What is DRTV and why it should be part of your brand’s marketing plan
We understand the importance for you as a brand to squeeze every possible penny out of your advertising, and more specifically, your TV campaigns. The advertising landscape now looks completely different to how it did 10 years ago, and you may be wondering if TV even still holds a place in your brand’s marketing plan.
Enter DRTV – the best way to get bang for your buck in the world of TV advertising and generate a large amount of inbound calls, website traffic or product purchases.
What is DRTV?
Direct Response TV (or DRTV) urges the viewer to take action directly from the advert, usually immediately. A simple example of this would be an advert that displays a phone number throughout the run time to encourage the viewer to phone in. The same technique can also be used to drive people to a website, email address, or even a physical location.
It is a highly effective way to sell services as well as physical products, with ads featuring a strong sales message and a clear call to action.
Adverts, now more than ever, need to work harder to grab a consumer’s attention, especially on TV. DRTV has evolved over time from your brand, hard nosed sales ads that shouts at the viewer to take action, into a storytelling device with creative narrative that hooks the viewer to persuade them to act.
Why should DRTV be in my brand’s marketing plan?
1. It can get your brand instant results
DRTV is a great platform to use for a sales boost, as a well produced advert can provide the ultimate solution for consumers. A memorable, touching or funny creative can drive a large number of leads, generating a large amount of data for your business. This data can then be further targeted to make your brand campaigns more efficient.
It’s also a marketing strategy that works hard for you, whatever the time of day. Consumers watch TV at every hour of the day, and your DRTV adverts will work hard for you whether they’re being seen at 8am, or 8pm.
2. Results can be measured
One of the issues with TV advertising can be the difficulty in tracking results and determining the performance of specific ads. With the increase in programmatic advertising, and companies like Sky leading the way forward with their AdSmart platform, TV is now able to offer targeted and measurable ads only previously found online. Combine this with the creative potential a TV ad can bring and you’re on to a winner; you’ll be fully able to track results to determine what has been successful.
3. You can reduce waste and increase ROI
DRTV gives you the ability to hold the undivided attention of consumers in their own living rooms – compared to online ads that are often seen ‘on-the-go’ in a space with more distractions. With TV, the viewer is looking for an experience and therefore can be convinced more easily, driving results for your DRTV campaign.
With the ability to track and measure your DRTV campaigns, you can use this data to effectively target your ads and display only the strongest performing creatives.
We like to use a modular approach to our DRTV adverts. This means we build ads that can easily be re-versioned and developed, offering our clients better value for money whilst still achieving a high level of creativity. We’ll be able to save time in the future by reusing assets, and simply updating the messaging and voiceover to create a new campaign output.
4. TV Advertising is the most trusted advertising platform
Based on data from Thinkbox, TV is still considered the most trustworthy advertising channel compared to social media, YouTube, and radio. There is a certain element of prestige associated with your brand appearing on TV, that will stick in consumer’s minds and allow your other marketing activity to work harder.
DRTV makes the most of this established consumer trust, and pushes viewers to take action; whether that’s online, on the phone or in person. The large, high quality response you’ll receive from DRTV will result in more conversions for your brand.
Achieving the balance between direct response and brand marketing
Both DRTV and brand advertising have their benefits, but we believe they work better together. If your brand is not using DRTV techniques, you’re leaving room for your competitors to jump in and take consumer attention away from you.
Achieving the balance between direct response and brand marketing, or as we call it, the ‘sweet spot’ can be difficult. In an event we held with Peter Field in 2019, he discussed this optimum balance for effectiveness: a 60:40 ratio for brand and activation.
If you’re looking to get started with DRTV, send us an email to hello@falloffthewall.com –
We’d love to have a chat!