A client recently asked us for a summary of how they can get the most out of TV advertising. We thought that this was a great question and that it is well worth sharing the answer with the wider audience, so we’ve listed 10 ways to make sure you get the absolute best out of your TV advertising campaign.
1. Listen first, look second!
TV advertising is primarily an audio medium, with visual messaging playing a supporting role. It is very likely that your TV ads will need to compete for attention with Facebook, the newspaper, the ironing or the kids fighting each other. Audio holds the key to achieving the required engagement. The visual elements support the audio and assist to provide direction as to what you want viewers to do next. Still don’t believe me? Try watching television advertising with the sound turned off. Then try simply listening to some TV ads with your eyes closed.
2. Awareness is fleeting, experience is enduring!
Television advertising should drive engagement and experience. TV increasingly relies on multiple response channels, from keyword search to phone to retail visit, but the awareness will dissipate rapidly without the reinforcement of experience. Television advertising and it’s branding effect should therefore not be discounted in the same way that the icing on the cake should not be discarded. But don’t confuse the icing for the cake!
3. No one likes a tease!
Be clear about the message that you intend on delivering from the outset. Intriguing, clever puzzles don’t engage the viewer, they turn them off. Appeal to the rational, rather than the emotional. Your TV ads must convey useful information in an uncomplicated way. Some good case studies exist that clearly show that successful emotional advertisements have the greatest long-term rewards, but these studies typically focus on brand campaigns, not ROI. There are also even more examples of DRTV ads that attempted to be emotionally engaging and completely forgot to sell something!
4. If it barks once, it’s a dog!
TV spots should work from the outset. They don’t need to hit a critical frequency of viewing before a magic switch moves from 'off' to 'on' and viewers start responding. A TV spot should harvest the lowest hanging fruit on the first viewing. This is vitally important as it means that you can effectively test TV on relatively small media budgets. If anyone tells you otherwise, bark back. Frequency is a benefit of success, not the key to it.
5. Immediacy is king!
TV ads are typically consumed in the home environment, which means that the viewer is also in close proximity to the means of response and has the time to respond. Seize that exact moment. A belated response is invariably a lost response.
6. Test first... and second!
Many businesses attempt to create sound reasons for 'going big' on TV, such as if a new category opens up and becomes a land grab. For the most part, though, there isn’t a sound reason for this media strategy and TV campaigns should optimise and evolve with growing budgets as confidence in the metrics increases.
7. Numbers do not lie!
Make empirical decisions on data and results, not emotional decisions. Ensure you clearly define success and that the numbers you are measuring reflect this outcome. Make sure you can collect these numbers and process them to optimise accordingly.
8. DRTV is a science!
DRTV is a data science that can be measured and optimised at the spot level to produce results at the aggregated level. However, in the connected world, TV advertising drives vast volumes of data and there are lots of levers that can be pulled. Before you start a campaign, ensure that you are in a position to process this data and, equally importantly, that you have the flexibility to pull the levers once the campaign is running.
9. It’s not about you!
So, you don’t watch TV at breakfast time but listen to the radio instead. You are at the office all day working and never watch daytime TV. Any commercial TV you do watch is on an iPad and you never see the ads. When you do watch the TV, you time-shift it and fast forward any ads. Junk mail and loose inserts annoy the hell out of you and you never come close to responding, just like the other 100% of the population! Do not allow your personal TV habits, real or perceived, to influence your media choices. Instead, follow the numbers.
10. Trust in your own numbers!
Television advertising in Australia is traded on Nielsen data, a series of several thousand boxes scattered around the country, monitoring adult viewers. They are never all watching TV simultaneously. With the launch of digital media channels, this country now has hundreds of TV channels being broadcast at the same time. There is insufficient data to give accurate and 'fair' spot costs. Therein lies an opportunity. Use your own response numbers and results to exploit the considerable market imperfections that this trading mechanism leads to.
If you're open to discovering the secrets of DRTV from a leading Melbourne advertising agency and learning how to drastically increase your ROI and lead generation, please download our FREE e-book now.
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