Learning From the Direct Marketing Masters’ Infomercials
Anyone writing ad copy can learn much from the direct marketing companies who have sales figures most of us can only dream of.
Techniques long ago perfected in Infomercials that you may also find in Internet advertisements include:
- Demographic Targeting
- Engaging, Memorial Product Names
- Testimonials
- Up Sells, Side Sell, Down Sells (you could be offered 6 options during an order call)
- Limited supply or time – “We can’t do this all day”
- Calls to Action – “Call Now!”
- Inflated Handling & Shipping Charges
Vince (Shlomi), the new generation pitch man for the Sham Wow and the Slap Chop is more than a pith man, he turned out to be the owner of the Sham Wow, financing the infomercial at a relative shoe-string budget of $25,000 some of the lines in the now famous commercial were off the cuff. He turns out to have had a colorful career as an actor, writer and comedian and former member of Scientology according to wikipedia
Controversial or funny products that appear on broadcast TV program usually most often being mocked, like the Thigh Master, Snuggy or Shake Weights often end up as hits, thanks to the extra exposure.
Watch and Learn from:, the CNBC Production:
As Seen on TV ; Inside the Infomercial Industry
It gives us a look at some of the most famous infomercial products, and their pitch men in this 150 Billion dollar industry.
One interviewed insider admitted that shipping and handling prices are market tested, the highest figure accepted by the customers is used. Billy Mays, the pitch man (who has since succumbed to a head injury that occurred during a plane flight) has made sales in the Billions.
The program indicated that a product test period of 2 weeks determines whether product will be a success or failure, if a product makes it to your TV screen, the odds are it’s already a proven winner. The highest cost fctor is advertising, not the product production cost, for a product to be profitable it need to sell for twice the advertising cost.