MEDIA BUYING DIRECT RESPONSE TELEVISION (DRTV) ARTICLE ..

 

Want to Reach More Buyers? A Multi-Pronged Media Buying Approach is the Key

By: Peter Koeppel
Published: 03/07 K+BB Magazine

 

Twenty years ago, an advertiser could run an ad for a product or service on any one of the three television networks in existence and reach a large segment of the population. Today, with the multitude of media buying options available, advertisers must be savvier if they want to hit their target market. Thanks to the proliferation of niche cable television networks, the Internet, IPods, satellite TV and radio, video games and a host of other media buying options, advertising to our target market is more difficult than ever before. That's why smart marketers are now using a multimedia, direct-marketing media buying approach to leverage their advertising dollars and reach more potential buyers.
 
What is multi-media direct response marketing? It means that you're utilizing an integrated media buying strategy for direct response television (DRTV), online, response print, and radio and tracking the performance of each direct response medium. The fact is that multiple mediums helps you maximize your profit from direct response advertising, because you're combining all the available media buying options and tracking response, in order to determine which medium will be most effective for your direct response campaign. Depending on your product offering, you may find that DRTV and online ads work best, for example, or that print and radio is the way to go. Such an approach enables you to take advantage of new mediums you may never before have considered, which in today's rapidly changing media buying environment can be essential for reaching your target audience.
 
Realize that buyers today are more sophisticated, more educated and have more options when it comes to what they watch listen to and read. That's why you need to get creative with your advertising and attempt to reach your target buyers with multiple media buying approaches.
 
So if you've always relied on one advertising medium in the past, now is the time to take a look at how a multi-media marketing and media buying approach can work for you.
 
Use Multiple Points of Contact to Maximize Your Advertising Dollars
 
Today we have highly fragmented audiences who no longer just watch television or only listen to one radio station. Rather, they watch TV and surf the Internet at the same time. They may not hear your radio ad because they subscribe to satellite radio, which airs much fewer ads than terrestrial radio. Or even if they do read The Wall Street Journal, they may only read the online version and not the traditional print version, meaning that they never see your print ad. Knowing that, advertisers can no longer rely on media buying in one advertising medium to spread the word. Doing so in today's age is simply a waste of money.
 
In order to leverage your advertising dollars, you need to implement a multimedia buying and marketing approach. For example, we know that about half of all homes these days have a high-speed broadband Internet connection. As such, TV and online are converging. People can now watch videos and commercials on the web. So rather than simply creating a television ad for your product or service, also consider running the commercial online. You can stream the commercial on your website or run it as a video ad on other websites. In your direct response television ads, in addition to listing a phone number for people to call, include a web address to maximize sales opportunities.
 
A Multi-Media Media Buying Approach Keeps You Ahead of Industry Trends
 
When you use a multimedia marketing and media buying approach will empower you as an advertiser because you'll be better able to understand and take advantage of changes happening in the marketplace. Why is this important? Consider what happened in the music industry. Consumers started downloading music from the Internet for free, which severely hurt sales. Had the music executives been on top of this trend, rather than merely reacting to it, they would have prepared for the download revolution by having a plan in place to profit from it.
 
That's why savvy marketers need to understand what's going on in the marketplace and figure out new media buying strategies to reach these more fragmented audiences. Nowadays, if you want to succeed, you have to be more creative and go after niche audiences. Identify the exact markets you want to target and then determine the media type those groups utilize. Be prepared to let go of any past mindsets that may have led you to believe that one particular form of advertising is the only way to go. You may discover that your target audience responds best to online and radio advertising rather than television, for example, so you can taylor your media buying strategy to focus on those mediums. If that's the case, have the courage to abandon your old views of marketing and adopt a new mindset for the new marketplace you're doing business in.
 
Peter Koeppel is Founder and President of Koeppel Direct, a leader in direct response media buying, marketing, campaign management and creative strategies. Koeppel specializes in utilizing an integrated media buying strategy including online, radio and print, in addition to television. With over 25 years of marketing and advertising experience, Peter has helped Fortune 500 companies, small businesses and entrepreneurs develop marketing campaigns to increase profits. Peter is a Wharton MBA and has improved the media buying strategies and advertising for clients such as H.J. Heinz, DIRECTV, Columbia House, The Hair Club for Men, Ben Hogan Golf, and Scholastic.