TV advertising can be a cost effective way for local businesses to deliver their message to a large audience at a (relatively) low CPM (cost per thousand impressions), but it is not without challenges. One of the principle challenges is crafting the right message and coming up with the best creative. This leads us to another challenge – the typical small business owner doesn’t have the resources to hire a high-powered creative or production team. Many small business owners spend less on their ad buy than a larger company spends on their creative alone!
As a result, many TV ads for local businesses tend to come across as “homegrown.” You know what I mean – the owner of the business speaking directly into the camera and giving his or her pitch (forget for a moment whether this is good or bad – it is what it is).
On a positive note, commercials like this are very easy to produce. So before running your next TV campaign, why not craft 3-4 commercials and launch them on the web? Put them on YouTube (you can even create your own channel – it’s FREE), share them on Facebook, Tweet them out on Twitter, put them on your blog, email them to friends. See which ones people like. See if any of them go viral.
It costs you next to nothing to “test” your TV spots on the web long before you ever run them on TV. It’s like having your own focus group!! Once you have selected a winner, you can decide to invest a little more in having it professionally produced or run it as is.
This approach is similar to what Google did to help promote their new browser “Chrome”. It’s also what Blue Corona did for DrinkMore Water’s Tour de Farce commercial.
Of course, to effectively execute any of these online video strategies, you need to build up your community or audience. If you are not using Social Media, come up with your strategy NOW. If you don’t have an email list – BUILD ONE – start with friends, family and customers. Technology is rapidly changing the marketing world and if you don’t get LinkedIn now, you might get left out in the future!
