INITIAL IDEA OR PRODUCT EVALUATION

IDEA & PRODUCT EVALUATION

During the initial concept stage 440 Group will:

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Determine the target market for your product

Determine the best marketing methods

Assist with patent and trademarking your idea

Create a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) for your product by carefully examining its selling points

Analyze all components of the product and the marketing campaign, including all cost structures and estimated profit per sale

440 GROUP 8-POINT EVALUATOR

Use the following 8-Point Evaluator to determine the potential success of your direct-to-consumer product. If five or more points apply, we can establish that your product has serious potential in the consumer marketplace.

This Evaluator is based on 22 years experience with literally tens of thousands of products successfully evaluated with many brought to market. So why are we giving this valuable tool away? Because we hope that after you review these 8 points, you'll give us a call to discuss your results and let us help you succeed!

1. Mass Appeal: Direct response marketing reaches a mass audience. It’s very ineffective at reaching highly-targeted audiences. The greater your product’s mass appeal, the greater its success potential through direct response. Mass appeal is defined as appealing to 25% or more of U.S. households.

2. Markup Ratio: In direct response marketing, the larger the Markup Ratio, the greater your chance of success. Markup Ratio is determined by dividing the sales price by the cost of goods and the goal is reach a ratio of 4-to-1. If your product sells for $59.95, the cost delivered to the fulfillment house would ideally be $15. However, a 4-to-1 is just an ideal. Many products with a 3-to-1 have been successful in direct response and this is especially true with higher priced goods. With lower markup ratios, more pressure must be placed on the purchased media and back-end sales of upsells (see below) to make profit per order.

3. Demonstrable: Television is an ideal medium to show end users how a product works and to demonstrate the product’s benefits. The more your product can be readily understood through visual demonstration, the greater the probability for success on television. To be specific, if we turned on a camera and asked for the product to be demonstrated in one minute or less, can this be done? An example of a demonstrable benefit is a cleaning product that removes set-in stains in under five seconds. An example of a poorly demonstrable product is pre-paid funeral services. If your product is less demonstrable, that's OK. Radio and print are going to be better choices to get the word out.

4. Change in Lifestyle: The more a product will instantly and radically improve the quality of a customer’s life, the greater chance for success. Many effective DR campaigns advertise products that create transformations which quickly and significantly improve the end users existing lifestyle. For example: an abdominal exercise product that targets the stomach muscles, or a battery-operated hair brush that helps increase the volume of thinning hair.

5. Great Value: When first starting in the industry, a very seasoned DR professional taught our group a lesson in consumer behavior that has helped us tremendously. Here it is: As a consumer watches, listens to or reads a direct response ad, he holds in his hand an invisible balance scale. On one side of the scale is the product benefits and on the other side of the scale is the price. When the benefits outweigh the price, you will make a sale. If the perception is that the price is not worth the benefits, you won't create a sale. In other words, the ratio of benefit to price must always be in benefit’s favor.

6. Problem & Solution: A very effective sales technique in DR is stating a problem and then providing the solution. Example 1) “Oh no! You just made a tear in your expensive leather sofa! What are you going to do? Well, now you can fix it instantly with Tear-B-Gone®!” Example 2) “Has this ever happened to you? You’re driving into the bright sun and realize you’ve forgotten your sunglasses. Well now you’ll never forget your sunglasses again with Fold-A-Ray®, the foldable sunglasses you can take anywhere!” The bigger the problem and the faster the solution, the more response your offer will generate.

7. Upsells/Cross sells/Continuity: After a customer has purchased the primary product through a call or over the web, you have a very unique opportunity to sell them additional products. These additional sales - called upsells, cross sells and continuity - can generate huge profits for a campaign. One of the keys is for these products to be related to the primary sale - such as an additional juice recipe book sold with a fruit and vegetable juicer. A continuity offer is even better. This is where the customer receives a new consumable product on a continuous basis. Good examples are specialty vitamins or an exclusive cleaning solution that the consumer uses with their main product.

8. Retail Potential: For every one sale a DR commercial makes, between five and eight times as many sales can be made at the retail level. By making your product available at retail when your DR media begins to stop paying out, a campaign can drive profitable retail sales while continuing to sell direct to consumer.

So how did you do? Remember, if five or more points apply, we can establish that your product has serious potential in the consumer marketplace. Give us a call to go over your results!

Contact Us For A Free 30-Minute Consultation - Let Us Help You Succeed!