Guide to the Tricks of Infomercials

All of us will find ourselves channel surfing at 2 in the morning from time to time. As we search for something to entertain, or to put us to sleep, we eventually will stumble upon infomercials.

These half hour to hour long information commercials have made their creators billions of dollars over the last 20 years. What is the key to their success?

Energetic Sales Team

It has been said that a creative salesperson can sell anything. Infomercials always have a creative, energetic, and humorous host. While appearing to be an average person, the host sets up the viewer up to trust him or her.

After being able to gain the viewer's trust, the host will set the stage for the apparent salesperson. The salesperson is introduced as a genius who has spent years either inventing, or traveling the globe looking for, products that will help everyone.

This act is actually based off of an old technique that has been used by con artists for years. One person gains the trust of the individual. Then, the first artist introduces the second artist as another individual that the person can trust. The second artist then uses this trust to take money from the unaware individual.

Studio Audience

Taping the infomercial in from of a studio audience adds a sense of trust and reliability. What most people don't know is that the people in the studio audience are planted friends, family, and co-workers of the people that have created the infomercial.

The audience members that are interviewed for the infomercial are usually either public relations workers of hired actors. Their job is to praise the product and explain that it is something that cannot be lived without.

Product

The product of the infomercial is supposed to be the star of the show. Almost the entire time is spent talking about how great the product is.

In reality, if anyone talked about a product for a long amount of time, people would consider buying it. There are also many products that could be discussed of thirty minutes of more.

Take the example of the Swiss Army Knife. Anyone could make a reasonable case for the purchase of a Swiss Army Knife. It is this overstatement of the product that will sell it.