With a proper approach to the TV and radio advertising, business owners can be delivered more customers than any other type of an ad campaign. A clear understanding of the market is a key point here to ensure that the money, spent on the broadcast advertising, is not wasted.

Every businessperson, who approaches the broadcast advertising for the first time, should remember that one of the most essential things is planning. It is very important to be educated about the media. One of the best ways to success is talking to people - advertising representatives from TV and radio stations, other business owners.

The following steps should be taken by an entrepreneur before entering the broadcast advertising:

·            The first thing that should be done is establishing the target market. To do that, a business owner should define who his customers are and who he wants to reach with his advertising. Although it seems obvious, many advertisers do not know who they are selling to.

·             A rough budget for the broadcast advertising should be set. This amount should not impact the business, but allow giving the broadcast advertising a good try. Both TV and radio stations suggest running ads for at least three months. It can easily cost several thousand dollars. Usually, the direct response radio costs less than the TV advertising. However, it is a size of the market, the station's penetration and the audience of the show an entrepreneur is going to advertise, upon which the rates depend.

·            Contacting sales managers at TV and radio stations and asking them for a list of available spots on shows during hours that reach your target audience will bring positive results in planning a broadcast advertising campaign. Salespeople from TV and radio stations can be of great help, but the fact is that they are, after all, trying to sell something.

·            Smart consumers also talk to other businesspeople about their experiences with the broadcast advertising and avoid many mistakes.

·            The "audience delivery" of available spots must be counted as well. Here, published guides (Arbitron or Nielsen) can be used and a salesperson can help calculate the CPM (cost per thousand) of reaching the target audience. An entrepreneur should remember the most important thing: it is the audience that he is buying, not only the time on a show. Thus, he can calculate exactly how much it is going to cost him to reach every member of that audience.

·            Inquiring about the production of advertisements is important. As a general rule, radio stations create an advertisement for free, while TV stations charge advertisers to produce an ad (prices range from about two hundred dollars up to one thousand and five hundred).

Before making the decision, it is wise to compare various proposals. Sometimes buying time well in advance can help lower the cost (for TV ads thirty second spots are standard). Although the published rates, offered by TV and radio stations, are often negotiable, you should keep in mind that traditionally a slow season for many businesses is usually the first quarter of the year.