Effective Television Advertising

Television reaches very large audiences -- audiences that are usually larger than the audience your city's newspaper reaches.  The area that a television station's broadcast signal covers is called A.D.I., which stands for "Area of Dominant Influence."

Some advantages of television advertising include the following:

   1. Advertising on television can give a product or service instant validity and prominence.

   2. You can easily reach the audiences you have targeted by advertising on TV. Children can be reached during cartoon programming, farmers during the morning agricultural reports and housewives during the afternoon soap operas. A special documentary on energy sources for heating homes and business will also attract viewers interested in heating alternatives.

   3. TV offers the greatest possibility for creative advertising. With a camera, you can take your audience anywhere and show them almost anything.

   4. Since there are fewer television stations than radio stations in a given area, each TV audience is divided into much larger segments, which enables you to reach a larger, yet, more diverse audience.

Producing a commercial is also an important variable to consider.  On the whole, television audiences have become more sophisticated and have come to expect quality commercials. A poorly produced commercial could severely limit the effectiveness of your message, and may even create a bad image in your customer's mind.

Advertising agencies or TV commercial production facilities are the best organizations for creating a commercial that will be effective for the goods or service you are offering. But the cost of a well-produced commercial is often more expensive than people think. Some TV stations will claim they can put together commercials for "almost nothing." Before agreeing to this, find out what "almost nothing" means. Then, determine if the commercial quality and content they are proposing will represent your firm's image.

Many companies use the station's commercial production facilities for creating "tag lines" on pre-produced commercials. Often, the station will help you personalize the spot for little or no cost... if you advertise with them. Remember, more than anything else, when it comes to making a TV commercial, you get what you pay for. And, when you're buying commercial time for one 30-second TV spot costing from $600 to $1,200, it makes sense to have the best sales presentation possible. Remember, like radio, the message comes and goes ... and that's it. The viewer doesn't see your commercial again unless you buy more placements.

Creativity: A Vital Element

When you advertise on TV, your commercial is not only competing with other commercials, it's also competing with the other elements in the viewer's environment as well.

The viewer may choose to get a snack during the commercial break, go to the bathroom or have a conversation about what they just saw on the show they were viewing. Even if your commercial is being aired, viewers may never see it unless it is creative enough to capture their attention. That's why it's so important to consider the kind of commercial you are going to create ...and how you want your audience to be affected. Spending money on a good commercial in the beginning will pay dividends in the end.

Don't Use TV Unless Your Budget Allows

Attempting to use TV advertising by using a poorly-produced commercial, buying inexpensive late night commercial time that few people watch or just placing your commercial a couple times on the air will guarantee disappointing results. To obtain positive results from TV advertising you must have enough money in your budget to:

   1. Pay for the cost of producing a good TV commercial (today costs range from $1,500 to $10,000, and above).  If you would like to speak with the Creative Director of BeyondTheTV about developing an effective and affordable television commercial for your business, contact Randall Duncan at randall@rev05.com.

   2. Pay for effective commercial time that will reach your viewer at least 5-7 times.

If you are investing a large portion of your marketing budget to television, you want to make sure the image you project is the right one (and to the right audience).  The key to remember is that television advertising is more of a marathon than a sprint!