PI Media and Its Rapid Growth
Getting started with PI media can be overwhelming. Do a search for PI media and you will find many options, a lot of promises and some conflicting information including what is really PI.
The words "PI media" have become huge buzz words in 2008 and why not? More and more infomercials fail when they come out of the gate to test. Who wouldn't want a "safe" way to run media? Who wouldb't want to supplement their paid media with some per inquiry? the only people who wouldn't are those that have some sort of misunderstanding regarding per inquiry media.
As someone who has bought media for years, I will assure you that more often than not, you're paying way more for media than needed - many buyers are not negotiating the media as low as they should, if at all - they are paying stations full price or close to it.
We negotiate with stations to get clients the best media rates possible at all times - many buyers do not.
While you think this may help stations - after all aren't they then getting more money? They actually are losing as the media does not stay booked. The client can't make money on the full price media that was bought for him and he cancels. The station is then sitting on media and the client has a show that he thinks has failed. In my opinion, this has created even more unsold media than ever before.
In the past few months, we've watched PI media explode. "Everyone" is doing it. And in a situation like this - you don't know who knows what they are talking about and who does.
Some PI companies want to charge you $10k, $20K, or more to "test" the show to see if it is PI fit. Ideally, you should have a show that has ran and been tested but, in our opinion, not have to run the creative (again) with a PI agency as a condition to see if you "qualify" for their PI media selection.
In our PI world, things are definitely different - We contact stations that we have known for years, we contact new stations and quite often, stations contact us - wanting to know what new clients we have on board. The main thing is - we are in direct contact with people who work at the station. Why is this important? We want to get the most media for each client as possible so each client and each station makes as much money as possible from each airing.
We don't take money from a client, buy media and pass it off as PI - that is paid media. We offer paid media and we explain that it is just that paid media. We also offer PI and it is just that - per inquiry media. media that is available from stations and you pay them per call or lead generated.
TV and radio stations that we work with know that we bring ethical, quality long form (infomercials) and short form (spots) to them for consideration. They also know that our clients pay them promptly for every lead or order generated. They also know we provide the perfect reporting, in a format they can use and we are available to go over the reporting - even on weekends.
Is PI media a good option for you? Maybe. If you have a quality product and are willing to pay stations a fair amount promptly for sales or leads, then most likely we will present you to stations in our network. You will also have to have a way to track calls and orders so the stations can see how the product is performing on their station.
To schedule a quick consultation to see if your product is PI viable - just send us an email info@omgconsultants.com Please include your contact info, basic info about your product including selling price, a web site link and confirm if you have a call center in place for reporting. (If you do not have a call center yet - we have an excellent low cost call center contact that we can discuss with you as an option.)
Comments