Infomercials are a great way for marketing companies to get the message across to the unsuspecting public, who are in turn potential customers. Fantastic for the people who sell air time and can be very lucrative for the company that is selling a product, terrible on the pockets of everyday people sat at home watching the late night paid programming schedule however.
Infomercials can be quite entertaining to watch, I mean everybody loves the ShamWow adverts, which have produced a whole raft of viral videos and remixes on YouTube, and the product is actually quite genuine in what it does… I have ShamWow, I was sucked in but I had to have one because the concept is brilliant, right? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns4mnmNBk1Y
There is a darker side to the nature of paid programing and the Infomercial marketing techniques. This dark side can be hard to pick up on if you are not thinking out of the box, and there are some great examples of what I am about to explain.
Get rich quick schemes are a popular venture for marketing companies, everybody who is a little scarce in the pocket and bank account would like to have a few extra hundred thousand dollars hanging around, so that they can pay off a mortgage or buy a flash car. But let us look at this deeper for a moment and ask ourselves a question, ‘if this is such a big money maker, why sell the secret to making a fortune?’
You would have thought as with every shrewd businessman or woman who has a niche product, they would keep their mouth shut and just continue to rake in the cash. Can it be that the likes of Russ Dalbey (Winning in the Cash Flow Business 2010) are so generous and kind to offer up some of there fortune? Why not just give everybody a few thousand dollars?
You see it is clever marketing, it gets your attention, you are sucked in to want to make a fortune, only to find that all you are actually getting is a copy of a CD which cost you $39.99 approximately, and a few phone calls to yourself to ask you to spend a few thousand bucks on courses to learn the tricks of the trade. This however is not a scam by any sense of the imagination, you are told what you will receive but in very clever marketing type wording. One winner ladies and gentlemen – Russ Dalbey!
The best products that are sold on Infomercials are those that have a household or everyday purpose, those same items you see in every home up and down the country. These are almost certainly the best buys on paid programming as there are so many floating around closets and cupboards… right?
It is not always true that just because every single one of your friends and family has a product that they bought while watching an Infomercial, means the product is the most awesome ever. Do a bit or research first, ask if the item is good and don’t just settle for one answer dig further, internet searches, ask more than one person you know who has the product. You can better judge what a product is like when you have a good few answers to hand, don’t be in such a rush to stick your hand in your pocket to grab your credit card.
Finally I have to say that TV land is not stupid, the powers that be might be making a fortune from paid programming, but the adverts you see are not scams, they have to be proven or they are not aired, unless it’s the marketing company’s own channel.
Infomercials are very clever in what they want to achieve and that is sales. You have to do your homework and think very carefully about product you see, ask your questions and try to answer them. For example if you have difficulty figuring out how you are going to make money from purchasing a book or a CD, then you are going to have difficulty making money with the scheme. There is always going to be a catch – but scam? No!
Be wise, be careful and think out of the box!
