Keep It Real

Thanks to DVRs and TIVO, getting consumers to focus on your DRTV message is harder than ever before. One good way to do that is very simple — keep it real.

“If you tell the truth, consumers will connect to your message and your retention and continuity rates will be stronger,” says DR veteran Fern Lee, CMO of Portland, ME-based Factor Nutrition Labs. “You have to find the ‘wow’ factor, what will get consumers to stop and watch.”

Factor Nutrition does this in DRTV by using real people with real stories in testimonials for its products, such as Focus Factor, a brain-building nutritional supplement.

Consumers are so overloaded today, not only by media but by their jobs, families and other pressures, that their minds and memories get cluttered, Lee notes. By showing examples of this in its 60- and 120-second spots, the company gets prospects to see themselves in the commercial and piques their interest in calling or logging into FocusFactor.com to get a free sample. (Well, free after the $4.95 for shipping and handling, that is.)

While the company does a healthy opt-in continuity and direct business, DRTV today serves primarily as a driver to retail. (Focus Factor products are sold at major retailers like Walmart and RiteAid). Over $140 million of Factor Nutrition Labs’ products have been sold over the past five years through direct response channels and retail.

Got a DRTV tip to share? Contact Beth Negus Viveiros at [email protected]