Page 204 - Duct Tape Marketing

188 Part III: Creating and Placing Ads

6. Know your product position, your unique selling proposition, and the
customer benefits you deliver (see Chapter 8). Then use your infomer-
cial to give people a reason to believe what you’re saying.

7. Use unscripted testimonials. Let customers ad lib their remarks but ask
them to be specific with their praise. “It’s amazing” lacks the impact of
“I stood there watching the fine lines around my eyes fill in and disap-
pear. I stared at my mirror, and then I started laughing with pure joy.”

8. Never fake product demonstrations. It’s illegal. Enough said.

9. Evaluate the effectiveness of your infomercial the morning after it airs.
Unlike other forms of advertising, infomercials don’t work better after
repeated viewing. Most viewers will respond after watching the program
one time if they are to respond at all. If your infomercial lights up your
phone lines, re-air it to reach yet more prospects. But if no one calls,
don’t wait to see what happens next. Go back into the edit booth and
start fine-tuning it, starting with the first three-minute segment, which is
the portion that either grabs or loses most viewers.

10. Before you invest your budget, study other infomercials, meet with
infomercial producers, and read direct marketing publications and Web
sites for more advice and ideas.