Getting the Absolute Most From Your Media Campaign

More money is spent on media in a successful direct response campaign than every other service combined. 

Managing your media and your agency correctly can impact your ROI between 5-15%. In a $10 mm media campaign that can very well be more than 1 million dollars going straight to your bottom line.

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Register for our next public media course, Winning the Media Game. For the first time in the history of the direct response industry, marketers can learn the best practices of managing and buying media for DRTV. This two-day intensive training will prepare you for a successful collaboration with media agencies of all sizes. 
• December 3-4 , 2008 -- Philadelphia, PA
Call 512-301-5900 or email courses@directresponseacademy.com for more information, or to request your registration form. Cost: $1395
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Imagine a media campaign without a budget.  That is precisely what DRTV media in its truest form is.  The results drive the budget.  The accountability determines which media is working, which is not and how much to buy to maximize ROI.  You’ll know exactly when you’re buying too much or not enough.  Results will determine the budget, not a pre-determined budgetary plan.

General Ad media buying focuses on reach, frequency, gross rating points and cost per point.  Direct Response Television media buying focuses on cost per call, cost per acquisition or order and media efficiency ratios (MER: the relationship between media costs and sales made by consumer orders).  Every airing’s profitability can be ascertained because of the calls or transactions that take place.  Add to that the branding opportunity that occurs and DRTV media buying is a dynamic process where media buys are added and cancelled daily.

Managing your media buyer is no small task.  After all your media buying agency certainly knows more about DRTV media than you do.  Even if you are an expert in General Ad media, the campaign history a good media buyer has, can be of great value to your campaign and their experience in purchasing media should be a great asset to your project.

Even with these advantages, choosing and managing the right media buyer for your project can be the most important decision of your entire campaign.  Talking with many media buyers in the US becomes a distraction because they mostly have the same sales pitch and on the surface it is hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.  Talk to 5 different media buyers and you’ll hear them all say:

• We have great relations with stations
• We have clout in buying because we buy a lot of time
• We have a database of station results with many years of data which will tell us where to place your ad
• Combined, our media buyers have centuries of experience
• When we test against other media agencies we always win

No matter how clever your questions of a media buying agency are, they’ve heard them before and have become experts at answering them.

Still, THERE IS A MAJOR DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AGENCIES!  Choosing the agency with the best sales pitch or the lowest commission might look good initially, but can be a regrettable decision once the project launch occurs.  Choosing the right media buying agency can be the difference between a campaign that is a success or a failure!  This is not an exaggeration! Our Academy can put you in touch with dozens of marketers that have first hand experience with this fact.

Whether you are an entrepreneur managing a Media Buying Agency, an Ad Agency outsourcing DRTV media or buying it in-house, the Direct Response Academy offers several programs to achieve better DRTV results.

We have 2 courses which we give on-site:  DRTV Media Management and Winning the Media Game.  We also have a program for Ad Agencies and successful marketers that wish to bring all or part of their media in-house called  Bringing Your Media in House.

These programs are offered by The Direct Response Academy’s founder, Greg Sarnow who for 8 years was managing partner/President of a Direct Response Media Buying Agency.  His experience will guide you through testing, tracking what ran and the results, rolling-out campaigns, buying what worked and getting out of what did not and other  everyday media issues in direct response marketing.

Media is intense, it's lightning quick, it's heavy negotiation and can make or break a project once the creative has proven to achieve the desired response from the public. The Direct Response Academy will impact your results, get you one step ahead of your media buyer instead of two steps behind.  While no agency thinks it is necessary for their clients to understand the ins and outs of media, if you do, you’ll have a major impact on the results of your campaign.
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For more information on DRTV media optimization, contact the Direct Response Academy and ask for Greg Sarnow.