After rates dipped tremendously over the summer, advertisers are once again rushing to advertise on television networks according to an article in today's Denver Post - "Television Advertising Shows Signs of a Turnaround". Television networks had cut back advertising rates 5 to 8 percent over the summer, but rates are often times 10-35 percent higher than they were from these summertime lows. I encourage you to click on the link to get the full details from the article.
How is Online Marketing Affected?
Not at all - Online ad spend continues to increase. The economy is still struggling, and it is likely that many companies are engaging in more television advertising to move excess inventory. An example would be the auto industry. Now that "Cash for Clunkers" is over, it is likely that there is a lot of excess inventory that needs to be moved. While television advertising isn't the most efficient method of marketing products or services, it still has a tremendous reach.
How Does this Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?
For your Denver small business, you should use any marketing vehicle available to you that provides you a decent ROI. This could include running television ads that run locally in the Denver metro area.
When to Use Television Ads
Television advertising is most effective at promoting a brand and raising awareness of your product or service in the minds of your potential customers. Television advertising is "interruption based marketing" - meaning that you're interrupting someone who wasn't actively searching for products or services that you offer. They're trying to watch their television show - and you're getting in the way. If you can afford to run television ads consistently over a long period of time to raise customer awareness about your offerings, you may wish to consider television advertising.
When to Skip Television Ads
You're usually not going to get an instant call to action effect from a television ad where someone picks up the phone and makes contact. If you're looking for instant results, I would suggest trying online marketing first before experimenting with broadcast advertising like radio and television.
Denver Small Business Television Advertising Resources
For almost all Denver Small Businesses, I would strongly recommend starting with online marketing prior to moving on to television advertising. And if you do decide to participate in television advertising, I'd encourage you to measure the effectiveness as closely as you can to make sure you're getting your money's worth.
If you are interested in advertising your Denver small business on television, there are ways that you can get your message out for probably a lot less money than you'd expect. In some cases, the services will let you target a specific channel - say ESPN - for a specific time on a certain day. This would allow you to highly target a given demographic.
CAVEAT: I haven't used the latter two mentioned below, and am not endorsing any of these services. You'll have to do your own research.
Google TV Ads - Features an interface very familiar to Google AdWords users. They provide highly targeted viewer options. If you need help with creating a television ad, Google's Ad Creation Marketplace can put you in touch with professionals that will put together your advertisement based on your requirements.
Spotzer - Offers Pre-Produced - semi-customized commercials along with media buy targeting for your commercials.
Spot Runner - Spot Runner was one of the first - if not the first - to offer local TV advertising. Unfortunately, they've run into financial and legal troubles as of late and their future is uncertain.