The Billion Dollar Infomercial Formula

While it may not look like it, a lot of work goes into making infomercials. This is how they effectively attract buyers and earn millions, even billions of dollars, each year – even during the economic slump. rnThe work for an effective infomercial begins in pre-production. But even before this stage, the infomercial production companies do a run through consultation to see if the product is suited for infomercial marketing, as not all products are. The most suitable ones are typically the strangest ones—those that need comprehensive explanations, or those that have never been seen before. rnAfter this, products are tested and reviewed by the infomercial production company. This assures that whatever’s going to be advertised works and the integrity of both product and production company is retained. This will be reinforced by a focus group evaluation. This focus group, made up of random people from the target market, further evaluate and rate the product. rnOnce these things are done with, the actual infomercial production begins. Most infomercials are produced with small budgets, making them look somewhat tacky and campy. And this has somehow become the industry standard because of its certain charm. Infomercials also are more effective in getting the message straight to its target market and converting some members of nontarget market in the process. rnBecause of the length of these infomercials—they usually run for 30 minutes—the product or service producers are able to comprehensively introduce and hard sell the product, often times causing viewers to think that they actually need the product. A good example would be an oscillating barbell whose infomercial production company deemed best marketed through a sexually suggestive infomercial. And it worked. Who would have thought that the product earned revenues for a strange oscillating barbell would amount to $40M in less than a year? Infomercial production is not easy. It involves a lot of psychology and analysis of both viewing and buying behavior of the market and the use of the information from that study to target the weak spots that change consumer behavior. But then, sometimes, the product’s best marketing edge is its charm itself, however strange it is.