Ringing Up Sales with Long-Form Advertising (Part 2)

In part one of this post (yes, I realize that it was nearly two weeks ago, and for that I apologize to you) I covered long-form advertising for television. In this post, I want to talk about using long-form advertising, or infomercials or paid programming, on radio. Having been a radio talk show host for many years, I have a special fondness for radio. I really like radio for both the intimacy and the immediacy of the medium.

The problem with most infomercials is that they come off as one big sales pitch. Of course they are, but I think that stations, both radio and television, do their advertisers a disservice by having a more-or-less "hands-off" approach to this form of advertising, which by the way, helps to shore up a station's bottom line. By "hands-off" I refer to the common practice of accepting the advertiser's cash, but doing little else in terms of production value, or anything else that might help to make the paid program successful.  I fully understand that there are legal considerations, thus the need for disclaimers, but still, stations could do so much more to help advertisers with their infomercials.

A few years back, when my nightly program was cancelled to make way for a nationally syndicated show, I was eased over to weekends and fronted a few paid programs. I decided going in that I would approach the new gig quite differently than paid programs traditionally are done. I talked with the client and told him that I had some ideas to help make his show sound better. He liked my ideas and they worked very, very well. I worked with this particular client for nearly two years. Along the way, I also worked with a couple others and each time, I approached them with my ideas, and each client enjoyed tremendous success.

I took those strategies for radio infomercials and I then developed them into a proprietary system which I use with my clients that want to produce a radio infomerical. In short, a successful radio infomercial depends on many of the same variables as a tv infomercial: the product should be something that people will want to purchase; the pitchman (or woman) must know the product thoroughly, and the pitch person doesn't necessarily have to be you.

The keys to success when doing a radio infomercial is to play to the medium's strengths; as best possible, try to create a show that is as seamless as possible from the station's format, and finally, don't hard sell, relax and talk just as you would to a friend about your product or service.

Take a listen to an infomerical that I "co-hosted" where the client was selling real estate and financial services. I selected this particular show for this post because there were some technical problems--and that's the kind of thing that can happen when doing live radio.  I think that a more organic approach actually appeals to listeners more than a highly scripted show.  Unfortunately, there's no capacity for inserting an audio file with Blogger, so, you'll have to follow the link to my website, and near the top of the page, right next to the Blogger logo is a media player, click play to listen to the infomercial.

What do you think are the pros and cons of infomercials?

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Ringing Up Sales with Long-Form Advertising (Part 1)

There are many options when it comes to advertising.  But here's one I bet you haven't thought much about, long-form advertising.  Long-form advertising, also known as an infomercial, has helped to make many entrepreneurs wildly successful.  Of course, they are still many others who have gone bust while attempting to sell a new product with an infomercial,  Personally, I like long form advertising.  It gives the advertiser a lot more time to talk about the benefits of the product. And depending on the medium, consumers can ask questions and get an immediate response.  Compared with a :30 or :60 second spot, consumers benefits more from an infomercial by having access to more information, seeing how a product works, being able to ask questions and hearing testimonials.  In terms of cost, it comes down to content vs. frequency.  I'll talk more about this in the next post or two.

However there are a couple of  non-negotiable factors that must be in place in order for an infomercial to work. First, the product or service should be something that people will want to buy.  Sounds obvious right?  Well it's not.  Do you remember the Slumber Sleeper or the Beer Burglar Alarm?  Exactly.  Next, you need a pitch person that is both knowledgeable and passionate about your product or service.  Although it's your product/service, it doesn't mean that you're the best person to front your infomercial.  You might want to consider a paid spokesperson.  This is someone you'll compensate to represent your product or service.  The late Billy Mays is a great example of a very successful paid pitchman.  He was best known for his association with OxiClean, but he also represented several other products.

If  however, you embody the passion and presence for tv, then hosting your own infomercial is the way to go.  The one person that personifies a successful television infomercial salesman is none other than Ron Popeil. In fact, I consider him to be the king of the television infomercial, a marketing/infomercial genius.  Mr. Popeil's inventions have been bought by millions, but that never would have happened without his incredible talent to sell in the long-form advertising format.  I encourage you to read his bio.  He learned a great deal at his father's knee, but Popeil mastered the art of selling in an infomercial.   Popiel took his father's inventions, the Chop-O-matic and the Veg-o-matic and made them household names.

 Popiel also introduced us to the Popeil Pocket Fisherman (I really wanted one of these),  Mr. Microphone (I really, really wanted one of these),  and the Showtime Rotisserie (not that I needed it, but I wanted to be able to just "set it and forget it").  There are about a dozen other products from his company Ronco, that Popeil has successfully sold using infomercials.



But wait...there's more. In part two of this post, we'll take a look at radio infomericals, including one in which I co-hosted.

Have you ever purchased a product that was advertised in an infomercial?