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Stephen Marden

Stephen Marden

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Aug 28, 2012
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If anyone is interested in learning how to make an infomercial and selling that invention of theirs...then fire away..here's my website to one of the product we I did Official Site (sales copy is changing as well as offer)

Here's what I can help with:

-creating a physical product(invention)
-manufacturing(china/Us)
-infomercial production
-TV advertising(best practices)
-Best companies to use
-retail distribution (domestic/overseas)
-pricing
-maybe some other shit i forgot..but you get the point..fire away and I will do my best...if we don't know the answer, we can find out together.

I can and surely share what NOT to do, since I spent well over 200 grand that, looking back, I didn't have to
 
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Stephen Marden said:
If anyone is interested in learning how to make an infomercial and selling that invention of theirs...then fire away..here's my website to one of the product we I did Official Site (sales copy is changing as well as offer)

Here's what I can help with:

-creating a physical product(invention)
-manufacturing(china/Us)
-infomercial production
-TV advertising(best practices)
-Best companies to use
-retail distribution (domestic/overseas)
-pricing
-maybe some other shit i forgot..but you get the point..fire away and I will do my best...if we don't know the answer, we can find out together.

I can and surely share what NOT to do, since I spent well over 200 grand that, looking back, I didn't have to
Click to expand...

What's the process for purchasing advertising on local affiliate TV stations?
 
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IceToEskimos said:
What's the process for purchasing advertising on local affiliate TV stations?
Click to expand...

We haven't bout local media yet. Our media buying agency advised us to test Nationally..this way we could get a good overview of our target demographic.

We tested in the markets where previous "foot care " products had performed well

Next time we test, we will most likely be buying local media...preferably Hispanic market (that demo performed well)
 
We're still testing out our prototype and need just a bit more budget to comfortably start the production. I was looking in to manufacturers in China and I'd be really interested in hearing your process about manufacturer selection, what to be aware of when selecting one, also just general tips etc
 
I'm interested in infomercials.

Suppose you already have the product, you know the market/demographic well, etc.

What's a ballpark production cost for getting an infomercial produced? How much should you expect to spend on a test run to get a decent sample size on ROI? What kind of targeting options do you have?

How do you find good people to handle the phones, upsells, etc? I'm guessing you probably shoot for a small loss/break even on the front-end and make your money after the initial sale?

What's the biggest money maker in your experience? Front-end product sales? Back-end sales? Marketing to the list? List rental?

Thanks in advance.
 
Just to start how 200 grand was wasted...let me see.

My brother is an animal...and likes to do things big!! lol

-spent way too much on tooling (before testing and seeing how viable the product is)

-did not thoroughly plan out our commercial production(rewrites and re shoots can be quite expensive)

-Created Way too much inventory

-spent money on small things for branding (which aren't really vital) such as custom white shipping boxes with company logo on it, small pouch with logo for the handstone(upsell), clamshell packaging for mail orders(not needed, a box is fine)

-Went with the wrong website guy.

-did not set up a suffiecient online sales strategy to compliment and run concurrently with our Tv advertising

-Spent numerous dollars on lab testing which in hindsight wasn't needed at the time.

-manufacturing the product in the USA (cost of goods= high)---we are the marketers but also the manufacturer

There is def more..but all I could think of at the moment
 
JoseArmando said:
We're still testing out our prototype and need just a bit more budget to comfortably start the production. I was looking in to manufacturers in China and I'd be really interested in hearing your process about manufacturer selection, what to be aware of when selecting one, also just general tips etc
Click to expand...


depending on the product and the tooling needed...you may be best waiting on full production..create some prototypes...market on a small scale..see if there is demand for it..If so..then scale up and go into full production mode

I can get you some good outsourcing contacts tomorrow when I'm in the office..no prob

Sidenote...some products, depending on what it is..can be more profitable to make here in the states..at least in the beginning.

Overseas manufacturing can have lot of headaches...almost as much as trying to hire a VA..lol
 
scottspfd82 said:
I'm interested in infomercials.

Suppose you already have the product, you know the market/demographic well, etc.

What's a ballpark production cost for getting an infomercial produced? How much should you expect to spend on a test run to get a decent sample size on ROI? What kind of targeting options do you have?

How do you find good people to handle the phones, upsells, etc? I'm guessing you probably shoot for a small loss/break even on the front-end and make your money after the initial sale?

What's the biggest money maker in your experience? Front-end product sales? Back-end sales? Marketing to the list? List rental?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...


For a good quality commercial (infomercial style) you are looking at anywhere between 35-50 grand depending on the type of product..

That new shticky roller commercial by Vince offer...was rumored to have cost nearly half a million (special effects and what not)

There were companies out there that advertise for 10 grand..but they are shady and the quality sucks..We went with one of the best production companies in the business..well trusted ConceptsTV in Jersey..

But I'm sure with clever planning and creativity, you could do one for 20-30 grand (depending on how hands on you want to be)

We went with a company to handle our inbound phone sales (west direct) good rates..50 cents a minute i believe..but their phone operators wee average if best...They have boutique shops that are dedicated to your prodcut and specialize in higher price point products.

