The Danger of Local Seattle-Tacoma Television and How to Overcome It

There exists a deep, dark danger that threatens your business, or at the very least, could result in flushing your advertising dollars down the drain. It's called local TV commercials. These scary things often produce little or no spike in sales.

Here's the scenario: The local advertiser wants to capture a larger share of the buying market. He or she then contacts a local TV station or cable sales representative. After some discussion about spot and production costs, the anxious advertiser turns his/her attention to the creative. Usually a local production company with a long resume of local spots is brought in to film and consult on the project.

NOW HERE'S THE PROBLEM: This is a production company that will usually take a "cookie cutter approach" to the production and employ all types of fancy video and sound effects. The result is a television commercial. The problem is that it has the same look and feel as 100 other local spots on TV.

THE SOLUTION:

Your business has a USP (Unique Selling Proposition). An advertising agency that is really doing their job is always looking for better ways to express this USP. This is critical in TV advertising. While it might be nice to see all the employees in the parking lot waving at the camera, a television commercial is designed to do one thing and one thing only - SPIKE SALES UPWARD!

Be careful to take extra time with your creative. Here's a few suggestions:

1. Don't copy everyone else - come up with your own idea.
   
2. Use a theme that can be employed over and over.
   
3. Get the creative out of the hands of you local ad salesman or the TV station. They do hundreds of spots and yours will blend rather than standout.
   
4. Employ a production company to produce the commercial under the direction of your ad agency. Put the burden on your agency to develop a strong creative approach and put the pressure on you agency to develop your theme and USP.

Follow these few guidelines and make sure that you are getting good rates. If you do this, you can expect powerful results from television or cable TV advertising.

The Danger of Local Seattle-Tacoma Television and How to Overcome It