Many people contact us after talking with other companies who claim to offer Per Inquiry media.  Unfortunately there are many companies who claim they are offering per inquiry and are, in actuality, running paid media and paying the stations in advance just like a regular paid media campaign.
 
The client is asked to give them a deposit - which with PI a deposit is normal.  However, in this case, the "deposit" is actually being used to buy time on stations and the agency is hoping to get the response needed to generate enough leads.

The agency may also insist upon doing a paid test.  There is nothing wrong with testing a creative beforehand to see what response is achieved before taking it to per inquiry stations.  In some cases, the creative may not be "PI worthy". If you are asked to do a paid test before PI can be considered, you may want to ask the agency just what percentage of these paid tests result in PI options?  Also, exactly where are they testing your creative and why?

True PI (per inquiry) is when an agency has developed a strategic relationship with a TV or radio station and the station agrees to run a client's creative with no money up front.  They gamble on the creative pulling a response. 

The PI agency and the client agree upon how much will be received per call, per lead or per order.  Per order offers are becoming far and few between unless the client has had a proven paid media campaign running and can provide data showing the creative is pulling sales at the volume needed to meet the station's requirement.

The PI agency should be able to tell you what the going payout rate range is for service creatives such as loan modification, debt settlement, legal and others.  The per order payouts have a different calculation which your agency will help you determine. 

PI stations are savvy.  They are bombarded with PI offers daily and are not interested in "special partnerships" or arrangements.

They expect a PI agency to bring them a professionally done spot or long form (28:30)  with a payout that meets or beats current campaigns they are running.  A quality call center  and daily results reporting is a must also.  Trying to re-inevent the wheel is not an option with Per Inquiry.

Caution is a must as not every agency has the station contacts that allow them to work with stations on a true PI basis.  You want to ensure that you have hired a true PI agency that has the contacts willing to take your creative and run it.

For more information regarding per inquiry or to submit your creative for consideration - please email info@omgconsultants.com

Omega Marketing Group, Inc. is an established Direct Response and Branding media agency.  We have a solid team of PI experts on staff with 15 to 20+ years experience each.  We place creatives for clients on a per inquiry basis.