Advertising: The keys to success

Whenever you mention TV advertising, companies immediately think two things; “it’s expensive” and “only for large organisations.”

But did you know that actually, TV advertising is AFFORDABLE and a MASSIVE asset to businesses of all shapes and sizes? AND that you can have an HD studio-quality advertisement that you can reuse online not just TV for less than £1,000 a month in many cases?

TV advertising has a track record of increasing sales in a very provable and profitable way. We know you’re thinking we make and sell advertising for TV so of course we’re going to say all of this, but the truth is we have worked with a number of SME business who have had a number of successful TV campaigns without the huge budgets.

In this article we explore just some of the most common misconceptions linked with TV advertising and how you can get the most from your TV advertising campaign.

Misconception – More is better:  

Most people think that in order to have an effective advertising campaign you need lots of commercials spread over lots of channels. Or blanketing one single channel with your advert constantly. Blanketing can work if you have an unlimited budget, but lets be honest, most of us don’t have that luxury to start off with.

FACT: Go niche: Many networks now have AdSmart advertising or Video On Demand Advertising. These options are much more affordable and targeted, this means you can advise around popular TV shows, that are being watch by your specific demographic for a fraction of the cost.

Misconception – Video production is expensive:

The majority of people, when asked, believe that creating an advert costs 10’s of thousands to produce.

FACT: Video production costs have come down over the years and the benefit is to the buyer. For example, we can shoot HD quality commercials often for less than £2,500.

Misconception – Time slots are all 30 seconds in length:

Most TV advertising agencies lead you to believe that only long advertising slots are available, which can cost more.

FACT: Time slots can actually vary, anything from 10 seconds upwards is available to purchase from a channel. Get the time that works best for your budget and ask what slots are on offer.  Also, look for in-show sponsorships (segment sponsors, closed captioning sponsorships) and online-only ads which often can be even more effective since most online videos only show a limited amount of ads during an online broadcast.

Misconception – ROI from TV advertising can’t be proved: 

Nothing is worse than the media source coming back to you and telling you the campaign worked if it really didn’t. How do you know if it worked if all you see is a spreadsheet of random numbers?

FACT: From previous experience we have found that companies with a predefined call-to-action set in their advert, such as a discount code for example, are able to monitor the true performance of their campaign and exactly how it worked.

Misconception – No one watches adverts: 

A previous belief from many businesses was that TV adverts can be skipped and ignored, thinking it’s a waste of money.

FACT: Less than 20% of adverts are skipped believe it or not. Still unsure? Online-only adverts such as Video On Demand Ads can’t be skipped no matter what the viewer tries. On Demand channels have cleverly removed the users control functions during adverts. Another solution to avoid skipping, is to use Pay based CPM (or cost per 1,000 impressions) online video advertising. This method means you will only pay when your advert has been viewed.

Misconception TV is only for big brands:

FACT: Highly-targeted ads for small businesses is an extremely viable option. You don’t have to have a massive budget or a Hollywood style advert, TV viewers are smarter than people give them credit for. An honest straight-forward ad explaining your product or service can often be just as effective as a multi-million pound campaign.

The bottom line is TV and cross-platform advertising is extremely effective if done correctly and won’t cost the earth. Follow this simple advice and you can’t go wrong with TV advertising.

If you want to see if TV advertising is right for your business, feel free to contact our team today.