced to do business with a company they won’t know.

For most people, this situation produces a little anxiety. Not “fear of public speaking” anxiety, but the anxiety is there, and it’s why most prospects choose to call those specialists with ads that reduce their felt anxiety. Ads that make them feel... "This guy is speaking exactly to my needs, he knows where I'm coming from and he sincerely cares about solving my problem."

So how can you make your ad convey this kind of message to a prospect?

You have to do two things:

1. Specialize in your prospects' specific problem - and say so in your ad!

2. Speak to your prospects' specific, motivating concern in your ad.

Easy strategies to understand, but hard to implement, because to specialize means targeting your ad to only one specialty. If your ad lists 5 or more of your “specialties,” then you’re not a specialist in the eyes of the prospect! This means you have to consciously direct your message (both content and graphics) to what will feel like a small subsection of your business category. Advertising yourself as a specialist and speaking to your target audiences’ motivating concerns will cause your prospects to continue the conversation by giving YOU their business. Anything else tends to fall on deaf ears – no matter how eye-catching the ad is.

Here’s an example: You’re concerned about your water heater; it isn’t working well and has started leaking water into your basement. You take out the Yellow Pages to find a plumber. Who will you call, the general all-around plumber, or the "water heater specialist" who has extensive repair experience and, if replacement is needed, can have your new heater installed that very day? Let’s say this water-heater specialist even includes an incentive for you to call: if you mentioned his ad, and it turned out you needed a new heater, his initial inspection fee would go toward the cost of a brand new heater. Now contrast this with the jack-of-all-trades plumber who lists septic tanks, toilets, water heaters, and ten other “specialties” that he services. Which plumber best speaks to your motivating concern and reduces your anxiety? Which plumber would you be most likely to call?

I’ve personally designed ads every bit as narrowly focused as that, and all of them garnered massive response – better than the client ever expected. In fact, the plumber specializing in water heaters – he’s done so well that he can now afford to place another highly targeted Yellow Page ad: one focusing on drain cleaning!

Granted, it's scary to focus so intently on such a small group of your prospects. Having the courage to do so is much harder than paying some guru for a "cartoon-style ad" or a quick, "off-the-shelf" template Yellow Page ad. But a genuine expert will tell you the truth. While casting the widest net possible may feel more comfortable and safe, safe ads won’t make your phones ring the way you want them to.

Ike Clanton had nothing with his cowboy renegade outlaws compared to the new gangs of the internet!

The old wild west...where outlaws were king...free to roam, rape, pillage...basically do whatever they wanted to whom ever they wanted. Gangs of men who roamed the plains in search of victims. Taking money, land, dignity...whatever they desired to quench their never ending appetites for money and power.

Sounds rather like the modern day net. The outlaws in this case are the hype mongers, the scam artists, the "so-called" internet gurus, who want money, power, prestige, and are willing to do absolutely anything to anyone to satisfy that hunger.

So, is it really possible to make money on the internet, or is that simply more hype?

The possibility is definitely there. As in the old west, the possibility of purchasing land, raising cattle and crops, then selling those products at a profit was the dream then.

Now, the possibilities of coming onto the internet, finding legitimate, credible projects to become involved in, or starting brand new ventures that really do work, is all possible.

Political campaigning is a very competitive business and events are an important part of political life and political campaigns. A well planned event can forcefully convey a clear political message and create political support for the candidate.

Political candidates hold many events like political rallies and fund raising as a means to reach out to voters. One of the basics of campaigning is that the candidate must develop a clear message and address it to their target audience. Events play an important part of this process. These meetings require detailed planning and resources and many organizations elect to utilize specialists in managing events.

Political campaigning is a complex undertaking with the development of a clear message, coordination of event schedules and maintaining critical timeline requirements of paramount importance. In addition to the logistics involved in planning the campaign forceful and consistent communication of the campaign message is a critical factor.

The Value of the Message

Political campaigning is all about the message.

A common message brings participants together and allows the candidate the ability to convey a strong reason why voters should show their support.

Management of the message also shows the voter how the candidate is different from the opponent and convinces voters to support the candidate. Effective communication of the message is critical therefore to the success of the campaign.

Promotional Items and Quality Communication

One aspect of communication is the use of personalized promotional items, effective banners and unique giveaways.

These items can be designed to impart an effective message and the use of high quality personalized giveaways creates a lasting impression and reinforces the campaign theme and message.

Private Label Drinking Water as an Effective Communication of the Message

Private label drinking water is an ideal and powerful way to promote a campaign message.

