TV broadcast is an ideal medium for a marketing shotgun approach, as it attracts large numbers of people and consequently helps to maximize the sales volume. Moreover, TV broadcast is effective for brand building and one more advantage of using this media type is that people can easily move from TV to online, as in the case with radio. If you are determined to use TV broadcast to advertise your product or service, then it is highly desirable to learn the key planning and buying criteria to control the whole process, done by professionals.
TV broadcast, as all media categories, needs a thorough planning. Media planning is a process of selecting media space and time for the purposes of advertising in order to meet marketing objectives. Media planners describe this process through setting objectives, developing a strategy and tactics.
Prime objectives are the target audience, then reach and frequency that are expressed in gross rating points. A strategy unites all the means, necessary for achieving the objectives. Tactics are the activities, aimed at selecting advertising vehicles so that the media strategies are successfully realized.
All media plans are implemented by media buyers - professionals in this sphere.
They will help you identify the pros and cons of the various advertising media specifically for the products or services you offer.
A media buying cost is not the same for all broadcast media and depends on many factors. For instance, it is important to find out whether it is better to advertise through a cable network or the local television broadcasting stations, what the current market trends are, if there are any seasonal peculiarities of media marketing, etc.
National firms buy television on a so-called tonnage basis. First, they assess the market and afterwards try to reach as much of it as possible. The goal is to get the lowest cost per thousand impressions, while meeting other media buying requirements.
If you want to reach most of viewers with the proper frequency, you should learn that the model of consumer behavior is the following: first - awareness, second - an interest, next - a decision, and finally - an action. Thus, a would-be consumer needs to see one commercial several times until he acts. Therefore, ideally, a commercial is to reach hundred percent of the audience with the frequency of nearly five times. To reach this goal, you should advertise at least on two of the four major television broadcast stations. They are NBC, ABC, FOX and CBS. In addition, other media may be used to support the TV campaign.
It is worthwhile to place ten percent of all spots in a costly prime time (7:00 - 11:00 p.m.), a half of all commercials - at 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. and at 11:00 - 12:00 p.m. ("fringe time"). One fifth of spots are to be broadcasted during news programs in the morning. The remaining spots may be showed during the other programs that attract your target audience. The ratings of TV programs are available for all the stations.
The best price for media buying is negotiable. A brilliant strategy is to ask TV stations to make their proposals, counting on nearly a half of your total television budget over five weeks. .) Usually, you buy three TV stations, but if one station is very expensive, it is recommended to buy only two affordable television stations.