. . . in order to engage with a Mexican DRTV audience, say Mary Ram and Susan Pensabene.

  Direct marketers with successful Hispanic direct response television (DRTV) campaigns airing in their own countries might consider going ‘south of the border down Mexico way’ to take advantage of growth potential there. 

Consider these facts:

• With $5.2 billion in advertising and media market volume among Spanish-speaking and Latin-American countries, Mexico ranks third, behind Brazil and Spain. 
• Mexico is responsive. With less television advertising clutter, messages tend to stand out and viewers take note. And because Mexican viewers also tend to be web responsive, television offers a natural way to generate an immediate response.
• While there are many smaller players, the Mexican television landscape is dominated by two media giants – Televisa and Azteca. Unlike other countries – such as the United States, where cable dominates and the market is fragmented – Mexican television viewing is concentrated across fewer channels. 

While opportunities for direct marketers seem wide open, Mexico is a foreign market and there is much to know before embarking upon, or expanding, a DRTV campaign there.

Station geography
Understanding station geography and feeds is critical to achieving DRTV success in Mexico. Let’s first define the concept of ‘television feed’.   

Essentially, the feed is the originating source or transmission, and the feed directly impacts the way a broadcast is distributed. The feed not only controls who sees the broadcast but when it is distributed. A station that operates with two separate feeds (dual transmission) maintains one feed for each geographic region. Viewers will watch the same show but at different times, depending on location. With a single-feed arrangement, viewers receive the exact same feed at the same time (the air times will differ only if the stations are airing in different time zones).     
It is possible to buy time on stations with feeds just in Mexico, but one must be careful to know which feeds are selected, by network. 

Why is this so important? Because telemarketing programming must be established to be in sync with the geography of the feed or valuable marketing dollars could be wasted.

If a marketer cannot take calls from viewers and/or fulfill product, for example, media dollars are essentially being thrown away. Not only is this a costly proposition but advertisers risk the potential of turning off viewers who are interested but who cannot reach them. 

Consider the example of ESPN2 – or ESPN Dos. ESPN Dos is a channel in Mexico and central America that provides locally targeted programming. ESPN Dos offers two commercial feeds, allowing advertisers to better target their desired audience. One feed airs in Mexico and reaches 5,879,000 Spanish-speaking households. The other feed hits the Dominican Republic, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Curacao, Venezuela, Colombia and Peru – and reaches 2,963,000 Spanish-speaking households. Knowing which feed goes where is important to targeting the right audience with the right offer and having call centre resources at the ready. The impact of buying the wrong feed could be devastating to programme results and budgets. 

The art of media negotiation
Media negotiation in other countries is best left to an expert. Mexican television stations do not recognise agency commissions that may be standard in other countries. In the United States, for example, the standard agency commission is 15 per cent of the gross invoice. This does not apply in Mexico! 

A seasoned media agency will know what questions to ask to determine the agency commission practices and how they match with those of the advertiser. The agency will be able to negotiate commissions based on their knowledge of Mexican practices, saving you time, aggravation and unmet expectations.   

Operational details
A savvy advertiser recognises that establishing the back-end operational functions of an effective DRTV
effort is equally as important as the details of developing the commercial itself. 

Elements that deserve special consideration and planning include language consistency, toll-free phone number usage, URLs, currency conversion and fulfilment.

• When it comes to language, it is important to note that there are different dialects within the Spanish language. However, when advertising in Mexico, the most common dialect should be used to ensure the greatest reach.
• Not all telephone numbers work in all countries – a fact that many people don’t consider up front. Advertisers must rely on the knowledge of their media agencies – experts who will do the legwork to determine which telephone numbers will work in which geographic areas.
• Measurement is critical to the success of any DRTV programme. To effectively track results, unique URLs must be assigned exclusively for Mexican campaigns. Assigning specific URLs for individual television stations is the only fail-safe way to track every lead back to its origination point.
• What about currency conversions? Will cheques be acceptable? What about credit cards? What is the impact of these issues on the bottom-line budget? These are important considerations for advertisers looking to make the most of every marketing dollar.
• Can the product be fulfilled legally in Mexico? How might international shipping regulations impact the timeliness of delivery, for instance?

 A veteran media agency will determine if the product is a good fit for a Mexican television programme.

Is DRTV the right tactic?
How does an advertiser know if a prospective product would do well using direct response television in general? 
Here are a few key questions to ask:

1. First, what is the potential for making money? The rule of thumb: strive for a 5:1 margin – the ratio between the costs to manufacture the goods and the selling price. 
2. Can the product and its major benefits and features be easily demonstrated?
3. What is the demographic of the audience? What is known about channel preferences and buying behaviours? 
4. What is the major objective?  Is the goal to drive leads to the phone? Web? Retail?

DRTV can accomplish all three goals but strategies must be determined up front in order to achieve maximum benefit. 

Robust marketplace
The Mexican marketplace is a robust one and the audience is more sophisticated than expected. There is much less clutter in television than in other media landscapes.

A direct marketer that tests DRTV in Mexico should find vast opportunities there. The key is to do homework up front to know and avoid the pitfalls. 

Mary Ram and Susan Pensabene are co-founders of US-based DRM Partners: www.drm-partners.com