Essentially, private labeling allows campaigns to design and develop a label with a custom message and theme and attach that label to a bottle of healthy drinking water. A result of this process is the creation and promotion of a clear message that is tailored to the campaign and campaign events

Because of the immediate and permanent nature of the bottled water product, consumable advertising is created that leaves a lasting message in the mind of the audience.

One powerful feature of private label drinking water is the ability of a select few vendors to add the candidate’s picture to the message on the bottle.

Some of the benefits of private labeled water include:

• A high-quality, effective and custom message.

• Pictures can be added to the label to better identify the message with the candidate.

• Messages can be modified to reflect events like political meetings and rallies and fund raising events. This is important as candidates go on the road to promote their campaigns.

• Individual users often carry the water with them and the message is further extended and promoted.

• Pure water is popular and universally accepted as contributing to good health. The message of the private label effectively reaches more prospects as use grows.

• Effective cost is low and response to the event message is immediate.

• Consumable, portable advertising creates a lasting message and impression.

What to Look for in a Private Label Water Supplier

There are a number of private label water suppliers but they vary widely in the quality of their product offerings. There are three areas to investigate when choosing a supplier:

Quality of Water

Events with a large number of participants require proper hydration with water of the highest quality. High quality water in terms of health and taste is also critical for the acceptance of the theme and event message.

If the water is low quality or tastes bad then the message will fail.

The best quality water on the market today is purified using a distillation/ filtration/ oxygenation process that removes all impurities, including all bacteria, and creates a light, refreshing taste.

Quality of Label Design and Production

The label is the message part of the product and poor-quality labels send a poor-quality message. Production of a poor-quality label is a waste of money and adversely affects the message and theme. For political candidates it is important to use a professional designer to impart a message of quality and add a high quality photo image of the candidate.

It is very important to know that the vast majority (almost all) of the private label opportunities in this country come from water resellers (not bottlers) with desktop-model “thermal” (or “thermal wax”) printing devices with a quality level that cannot compare well to even consumer-grade inkjet printing devices widely available for less than $200 at your local electronics store. These label printers are very cheap in both quality and cost, typically ranging from $10-20k depending on configuration, and are widely used throughout the private label water industry because of their low cost.

In sharp contrast, a quality label, i.e., one that looks like a top-shelf brand that you might find in your local gourmet grocery store, needs to be produced with professional-quality equipment using professional-grade printing equipment. There are three types of printing equipment that can produce a high-quality label.

1. Rotary offset lithography;
2. Flexography; and
3. High-quality digital presses.

For most smaller runs (under about 10,000 units), digital equipment offered by Heidelberg or HP is the most cost effective solution, but instead of $10-20k, the minimum equipment costs for these professional solutions range from $750k to $1.25M per station.

These facts are very important to understand when choosing a private label bottler — because those who sell low-quality labels would have you believe that nothing better is available because of the short runs required by private label customers. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In order to succeed, your label must be professionally designed and produced with high-quality materials using a printing process that renders a high-quality result. Waterproof lamination is also required for long lasting labels. This is easily achieved for an affordable unit cost using the right equipment for the job.

Quality of Customer Service

The design and production of private labeled drinking water is complex and requires intense interaction between the customer and supplier. Communication and a culture of customer service excellence is a prerequisite to the creation of an effective theme message and a successful event. Without a significant commitment to customer service on the part of the supplier, the impact of the theme message will fail.

Colorful rubber wristbands- a hit then, still a hit now. For almost 3 years now, rubber wristbands are used as a way of communicating people, organizations’, and companies’ message discretely.

We can see these colorful rubber wristbands being worn by people. These rubber wristbands always catch our attention because of their colorful design. We always tend to look at these rubber wristbands no matter who wears them. I know you know what I am talking about.

But did you know that there are a lot of varieties of these rubber wristbands? They come in different sizes, adult, medium and youth sizes. This means that they can be pretty much worn by adults, teenagers and children. You have a market for all age groups.

What other available designs are there for these rubber wristbands? These wristbands can be as simple as single-colored, and can be as complicated as multi-colored swirled wristbands. Most people on a tight budget prefer the single-colored rubber wristbands because they are much cheaper as compared to the other ones with complicated designs. But for people or organizations with budget to spare, they usually go for the multi colored bracelets.

There are also three processes manufacturers can produce. They can produce imprinted, debossed and embossed rubber wristbands. The imprinted wristbands’ message will be silk-screen printed on the wristbands, while the debossed and embossed rubber wristbands undergo the same process. The only difference is that the debossed rubber wristbands message will be raised, as compared to the engraved message of the embossed rubber wristbands.

