Television Advertising Myths
As the owner of an ad agency I've seen people make some big mistakes with TV advertising. My job is to give good advice; the problem is that I can't force people to accept my advice.Here is an example of TV Advertising Myth Number 1:
Just last week a man called our office and wanted to do a national ad campaign with a budget of $40,000.00 per month. This is a very small budget to advertise all over the United States. When I mentioned that running his commercial just once could consume his entire monthly budget he was concerned about that and wanted to speak with his investors about obtaining more funds. I called him back the next day and he was very excited to tell me that he wouldn't be needing my services because he found that he can buy national TV advertising on the Internet for $5,000.00 per month. He further told me that he now realizes that his earlier estimate of $40,000.00 per month was much more than he'd ever need.
I tried to explain that to be on the number of networks he told me his ads would run would not be possible but he only thought I was trying to over charge him. I explained that if there were 1,000 stations around the country that would all run his spot then they are being paid $5.00 each. Now lets say that you have only 6 spots available in a 30-minute show and all of those sold for $5.00 then the station is being paid $5.00x6=$30 per half hour that they operate. This might cover the salary of one employee at the station. What about rent, electricity and all the other people who work there?
It is possible to buy spots for $5.00 but this might be on local cable TV covering a small part of a city and the spot might run at 2:00am with somewhere between 0-10 viewers. Now what if you just don't care and want as many spots as you can get as cheaply as you can get them then isn't $5,000.00 still a good deal for national TV coverage?
Before I answer here is a question for you to consider. Try to remember the last time you saw a product or service advertised on TV just one time and you decided that you should go buy that product or service. So there is the problem; TV advertising is a very powerful way to advertise but you need two things besides a good TV commercial. You need reach and frequency. What this means is this. Let's say that in a city there are 1,000,000 people. TV advertising is effective when we get a population to see our ads about 15 times. That is when people start to feel like they know us and trust us and want to buy our products and services.
This does not mean that you should run your TV commercial 15 times!
Yes I've seen the website selling "National TV Advertising" for $5,000.00 and it is a great example of getting what you pay for. When you don't understand TV advertising then paying less to be on TV sounds like an awesome idea. When you understand some advertising terms like reach and frequency then you see why the $5,000.00 investment in national advertising is going to be a waste of money.
Depending upon the ratings for that show you might need to run your commercial hundreds of times in order to get people to see it 15 times. This is true because we have hundreds of channels we could watch and we aren't sitting at the TV all day and night waiting for your TV commercial to run.
Ideally we would like to get about 25% of a population to see our ads run about 15 times or more and that is when the magic of TV advertising begins to work and people take action and buy our products and services. If we get this to happen then we would have a "Reach" of 25% and a "Frequency" of 15 and that would be typical of a TV advertising campaign that we would expect to produce results.
So let's call this "TV Advertising Myth Number 1"
There is no TV advertising Santa Clause!
If a persons only concern is to buy the cheapest advertising then why not go with a $5,000.00 per month ad campaign? The problem is that it will be $5,000.00 wasted and a better use for this money would be to go to a casino where you might at least get a drink or two and have some fun while your money is being thrown away.
Get a reputable ad agency to make a TV schedule with good reach and frequency! Try talking with someone at an ad agency and pretend you've never heard of reach and frequency. When they give you a schedule ask why they recommend this schedule. The only way to answer that question will be to explain to you about the reach and frequency that you'll be getting for your money. Any stories about "getting your name out there" or anything else is nonsense.
Reach and Frequency are what matter in TV advertising.
Isn't More Better?
There have always been super cheap spots available on TV so what you are
seeing is not new and it is not an indication that bargains are available. The problem with TV is that cheap spots are
not better spots they are a waste of money.
I could but won’t offer you the very same spots. I could because any agency could, I won’t because
I want you to be a customer again next month and the month after that.
In every business there are left over products that nobody wants. In order to dump these products you drop the price to irresistible low rates and someone will buy them. TV advertising is no different, there are spots that are on shows that nobody watches in small towns. In order to dump cheap spots small TV stations around the country have pooled their cheap spots together and they offer “national” advertising at bargain prices.
The problem with the bargains like 5,000 spots for $5,000.00 is that there is never any mention of Reach and Frequency. With TV advertising what we are buying is reach and frequency. What is all too often offered to clients by ad agencies that just want to take their money is "bargains" like $5,000.00 to buy 5,000 spots that nobody wants because nobody is watching.
If your budget is $5,000.00 I could make a schedule for you but I would ask you to not count the number of spots because that isn’t important. It is only the reach and frequency that is important.
Look at it this way, which is better?
1. Spots are $5.00 each and 50 people will see each spot.
2. Spots are $500.00 each and 50,000 people will see each spot.
In example 1 above $5,000.00 would get us a total of 50,000 views of our spot.
In example 2 above $5,000.00 would get us 500,000 views of our spot.
The numbers above are not based upon any specific TV shows but are very realistic. If you are being offered a number of spots for a price with no mention of the ONLY thing that is important on TV and that is what percentage of the population will you reach and how many times will you reach them, then you should grab your check book and run.
In every business there are left over products that nobody wants. In order to dump these products you drop the price to irresistible low rates and someone will buy them. TV advertising is no different, there are spots that are on shows that nobody watches in small towns. In order to dump cheap spots small TV stations around the country have pooled their cheap spots together and they offer “national” advertising at bargain prices.
The problem with the bargains like 5,000 spots for $5,000.00 is that there is never any mention of Reach and Frequency. With TV advertising what we are buying is reach and frequency. What is all too often offered to clients by ad agencies that just want to take their money is "bargains" like $5,000.00 to buy 5,000 spots that nobody wants because nobody is watching.
If your budget is $5,000.00 I could make a schedule for you but I would ask you to not count the number of spots because that isn’t important. It is only the reach and frequency that is important.
Look at it this way, which is better?
1. Spots are $5.00 each and 50 people will see each spot.
2. Spots are $500.00 each and 50,000 people will see each spot.
In example 1 above $5,000.00 would get us a total of 50,000 views of our spot.
In example 2 above $5,000.00 would get us 500,000 views of our spot.
The numbers above are not based upon any specific TV shows but are very realistic. If you are being offered a number of spots for a price with no mention of the ONLY thing that is important on TV and that is what percentage of the population will you reach and how many times will you reach them, then you should grab your check book and run.
