On the merits of TV advertising

This is a difficult question to tackle, primarily because it is hard to know what your budget is and what your marketing plan will look like. Television advertising has its pros and cons; it might be right for you, but even if it’s not, there are other effective ways to reach your audience.

Let’s dig a little deeper on this question.

Any media marketing plan should focus around four factors:

• Where you can make a large impact. It’s obviously important to make an impression on your target audience.
• What your target audience is ‘consuming’. You can have the greatest campaign in the world, but if your target group is not connecting to that content, the message will get lost.
• Where you can get the most return for your money. No one wants to waste a large portion of the budget on ineffective advertising that gives a low return per Pound spent.
• Where you can measure the return that you seek. If you have no idea how a certain advertising tactic is working, you don’t know if you are wasting marketing budget or could be doing even better.

f we examine television in light of these four factors, we can conclude that it rates very high on the first two: it can have a huge impact, and it is definitely watched by the typical broker target audience if you pick the right channels (CNBC/Bloomberg, etc.)

On the second two factors, television does not fare as well. It is difficult to measure its effectiveness, and the expenses are often large. Will they be worth it to you? It’s hard to know unless you spend a rather large budget and/or do no other advertising.

If you do decide to go with television as a core medium in your marketing plan, follow these guidelines to have the best chance of meeting the criteria above:

• Target very specific content to increase your chances of hitting the right audience.
• Hunt for the best deals that will not break your budget. Sometimes TV can be bought on a remnant basis, for instance.
• Try your best to maintain a sustained presence to create awareness and to build positive brand attitudes.

If you have difficulty following the guidelines above for advertising on television, stick with a medium where you know your audience already lives: the Internet. With many young professionals that do not even own a television, you might even be able to reach more of your target audience.