So you see? You can use these colorful rubber wristbands for a lot of reasons. They can also be produced in different colors, processes and sizes. You can go for simple designs or you can go color-crazy.

When we first get on the internet we are told that there is a lot of advertising available. If you are starting a work at home business the first thing you come come across is get free classified advertising. Well there are two kinds of Classified advertising paid and free. Of course we all would like to get it free.

As they say you get what you pay for and in Work at home business that is certainly the truth. Will you get a lot of traffic with free classified ads? Well my experiences is no. I see free classified ads as a come on for you to buy "PAID" classified ads. I never got any traffic with free classified ads.

The question then become do "PAID" classified ads work. The Answer is yes you can get traffic with paid classifieds, but be careful because what you want is "TARGETED TRAFFIC". Targeted traffic is traffic from people that are interested in your product. There are may people that guarantee you traffic for a price. But if it is not targeted it does you no good. Well why would people visit your website if they are not interested in your product? Because they get paid to visit web sites.

Here is how that works. A promoter advertises that he will pay for people to surf the net and click on ads. He pays say 2 cents per click. Many people will do that and spend their time clicking ads---traffic. The same promoter will advertise he can get you guaranteed traffic. He charges you 10 cents per click. You get a lot of hits but no sales for your Work at Home business. It was not people interested in your product, they were interested in the 2 cents. The promoter makes an 8 cent profit.

Does this mean Paid Classifieds do not work. No! It means if you are going to advertise with classifieds be careful. Make sure the traffic is targeted traffic that is looking for your product. There are people out there that sell that type of traffic. Do some research on the internet and by all means start small and test. It can payoff but it requires a little work.

Why do people become attracted to your business? Why is it some days, new client opportunities seem to grow on trees and you ask yourself, what did I do to open these floodgates? Is it just a fad or something that will last for a while? I often think this well will dry up one day; however the flow never seems to slow down.

What are some of the factors new clients are attracted to you? I personally believe professionalism in what you do is extremely important; you must be professional in your dealings with your clients. However being professional doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. When you have fun and enjoy what you do, your staff, colleagues and most importantly your clients pick up on and feed off of your excitement for the services you offer. Being professional and fun loving is the most important key to attracting the best clients. It is true, people are not attracted to others who constantly frown and do not appear to enjoy themselves. Try it out, walk around with a frown on your face for a week and watch the people avoid you.

Having a high level of integrity is important in any business and is an important factor to attracting the best clients. Nothing spreads faster in the marketplace than bad publicity. Clients love to talk about the great levels of service they receive from their IT support company, just as much as they would, to guard their colleagues and friends from making a bad decision, if your conduct is poor, lacks honesty, truthfulness, reliability and integrity.

Some time ago, I read a sign at a client’s office, it goes something like this: “The bitterness of poor service and quality will last longer than the sweetness of a great deal”. This is something I strive to live my life by daily, and I am happy to say, it seems to have aided in the attraction of new clients and opportunities.

It is important for all business owners to practice, with the previously mentioned values, however, it is equally critical for you to hire staff, who share and practice these same ideals. An employee who shares your ideals and values, and maybe isn’t the most technical or the best salesperson, is far more valuable to your team than an employee with more technical depth, on your team who upsets clients, bad mouths everything the company does, or decides it is their way only, and not open to what others have to say or recommend.

When your team is firing on the same ideals and goals, the floodgates will open and the opportunities in the marketplace will start coming your way. The recipients who have a great service representative, who truly cares about the recipients’ business, will love to boast about the service they are receiving.

You first may be asking: what qualifies me as a Yellow Page expert? I worked as an advertising consultant for a Bell System division for nearly 25 years. During that time, I counseled about 3000 businesses in advertising design, marketing programs, and promotional campaigns. I was a top performer for about half that time and won numerous awards and honors. With that background, let me discuss the unique media known as directory advertising.

In my market, we had about 80,000 businesses represented in the local city Yellow Pages. That’s a large sector of companies fairly reliant on a single product used by over 80% of the population. The Yellow Pages is a reliable constant that is relatively unchanged since its inception over 100 years ago. Back then, it was a list of companies and their ads, bound together in book form, and sent for free to every resident with a phone. Today, it serves the same function: a current resource for business information.

