SmallBusinessNewz

While the effectiveness of local television advertising when compared to other local advertising methods is debatable, it can still be one of the most important weapons in the marketing arsenal of any local business.

TiVo and DVR may have reduced the amount of TV commercials that people actually have to sit through, but trust me, there are still a lot of viewers out there for them. Commercials aren't dead yet. They can still be an important part of any business' marketing campaign, particularly brick and mortar businesses that rely on local customers.

Create a Lasting Impression

As with any advertising method, local television advertising must have the element of making viewers remember it. This is the key for it to be effective. The most difficult part seems to be getting people to remember it in a positive way. All too often the local commercials I see on television come off as cheesy and frankly just not very professional. This doesn't do much to help the image of the business being advertised.

If you are going to go the local television advertising route, put yourself in the shoes of the television viewer. They're already annoyed by the commercial interruption to the program they're watching. Do your best to not annoy them any further by forcing a bad advertisement upon them.

Television Advertising Can Be Expensive

Perhaps it just isn't in your budget to produce a high-quality professional-looking ad. The resources you have available will determine how much it's going to cost you to produce a decent commercial, and then you have to factor in the money it's going to cost you to run the ad as frequently and on as many channels and in as many timeslots as you want.

It can add up. Keeping it interesting and cheap can be tricky. This is where creativity becomes as important as ever.

Creativity

Humor and simplicity can be two of your best friends when creating a low budget television commercial.

Why humor? Because people like to laugh, and tend to remember things more when they bring a smile to their face. Besides that, a humorous commercial is more likely to get people talking about it, which (surprise, surprise) is an excellent way to promote your brand. The key however is to find the right balance between humor and professionalism. You don't want to turn people off for reasons I mentioned above.

Sometimes humor just isn't called for. This is where relying on simplicity can really work to your benefit. Get right to the point in your commercial, (long, pointless commercials annoy viewers). Make viewers see why they should come to your business and get out of their way. If you're not going to entertain them with your commercial (which is hard to do without humor), you better minimize annoyance. In this scenario, you still need to use creativity to make them remember you.

Drawing Influence

Try to think about commercials that have made an impression on you throughout the years. Think about ones that led you to act upon them. Creativity is great, but it also doesn't hurt to use strategies that have worked in the past. I'm not saying to go rip off other ads, but analyzing what made those ads effective may inspire some fresh ideas and get you pointed in the right direction.

It is true that people are spending more time online and less time watching television, and TiVo and DVR have become more popular among consumers reducing the amount of TV commercials they watch, but good old-fashioned TV is still here and I doubt will be gone anytime soon. If you aren't advertising your local business on television, you're probably missing out on a good deal of customers. Just remember if you do advertise on TV, you want to pull them in, not push them away.

TelevisionAdvertising.com has a great FAQ full of useful information for those new to television advertising. I'd love to hear any additional tips for local TV advertising you might have. Please share them in the comments.