Do use TV as a way to legitimize your brand, launch your brand, or reposition your brand. When used prudently and selectively, it can be one of the best advertising techniques depending on your situation.
Do investigate buying “remnant” TV media and making opportunistic buys for a fraction of retail prices.
Do make sure your TV spot looks like nothing else on TV (in order to stand out).
Do make sure you have a compelling offer, and a compelling newsworthy announcement.
Do pay special attention to audio in your TV spot…recall of ads with music in the ad (not background music) produces higher recall and captures more attention.
If you have people in your TV spots, do make sure to have them with their eyes looking right in the camera…the stopping power and attention rates are higher with ads that have people looking at you directly in the eye.
Do have a response medium (website, telephone number, SMS number, etc). If you don’t, it could be one of your worst advertising techniques.
Do understand that for response, early AM and late evening produce higher response rates (if someone is up at those hours, they often have nothing else going on and are paying more attention than normal).
Do understand that the creative that you put into the costly media of TV makes all the difference in the world. A bad TV spot in good TV media can be one of the worst advertising techniques.
So: do test your TV creative on the Internet before putting it on TV…or test at small levels before putting on untested TV creative in large media buys.
Do understand one of the cardinal rules of TV creative: see and say. See the product when the words are said. P.S. don’t forget to show the actual product. See and say in TV is one of the most basic, but often forgotten TV advertising techniques.
Do understand that likeability of ads (plus the offer) produces the highest correlation to sales.
Do understand the basics of targeting, but index the cost per thousand impressions (CPM) with the index of propensity to buy your type of product/service (e.g. a TV show with an index of 180 for buying laptops @ $20 CPM is actually more expensive than a TV show with an 130 index @ $10 CPM).
Don’t always do what you like…let the numbers dictate.
Don’t accept mediocrity in your TV creative. Mediocre TV spots in costly TV media, is the most common blunder in all advertising techniques. |