The only difference is the addition of full-color and the replication on the Internet. Otherwise, it’s your father’s Yellow Pages. It began as a byproduct of the phone company’s need to get the their subscribers’ phone numbers out to the general public. Then someone realized the value of actual ads that would offer additional facts such as hours, products, services, and locations. Presently, many businesses rely on their Yellow Page ads, exclusively.

You first may be asking: what qualifies me as a Yellow Page expert? I worked as an advertising consultant for a Bell System division for nearly 25 years. During that time, I counseled about 3000 businesses in advertising design, marketing programs, and promotional campaigns. I was a top performer for about half that time and won numerous awards and honors. With that background, let me discuss the unique media known as directory advertising.

In my market, we had about 80,000 businesses represented in the local city Yellow Pages. That’s a large sector of companies fairly reliant on a single product used by over 80% of the population. The Yellow Pages is a reliable constant that is relatively unchanged since its inception over 100 years ago. Back then, it was a list of companies and their ads, bound together in book form, and sent for free to every resident with a phone. Today, it serves the same function: a current resource for business information.

The only difference is the addition of full-color and the replication on the Internet. Otherwise, it’s your father’s Yellow Pages. It began as a byproduct of the phone company’s need to get the their subscribers’ phone numbers out to the general public. Then someone realized the value of actual ads that would offer additional facts such as hours, products, services, and locations. Presently, many businesses rely on their Yellow Page ads, exclusively.

To begin with, we need to get something straight. Word-of-mouth advertising is a misnomer. The dictionary definition of “advertising,” according to Webster is:

“The action of drawing something to the public’s attention with a paid announcement, often through a printed notice or a broadcast.”

Therefore, WOM is NOT advertising. It is neither bought nor controllable, to any large extent. Spreading WOM advertising is more akin to allowing the wind to control a kite. Sometimes it goes up and often times eventually, comes down. When a consumer uses your product or service, your job is done. Then the person has a variety of choices. They can (a) tell a friend or relative how great the experience was, (b) tell them how awful it was, or (c) tell nobody at all.

It depends on the result. More often than not, if your business has simply met their expectations, they will likely do nothing. If you produced a superior product or service, they may tell a few people. Ah, but if you have done a lousy job, watch out. They’ll tell the world about the awful item or event. Therefore, WOM has a 66% chance of not working in your favor. It works exactly like the news. A terrible situation with a tragic outcome has a far better chance of making the news than a warm and fuzzy, feel-good piece. It’s human nature. People are fascinated by horrible traffic accidents and will gawk for minutes or hours. They still discuss Princess Di, John F. Kennedy, Jr, and John Lennon’s death, even decades later. But, do they celebrate the living with the same enthusiasm?

Knowing all that, why would any business continue to ignore traditional advertising channels and rely solely on WOM? At least with the media, they can structure their own program, target their market, and track the results. It’s not just a matter of money. Sure, advertising costs money, but it’s an investment in the company. WOM is free promotion, but is it positive? From what I’ve just written, you tell me.

There are numerous up-to-date marketing strategies that companies resort to in order to promote their image, from lavish multilingual websites to expensive TV campaigns. However, other means of selling your image are now en vogue. An elegant business card can have a great impact on your customers and so can a coloured printed brochure offering full details about the services you provide. This is why many companies resort to business card printing and to brochure printing as their major advertising strategies. Particularly favoured are colour business card printing services which cover a wide range of styles and designs.

When meeting a customer, offering them a convenient and elegant reminder of how to contact you is one of the most important ways of making an impact. Therefore, make sure you don’t forget about the colour business card printing and brochure printing as they can be very effective means of getting clients interested in what you have to offer. Whatever you may be selling, it is important that your advertising material has a strong visual impact. Colour business card printing and brochure printing may involve more effort from the companies that provide business card printing, but the results are worthwhile and they love to work for you.

Your business card should not only include your contact details, but also have a striking appearance, so that it gets remarked by the potential customers’ minds. If you feel you cannot be creative enough as far as design is concerned, you can resort to firms providing services of colour business card printing. Companies offering business card printing services will take your suggestions into account and will come up with their own ideas to help you make up your mind. You will have numerous choices of colour business card printing, and you will be able to select the one you consider the most effective in selling your image.

People don’t buy features; they buy the promise of what those features can do for them. Features are meaningless. Benefits are what sell your products or services.

Perhaps you’re rolling your eyes as you read this because this is such an obvious point. You didn’t get to where you are today by not knowing the difference between your products’ features and benefits.

