Chance Favors The Prepared:
Minimizing Risk Before You Jump In

Is your product right for Direct Response Television Marketing?  Most experts simplify the answer by focusing on mundane questions like does your product need a demonstration, does it solve a problem, is there a five times mark-up from cost to selling price and are there consumer testimonials.  These areas just scratch the surface in an otherwise complex, critical, rigorous evaluation that must take place. 
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Related Links & Courses::
>> Why DRTV?
>> DRTV Entry Paths
>> DRTV Management Boot Camp
>> DR Financial Management: From Scorekeeping to Strategy
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There are several key components to feasibility that must be answered before a smart marketer commits the necessary resources:

CUSTOMER PROFILE
Television is the largest medium for Direct Response.  All feasibility analytics look firstly at the footprint of your customer profile.  Television media is expensive because it reaches a large audience.   If your target audience is narrow, the cost you pay for TV might not work.  Golf is the exception because 20 million golfers will have the passion to pay large amounts of money to improve their scores by even 2 or 3 strokes.  Otherwise, such a small target market makes TV problematic.  If you are paying Networks that base their advertising rates on reaching 52 million households, but your product only appeals to 15 million households, the finances are unlikely to work.

IRRESISTABLE OFFER
You must also have a thorough evaluation of what you will sell, what you will give away to make the offer appealing and create a sense of urgency, as well as what you will additionally sell to the consumer once they call or go to your website.

FINANCIAL EVALUATION
The sale, the selling process and the costs associated with the selling process are critical to evaluate before you make the decision to begin.  Oftentimes this alone will cost more than the cost of goods sold.  Building a product P& L will give you a financial picture that will encourage you to move forward or stop you dead in your tracks. Building a project P&L to prove concept and roll-out a successful launch will give you the capital requirements, cash flow and inventory projections necessary for feasibility.   No Venture Capital firm would invest in a project without fully understanding the ROI potential.  Direct Response Television is the same.

THE STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN
Direct Response Television comes in two distinct formats that have completely different strategies:  Paid Programming Infomercials that are 28 ½ minutes long and Direct Response Short Form commercials ranging in length from 30 seconds to 2 minutes.   Which format will be best for your product launch can only be answered once you understand and build the marketing strategy.

Radio, web, print, home shopping and catalogue are other mediums which might be as important or better mediums for your product.

Is your goal to acquire customers and regularly sell them more of your product or service?  Or, are you trying to build a brand while selling, so you can take your product to retail?

Building the model or the Direct Response Marketing Plan prior to deciding to invest the capital required is just good common sense.

DRTV FEASIBILITY
The Direct Response Academy offers its clients a Feasibility Analysis and DRTV Marketing Plan.  Our process has been developed over the last 15 years and  evaluates your project from 5 different points of view:

1. Is your product right for DRTV and if not is there another medium which is better? DR Best Practices and Case studies are drawn upon for this analysis.
2. Financial Evaluation including Capital Requirements,  Product P&L and an inventory projection for testing and roll-out
3. Your Product offer including main offer, bonus items and upsells
4. The type of vendors needed to maximize your ROI.

Our Feasibility Analysis actually goes several steps beyond our already rigorous evaluation by covering a few areas which are necessary to complete the DR Strategic Marketing Plan.  They include:

1. Dissecting the sale and sales pitch:  This process includes the messaging that must be in your DRTV production.   It forms the basis of a collaboration with a production company that is fundamental to the success of your project.
2. A vendor review and analysis.  Our “one size does NOT fit all” approach helps you find the right vendors for your specific project.  You won’t need to make decisions based on a sales pitch!  The Academy’s objective approach will give you the best few vendors for each out-sourced service you need. 
3. A SWOT analysis which acts as a road map as you move from one phase of the product launch to the other. 

Our DRTV Feasibility Analysis and Strategic Marketing Plan is a two to four week process.  If you are doing DRTV for the first time or have a new product or service in a completely different area than other successful projects, our Feasibility Analysis is the first place you should go to initiate your campaign.   Marketers regularly tell us that we save them ten times the cost of the Analysis,  save them many hours learning the basics and help them avoid costly mistakes as they make decisions that are hard to reverse.

For more information on our Project Management Program contact the Direct Response Academy and ask for Greg Sarnow.