Our front end offer was 19.99 with an average CPO of 45.00...so the backend was good to us.

The products we offered were our own upsells..we have about 6 upsells I think.

I have to say the backend is whee the money is made...We dint have a preexisting list....and are only now in talks with a company to set up a mailing...we are restructuring our offer and creative now actually
 
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sebastya said:
How do you do market research?
Click to expand...

The media company had tons of data of previous "foot" products, so they handled that. It helped determine

- TV stations
- Air times (most cheap inventory is overnight anyway)
-demographics, age, gender, culture..etc

After testing we started to gather our own true data through phone calls and website orders.. We found primarily Hispanic and black females, and a surprisingly high number of men.
 
We also have a lot of testing to still do.

Getting a product to take off is becoming an extreme challenge..but a fun one for sure!

Walmart is the goal...that is if they don't cut our margins to shreds!!
 
Stephen Marden said:
Walmart is the goal...that is if they don't cut our margins to shreds!!
Click to expand...

from what I understand, they've subverted the traditional relationship between distributors and retailers, due to their sheer size and massive buying power.

In other words, they'll tell you what they are paying for pumice stones this quarter, and you can come in under that price or GTFO.

This may only apply to more fungible commodities like generic ashtrays though, I'm not entirely sure.
 
IceToEskimos said:
from what I understand, they've subverted the traditional relationship between distributors and retailers, due to their sheer size and massive buying power.

In other words, they'll tell you what they are paying for pumice stones this quarter, and you can come in under that price or GTFO.

This may only apply fungible commodities like generic ashtrays though, I'm not entirely sure.
Click to expand...

EXACTLY!!

They have even been known to buckle under pressure from existing brands to remove the small up and coming competitor from the shelves. They make it super tough on the little guy trying to get in the game.

Walmart is good to have..but not vital. It would be nice to get to the point where we could tell them to take a hike and have them bend to our terms..Hard to do..must be a hot selling product that moves off the shelves.
 
Walmart is like any other company, when they have all the leverage they are going to use it to increase their profit margins/keep their customers happy at your expense. You need a product Walmart wants to sell before you'll ever turn a profit out of them.
 
My family has a general contracting history and my brother is in the Concrete business...he also has somewhat of a foot fetish..hahaha...he was rubbing his foot on the pool coping, as we all have in the past...feels good...next thing you know hes making a persnal stone for his feet..to rub them on.

I saw it..liked it and thought we could make some changes...and sell it via infomercial..

We took about 3 months with different designs and prototypes (made of plaster and plastic..then rubber)

Once we figured a good blend between functionality and design...we went ahead with the tooling..to make the molds...these pieces are handmade believe it or not....something that goes against everything in today's manufacturing game
 
Glad the black dicks and dick rolls didn't scare you off.

"Spent numerous dollars on lab testing which in hindsight wasn't needed at the time."

Can you explain more about this?

Also, for your backend upsells - This is something I'm working on and got a ~5% lift in order value, so there is still tons of room to improve. Looks like you've done well to turn a $20 order into $45.

Did you roll out with them ready as well? Or were they added later? And do you manufacture all 6 upsells, or re-brand existing products, or..?
 
Stephen Marden said:
depending on the product and the tooling needed...you may be best waiting on full production..create some prototypes...market on a small scale..see if there is demand for it..If so..then scale up and go into full production mode

I can get you some good outsourcing contacts tomorrow when I'm in the office..no prob

Sidenote...some products, depending on what it is..can be more profitable to make here in the states..at least in the beginning.

Overseas manufacturing can have lot of headaches...almost as much as trying to hire a VA..lol
Click to expand...

The 3d print costs about $150 so to test it properly with a few hundred sales
there's almost not too much incentive to go that way instead of going directly in to production. What we're in the process of doing though is setting up a full website with a CC submit that will just tell the customer we're out of stock and see the stats that way.

Can you share what kind of conversions are you seeing though from the TV ads compared to what you do on the net? I'm interested in this since we'll probably price our product at around $20 too so the profit per sold piece is around $10-$15. Doesn't really give you a lot of margin for high priced ad placements.

I'll PM you for the contacts.
 
A couple black dicks never hurt anyone..builds character ;)

--we went overboard with trying to make this anti fungal and antibacterial..which wasn't needed to run a simple test...we could have seen if we had a viable product and adequate demand first before topping the product off with more bells and whistles

--the anti bacterial part of the product didn't seem to drive the costumer one way or the other..we might eliminate it...the ROI of that feature might not be worth it.

We rolled right out with upsells...(only way to get total order up to where you can sustain TV airtime)

The backend sales were good...many people bought multiple stones..and extra lotion...Plus as everyone may or may not know... substantial profit can built into the shipping and handling (shipping and handling is moved to the point of consumer tolerance) oh and the priority processing (move your order to the front of the line--ships quicker)


45 total sale is actually quite low to the norm of some of the heavy hitters...The are seeing total average CPO of near $60.00+

One campaign turns a 10.00 front end to 65.00 dollar total sale..Beasts when it comes to the upsell....The returns and complaints as well as charge backs might be high though..

depends on the specific product...
 
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