'Tis the season for DRTV
With an unpredictable holiday season ahead, see why DRTV offers marketers greater stability, flexibility and opportunity.
As Prime Day unofficially kicks off the 2020 holiday shopping season this week, many marketers remain on the fence regarding their holiday marketing budgets because there are too many unknowns.
Who will win the election, and what impact will this have on consumer confidence? Will there be a surge in COVID cases during flu season that will keep consumers away from the stores in even greater numbers than estimated? Will unemployment increase and further hamper consumer spending? With all of this uncertainty, even Deloitte is hedging its annual retail holiday forecast, laying out two possible scenarios: a relatively stable year-over-year sales increase (0% to 1%) or a more significant jump (2.5% to 3.5%), both of which are lower than in years past.
“The lower projected holiday growth this season is not surprising given the state of the economy. While high unemployment and economic anxiety will weigh on overall retail sales this holiday season, reduced spending on pandemic-sensitive services such as restaurants and travel may help bolster retail holiday sales somewhat,” said Daniel Bachman, Deloitte’s U.S. economic forecaster.
But Deloitte also highlights a silver lining: forecasting that e-commerce sales will grow by 25% to 35% this holiday season (compared to a 14.7% in 2019). This means a greater share of holiday sales will be trackable than ever before — giving marketers the ability to measure media performance more quickly and manage spend more closely than they have in the past. This creates a prime opportunity to leverage the power of DRTV.
While DRTV often gets overlooked by marketers needing to drive sales in Q4, it is time to take another look at this proven media channel that delivers scale and accountability. Here are 5 things to know about how DRTV can help you win this challenging holiday season:
1. Flexibility. In this year of uncertainty, marketers can’t commit millions of dollars to a TV scatter buy in order to drive sales. But with DRTV, you don’t have to. You can buy the same programs across linear and CTV without the obligation of scatter. So if there is disruption to your supply chain or a negative presence in the market, you can cancel within days.
2. Precise attribution. Technology by the likes of TVSquared allows DRTV advertisers to accurately measure the traffic and conversion of each and every TV airing, every day. There is no need to wait for a post campaign analysis. You’ll be able to see where the sales and revenue are coming from during the flight, while there is time to react.
3. Optimization. Precise attribution, plus the flexibility to react in-flight, means that we can swiftly adjust schedules to shift weight to higher performing stations and dayparts. This allows the media team to manage to weekly revenue and ROI goals, while also testing new stations and dayparts to efficiently scale the buy.
4. Opportunistic. As unpredictable as the holiday sales season may be, the TV marketplace is even more up in the air. The news cycle related to COVID and post-election coverage, the fluid nature of live sports, and changes in consumer habits due to continued work-from-home will impact TV inventory. This means last-minute opportunistic inventory will be available for seasoned buyers to take advantage of. These can be strong sources of revenue for marketers.
5. It’s not too late. With creative in hand, a strong DRTV agency can get you up and running within a couple of weeks. And even if you don’t have a spot ready to go, a DRTV agency can use existing video assets, whether it be a brand commercial or an online explainer video, to produce a compelling DRTV creative in a fraction of the time to produce a new commercial. So if you are reading this now, you can still be on air to hit the peak holiday shopping season.
In a year with so much uncertainty, marketers need to have as much control as possible over their budgets and ROI. Each week will bring a new set of challenges and opportunities this holiday season.
Take a look at DRTV. It will give you the tools to be proactive and take control of your holiday campaign.
Curious about how to get started? I’d be happy to discuss how to make a DRTV campaign work for your product or service.
Reach out to me at rob.schmidt@eicoff.com.