So you’ve finally decided to move forward with a television advertising campaign. Congratulations! You’ve got a ton of work ahead of you but if you plan your work carefully you’ll have no trouble at all when it comes to creating an effective commercial.

There are several important factors that contribute towards high-quality television advertising. Here are five tips I consider to be most important during the planning stages.

1. Make sure your commercial has people in it, whether they’re real or animated. Human beings relate to seeing others and your audience will be more interested in seeing other people around/using your product than they would in seeing a shot of your building or the product alone. Make sure the people in your commercial look as natural as possible.
2. Make sure you write out your script in advance. Improv is a beautiful thing but is often best left to professionals and comedians. Television advertising costs are high and time is money. Don’t waste time trying out lines that don’t work. Plan them in advance, film your commercial, and be done with it.
3. Map out the scenes you want to have appear in your video as well. The average television commercial only lasts 30 seconds so you really won’t have time to show off your entire inventory or to discuss every product you own. Choose the best and most appealing products to feature in your commercial and worry about advertising the others later. Your potential customers should be able to SEE the products you want to sell even if they can’t hear the commercial.
4. Be conscious of the time you’ve chosen. If you purchased a 30-second time slot than make sure your commercial is 30 seconds and not a second more. The station that airs your completed ad will only air it for 30 seconds and if your commercial is too long something will get cut off when the next commercial comes on.
5. Last, but certainly not least is the call to action. Please do not forget your call to action. There’s really no point to advertising without it. Include a verbal name, phone number, and/or website address and make sure they appear in writing on the screen as well. Tell your prospects to call or email you. Make sure they know what you want them to do!

Television advertising can be extremely effective if done properly. Have fun creating your ad!

Sean

Sales Expert - Marketing Consultant – Motivational Speaker

As you plan your television advertising campaign you may find yourself in an interesting situation. At some point you’ll have to decide whether or not you’re going to advertise on a general television broadcast station or a niche station. The results of either method stand to be astounding, but if you don’t choose properly you may not get the results you’re hoping for.

Let’s say you have a product that the general public may need to use. It sounds silly, but we’ll use toothpaste as an example. Everyone needs to brush his or her teeth. There’s no special interest group for toothpaste and the average person buys toothpaste regularly. In this scenario, you’ll reach a wider (interested) audience by advertising on a regular public access television station.

On the other hand, you may work for a company that manufacturers reels for fishing rods. The odds of you reaching your target audience by advertising on a general station are pretty slim. In this case you might achieve better success if you advertise on a niche station – such as a sport station or one dedicated to fishing. Not sure a station exists that might meet your niche needs? Look around. All of the digital and satellite stations in existence today give advertisers options they’d never dreamed of before.

The audience you reach by advertising on a niche station is going to be smaller than if you had advertised on a more popular one, but it’s going to be targeted and perhaps offer you a better turnover. If you’re not sure about your campaign, you might even start with the targeted niche station as your “test” and then move to the larger audience later on.

Everyone spends at least a little bit of time in front of the television. WIth a little creativity, you’ll have no problem figuring out what stations are best to advertise on – and at what times!

Sean

Sales Expert - Marketing Consultant – Motivational Speaker

Sitting in front of the television is one of the most popular pastimes in the world. The average individual spends over 4 hours per day watching television, so it’s no surprise that television advertising has the potential to be incredibly effective.

Utilizing the ability to advertise on television gives you the chance to showcase your products or services to a very broad audience. You can choose to advertise on local stations to reach a general audience or to place your messages on specialized stations where you’ll be sure to hit a targeted audience. For example, specialized stations include the sports channel or the cooking station.

So what are some of the advantages to advertising on television?

• Television advertising gives you the best of both worlds – visual and auditory. You can use not only graphics and words, but you can use motion, light and a number of other features that will make your message seem even more credible.

• Those watching television are a captive audience as they’re already paying particular attention to what happens on the screen.

• Television advertising leaves room for creativity. You get to brand yourself with not only an image, but with a unique personality.

While television advertising is an excellent way to boost your business, there are a few downfalls you need to keep in mind.

The disadvantages of television advertising include:

• Television advertising can be very expensive. Depending on your budget, you may have to hire writers, actors, and editors as well as your air time. If you don’t have a large advertising budget, you won’t be able to buy enough air time to make a difference.

• Changing your television advertisement to feature a different sale or to reflect a new season takes a lot of time, energy and money. It’s certainly not as simple as the hour it might take to update the coupon in your print ad.

• Television advertising only works if you’re already very familiar with your audience. Knowing who your audience is will help you to determine the best time and place to show your ad. Not knowing your audience will lead you to waste your money on times when they’re not even watching.

Television advertising can be very effective, but only if it’s used correctly. Use caution when preparing a television ad campaign and, if you already have one, make sure you take a few moments to review your campaign for effectiveness.

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat

Telephone 0800 849 6732