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Keeping a small business profitable is hard enough, and expanding can seem like an impossible task when you’re starting with such a small customer base. Television advertising is widely used by larger business to promote their products and services, but owners of small, local businesses don’t often realize that they can use TV to their advantage as well. Here are a few of the most effective strategies for promoting your small business using TV advertising:
Set Goals First
The first step when you’re thinking about purchasing a TV advertising spot is to set a goal for your ad. Maybe you want to announce the launch of a new product, for example, or perhaps you want to get the word out about an upcoming sale. Many small businesses also use TV ads to build a unique personality for their brand.
Know Your Target Audience
Audience-targeted TV advertising is more likely to generate increased business than more general-approach advertising, so consider who you’re trying to reach before pulling the trigger on a TV commercial. A commercial directed towards senior citizens, for example, will probably look and feel different than an ad directed towards people in their twenties. If your target audience is more general–in other words, if your product or service is meant to be used by anyone–you may need to focus more on presenting the necessary facts about your business.
Encourage Immediate Action
Encouraging viewers of your ad to take some sort of immediate action is one of the oldest and most effective advertising tricks. Once your ad has spent approximately fifteen to thirty seconds explaining your product and its benefits, include some sort of ‘call to action’ at the end. This call to action can be as simple as including your website address or company phone number at the end of the ad and encouraging viewers to contact you for more information, or you might offer a free downloadable app or a limited-time coupon. However you go about it, make sure your viewers believe it’s in their best interest to act immediately.
Use Local Stations
Advertising spots on national networks are the Holy Grail, so to speak, but ad time on major networks is likely to be out of your small business’ price range. This is where local TV stations come in. Try contacting a local news station and asking about purchasing commercial time–the majority of local stations reserve two minutes out of each hour for local business advertising. For best results, purchase time during a program that you believe your target audience is likely to be watching.
Anita is a freelance writer from Denver, CO. She studied at Colorado State University, and now writes articles about health, business, family and finance. A mother of two, she enjoys traveling with her family whenever she isn’t writing.
