Q:
I would like to know your thoughts on local broadcast television. I have a rep from a local abc news channel that says some pretty interesting things about television. There is only one "local" news channel in my area, and I am an avid viewer. What are the strengths/weaknesses of broadcast vs cable or radio? Is local TV a good idea to reach potential customers? I typically used print and radio, but have no real way of measuring the results.
Is satellite becoming a major player?
Any help is appreciated.
A:
Local Broadcast Television has it's place to be sure... and depending on what market (city) you live in it may or may not make sense.
The first thing you should know about Broadcast television is that the majority of the commercials they have to sell is in the local news. The vast majority of the commercials in "primetime" programming is from their network... Just some inside baseball.
First.
The major strength of television in general is that it is the only medium to combine sight sound motion and emotion. It has all the benfits of print, with pictures, and easily read text, and all of the benefits of radio, the sound of the human voice, and the ability of the listeners brain to hear without listening. The other main strength is that TV is the only medium 90% guaranteed to reach consumers in the comfort of their homes. Where they feel safe. Viewers transfer this emotion to the way they feel about the companies advertising on TV. Theres a sense of familiarity there.
In general the larger the market (ie the more people who live here) the more expensive the advertising medium is. This is due to both the fact that there are more people to advertise to and their is more compeition between advertisers which also raises rates.
The main differences between Broadcast TV and Cable TV is delivery method to the viewer and the opportunities or lack of opportunity that presents.
Broadcast Television Stations have a tower that emits it's signal and it goes out as far as the eye can see.. sometimes farther. In DC for example television stations broadcast west to the alleghany mountains as far south as Richmond, north to Baltimore and out beyond the Chesapeake Bay on the east. This is a large area... and the television stations base their rates on reaching every single person they touch. Now if you have a business that A) Can service the entire area that the television station serves through having multiple retail locations ... B) have an outside sales force that can service the whole area. C) have the funds to purchase an effective long term advertising schedule.. Then Broadcast TV, At least in this market can be a viable option. In big markets ad rates for local broadcast affiliates can be somewhere in the $800-$3000 range per :30 second commercial. So it becomes a question of return on investment... how many "widgets" do I have to sell to justify my ad expenses. I will tell you that not very many "local" advertisers can afford to advertise on broadcast TV in large markets for that very reason.
Radio, has the same thing going on. The difference between Broadcast Radio and Broadcast TV is that Broadcast radio (obviously doesn't have pictures) and is mostly used "in - car" this can be a big advantage for some businesses. The other advantage is "Theater of the mind" In other words, radio ads (if done right) paint a picture with words for the listener to experience and because each individual will paint a different picture it becomes a personalized experience... For instance. If i'm advertising real estate and my ad focuses on telling you how I can construct your dream home... Think of what your dream home would be.... I guarantee it's different even if only slightly than the home I'm imagining or the guy sitting next to me is imagining. This is the power of radio. Much like Broadcast TV, Radio is distributed throught the air and you are paying for every singe listener in their signal coverage area. Again in major markets this equates to a big area and TONs of people. The top rated stations here in large markets will reach about 500,000 people. The rates for radio are almost always less than for Broadcast Television and rates can fluctuate between $400 and $1,000 per :60 Second commercial.
Cable TV is different than both of these in their delivery method. They send TV signals to viewers tv's through a cable that is attached to their transmitters instead "over the air". Most cable companys built this network neighborhood by neighborhood and have little building built like bunkers called"head ends" that tie neighborhoods together... Kind of like the electric companies "sub stations". Because of this the cable companies are able to let their advertisers run their ads in smaller geographic areas called zones. This is often done by county, but large counties are sometimes also broken up into smaller segments. Most smaller businesses like this type of advertising because they can advertise only to their direct marketing area, which is usually only a 5-10 mile radius of their store and becuase it's a smaller area the rates are typically much less. For instance even in a large market, advertising on CNN during the afternoon/evening might only be $100 in the zone where your business is located instead of the local evening news at $1,000 as I mentioned before.
You also asked about the role of Satellite TV. Broadcast television stations in addition to sending their signal out of their radio transmitter also give their signal (for a price) to the Cable and Sattelite companies allong with their advertising to rebroadcast to cable and satellite. So if you advertise on broadcast television your ads will be seen by everyone thats watching that channel. Cable advertisers however won't be be aired to satellite subscribers and currently, Satellite company's can't air local ads at all.
I've given you alot of generalized information because I don't know allot about your business. If you can tell me what it is you do, where your marketing area is I cand be more specific. I'd also be happy to look at your radio ad script and schedules and your print ads and see if there's anywhere I might be able to help you be more effective.
A couple great books to read about advertising are 33 Ruthless Rules of Local Advertising by Michael Corbett and The Wizard of Ads: Turning Words into Magic and Dreamers into Millionaires by Roy Williams
0 comments:
Post a Comment