Of course you didn’t, but a funny thing happens when a person is put in charge of their company’s advertising. They often tend to forget that features are not benefits. They forget that nobody cares about their product’s features except the product designers and some salespeople.

Now maybe you’re different than most people. Maybe your company’s ads are all about the benefits of your products. Go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back. You’ve achieved the goal of this step and may move on to the next.

But, if your ad is filled with bullet points describing all the wonderful features of your products, take a moment and read on.

Say you own a company that manufactures hammers. You could show a big picture of your lovely hammer below a headline that reads, “Introducing the best hammer for all your hammering needs.”

Beside the picture, you could list the many reasons your hammer is the best: solid steel head, unbreakable fiberglass handle, super comfortable rubber grip, etc.

Wow. Makes you want to buy that hammer, huh? What a waste of money. This would be funny if it didn’t happen so often for so many products and services in so many industries.

Now, you could improve that hammer ad immensely by discussing a benefit in the headline and backing it up with other benefits to illustrate why the consumer would be nuts not to buy your hammer. It’s that easy.

But we’re almost through half of our twelve steps now. We can go even further. Let’s be courageous and think a bit more. Use your imagination and put yourself in the mind of your consumer.

It has been said that nobody reads ads. People read what interests them, and sometimes it is an ad. Of course this was professed by a 1960’s advertising man in a time when it was still possible to evade advertising messages every once in awhile.

Now we are bombarded with advertising messages nearly every second of every day. Billboards block out our view of nature. Radio spots interrupt our music. Sidewalk writing, signs on dogs, TVs in our bathroom stalls, trivia questions on potato chips, temporary tattoos on people’s foreheads, magazines with more ads than editorial, reality TV programs that are really season-long branding campaigns, mailboxes full of crap nobody reads, and the list goes on and on and on and on.

Just because you’ve paid money for an ad doesn’t mean anyone is going to care. You’ve paid for the space, not the audience. And today’s audience is a hostile one when it comes to advertising.

It’s no wonder people are increasingly cynical about advertising. Who can blame them? There are so many ad messages that no sane person could possibly pay attention to them all, let alone process their messages and remember what product they were selling.

So most people have learned to tune out the advertising. It’s an automatic response, part of our ingrained fight-or-flight instincts. Then factor in the fact that the two-income family is the rule, not the exception. Single-parent households are on the rise, work hours are getting longer, leisure time is shrinking each year.

People are busy. So out of the hundreds of ad messages that reach them on a daily basis, most of them go unnoticed because they fail to get past the barrier we have all developed against lame, useless, ignorant, arrogant and otherwise annoying advertisements.

Considering or currently running a DRTV advertising campaign? Here’s why you should read this paper.

Direct response television (DRTV) advertising can be very effective at driving profitable sales. However the high cost of creating and modifying the ads and the lead times associated with DRTV leave room for another more nimble medium to serve a significant purpose. Radio fills that void extremely well, and done right it can significantly enhance the profitability of any DRTV effort.

DRTV is the bread and butter of any huge success. Why? Because you can make the most money the fastest via TV. It’s also the most expensive and risky channel – so one has to consider the risk/reward tradeoff. As you’ll learn, radio plays the role of “risk minimizer” – that’s why including radio in your marketing efforts is such a smart business move.

We routinely work with DRTV agencies to craft a strategy that allows radio to provide the most strategic value to a DRTV campaign. Below you’ll find out why the most successful, most profitable DRTV campaigns also include radio advertising.

Before You Launch – How Radio Will Boost Profits

1. Radio will create a profit stream that can fund DRTV development efforts DRTV development and media testing is costly and requires a long timeline. In contrast, radio ad development and testing is inexpensive and quick. What costs $100,000 in TV costs $1000 in radio. What takes 3-6 months in TV takes 2-4 weeks in radio. With these advantages, you can build a radio campaign that delivers profits that can finance the TV development.

2. Radio will provide a source of testimonials Almost without exception, infomercials and DRTV spot ads are more effective if they contain real testimonials from real customers. Initiating a radio campaign prior to launching in DRTV provides a source of qualified, legitimate, authentic testimonials – and as every DRTV creative agency will tell you, those characteristics will make for very compelling stories that sell your product.

3. Learn about customers with real data, and gather insights inexpensively The radio ad development process will push your creative team to uncover the core customer insights that will drive the campaign, regardless of media channel. Therefore creative efforts in radio can be a valuable input into the TV ad development – not that they will transfer exactly, but the core elements of the psychology behind the appeal of the product will become clearer. This will greatly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the TV ad development.