Chapter 9
Direct-Response Television: Why Super Bowl Ads Don’t Work |
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When most people think of television advertising, they think about the commercials they see on network TV. Such advertising gives the advertiser an immense reach – sometimes as many as hundreds of millions of people. But the greater the reach, the less targeted the audience. For every person who might be interested in your product, there will be a hundred or a thousand with absolutely zero interest.
If you’re advertising Nike sneakers or Coca-Cola, you want this kind of reach. But if your product is more specialized, then making these sorts of huge expenditures is usually an overly expensive bet.
For most businesses, television advertising should be a supplemental endeavor restricted by a limited budget. Focus on smaller audiences. And especially targeted ones – TV channels and programs that concentrate on market niches such as investing, real estate, pets, home shopping, building wealth, etc.
With the growth of cable and regional TV, it’s easier to find channels and programs that cater to the prospects you want to reach. If you spend some time looking at the growth of targeted and local advertising on these new cable stations, you will understand how viable this type of market can be.
All these channels need advertising revenue to remain on the air. And because the industry is bigger and more competitive now, many stations are offering very affordable rate packages, within easy reach for even small businesses and organizations.
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