What makes an infomercial successful? You may be wondering if infomercial advertising is worth the investment of your marketing dollars to promote your product or service. You know you hold the solution to a common problem, and many people will want to buy it; you just need to reach them. How do you tap into that unreached audience? Is infomercial marketing still a valuable path to take in today’s digital world?
Launching any new product or service is a bit harder than “if you build it, they will come.” Once you have a great product or service that’s unique and solves a problem, you then need to shift your focus into generating awareness, building value, curating word-of-mouth, and obtaining repeat purchases. There are many routes you can take in your marketing strategy, including digital and TV advertising. Although digital media has shifted consumers’ buying habits in recent years, TV infomercials are still a tried and true way to successfully market your business and generate sales today.
Harvest Growth is a marketing and video production company, and we have launched hundreds of products and services through TV infomercials over the past 16+ years, dozens of which have achieved sales well into 7 figures each. To gain this amount of revenue from your infomercial ad, you need to have four key elements as a part of your video script. Typical infomercial commercials run in a standard one-minute or two-minute spot length and include the following:
1. Problem/Solution
Clearly defining the problem your product or service solves in the first few seconds of the video is a crucial aspect to grab the consumer’s attention. Whether your ideal customer is scrolling through TV channels or their Instagram feed, the goal is to “stop the scroll,” and the best way to do that is to connect the audience with a topic they resonate with. In this OxiClean video we worked on with Billy Mays many years ago, several problem/solutions are shown with powerful product demonstrations.
2. Features/Benefits
The next step is to show your audience why your product or service does what it claims to do, what makes it unique, and how it is different from other competitors on the market. From our extensive market research, we’ll learn which key features and benefits consumers value the most for your specific product or service. It’s important to highlight these specifically early on in the infomercial. Is there a key ingredient that supports the solution to the problem they are trying to solve? How will the consumer’s life improve or benefit from your solution? The following video we produced for Boogie Board’s Scribble N' Play Creativity Kit highlights many features and benefits of this fun and exciting way to keep kids entertained.
3. Credibility
Consumers like to buy a product they can trust. The best way to build trust is through testimonials and word-of-mouth reviews. When working with an infomercial production company, it's important for them to understand the value of building this credibility and including it in the scripting process. In digital media, marketers know this form of video to be called “user generated content” or “UGC.” This is a form of testimonial that comes from a customer (sometimes a social media influencer or content creator) that has received or bought your product and enjoys the value of it enough to share with their audience, friends, or family. UGC resonates well with audiences because it feels like a trusted, friendly review. Building this trust and credibility can also come from hiring talent to demonstrate the product in your video and talk about how impressed they are or how it’s changed their life for the better. This Enduro Power Batteries video includes an authentic customer review of their battery installation process and how the new lithium batteries have improved their lifestyle.
4. Strong CTA
Closing the deal and converting the sale requires an irresistible offer. Make the call to action, “CTA,” so good that the consumer doesn’t want to wait to order and miss out on this special limited offer. The goal of an infomercial is to convert the customer right away, so they don’t get distracted and forget about you. When you have an offer they can’t refuse, on top of solving a problem for them, having unique features and benefits, and providing social proof, you really can’t fail at giving the customer what they believe they need. A strong CTA is always the best way to close the infomercial. This Koala Insulation video shows how an irresistible offer in the call to action can make a significant impact.
While these critical factors are crucial for an advertisement that converts sales and leads to profits, no success will come about if you have not allocated the appropriate funding to your marketing strategy. All marketing campaigns, infomercials included, require enough runway for testing and optimization. Our advertising agency is different in that we go a step beyond to perform extensive market research to find your ideal audience and their most favored features and benefits BEFORE we even begin the scripting process. This helps save your marketing dollars up front, but there is always room for niching down your campaign once the ad is launched and we receive live, detailed data. It's important to work with an infomercial company that will continue to manage the campaign even after its launch to help narrow your audience even more and really optimize your marketing budget.
If you’re interested in learning more about how an infomercial can help grow your business, contact us and book a FREE strategy call today with one of our Product Launch Specialists. We’ll help you manage your campaign from end to end!