Lead Forensics

The 10-Point Checklist for new TV Advertisers

29 April 2020

 

TV advertising fuels brand growth like no other media; it offers a route to both national fame and regional prominence, enabling business to deploy highly targeted strategies that raise awareness and drive response.

With viewing figures currently soaring and the cost of advertising on TV falling, now is a potentially once in a lifetime opportunity to experience the full extent of its power. But to extract maximum value from your investment, it’s imperative that the following ten requirements are met…

Build a quality website

It may sound obvious, but before launching your first TV advertising campaign it’s imperative to have a mobile-friendly website that, firstly, users can easily navigate, and secondly, reflects what viewers will see in your commercial. Browsers do not want to spend their time thumbing through the internet trying to find you, so ensure that you’re prominently positioned in search by utilising keywords relevant to your business; integrating them into content rich with a combination of text, images and video.

Ultimately, visitors require a transaction journey that is smoothly paved and clearly sign-posted; do your business justice by investing in a site that makes it easy to find you, and difficult to look elsewhere.

Be bold

You have a great product, your business model is firmly in place, and you have a website fit to welcome and bring value to new customers. If you’re in a position to invest, then do it – TV has the capacity to completely revolutionise your business, so don’t miss the opportunity, we’re here to guide you through every step of the process.

Prepare for increased demand

One of the great things about TV advertising is the instant, measurable impact it has on sales and web traffic. However, this can quickly become a nightmare if your business fails to develop an infrastructure that can accommodate the increase in demand. Make sure that stocks are high, call centres are fully-manned, websites are built robustly enough to deal with increased traffic, and any social media accounts are managed diligently. Otherwise you may end up losing – not gaining – customers.

Be social

Social media strengthens brand visibility online and provides an opportunity for customers to engage with businesses. For TV advertisers, being sociable is an important aspect of the campaign; it adds depth to brand perceptions, builds trust, and gives viewers the opportunity engage with content that will influence their purchasing decisions. With 44% of all visits to Facebook now deriving from TV, the relationship between television advertising and social media is one that businesses new to the market should look to benefit from.

Test test test

When launching your first TV advertising campaign, it’s vital that you test the waters. Developing the perfect strategy for your business initially centres on a process of trialling and tweaking different aspects of the plan; trying different creatives, ad lengths, channels, times of day, programming and regions of the country is necessary to constructing a campaign that accurately and effectively serves the needs of your brand.

Know your customers inside out

You may be thinking that this is a given, but knowing who buys your product is essential. Though we perform competitor and sector analysis reports prior to planning the strategy, you’d be surprised to know how many businesses are unsure of who they should be targeting when they approach us. This can make it difficult for our team to plan a campaign targeting the viewers central to the success of your business as accurately as we would like.

Have achievable targets

Before planning your targeted TV advertising campaign, it’s important to have a firm grasp of your baseline sales figures and web traffic. This enables you to set achievable goals for your TV advertising campaign, which will in time be delivered by our planning team.

Think long-term

Whilst TV advertising pays considerable dividends as a driver of direct response, its full impact can only be measured in the long-term. Often businesses will approach us looking for instant results, which whilst totally achievable, clouds the fact that 50% of all profits attributable to TV advertising come after the first year of activity. Our advice to businesses starting out in TV? Have patience, invest regularly over a longer period of time, and build on the results!

Hit the right notes

According to recent research, just 8% of consumers believe brands should cease advertising during the current pandemic. But 78% of those surveyed also think brands should be helping them in their daily lives, 75% want businesses to update them on how they are supporting communities and government during the pandemic. Ultimately people are looking to brands for reassurance and positivity; any marketing message conveyed in a TV advertisement should be formed on these foundations.

Be certain of your brand

You’ve invested in a great TV commercial; a strong plan for your campaign is in place; your website looks fantastic. Then, your company decides that a more impactful brand image is needed to maximise the effect of your marketing activity. That advert you’ve just invested time and money in is now obsolete! It’s so important to have strong and consistent branding already in place prior to advertising on TV, so don’t rush into anything – good things come to those who wait.

So, ready to invest in the growth of your brand? Get in touch with the team at Guerillascope to find out how we can cost-effectively support your business.

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