ForumsAdvertising, Sales and Marketing

Yes, I've done it, as have many of my clients. My advice is that if you can't afford to do it well, don't do it at all. A good, effective television ad costs a lot to produce and run (compared to other mediums). So does a bad one.

If you're advertising a product or service, it's essential to have a clear selling point, professional production, selective scheduling, saturation (multiple ads when your target audience is watching), and continuity (ads running steadily over a period months). Consequently, you need to be able to afford all that up front and keep it going for a long term campaign. Your product or service probably needs to sell with a high margin to make that kind of television advertising cost-effective.

If you're advertising an event (like a show or sale), that can be done with less elaborate production and an ROA schedule. You still need saturation, but only for a few weeks prior to the event. It's a much easier and more affordable type of campaign for most small enterprises to budget for.

Your profile indicates that you're in the restaurant business. Most long-running ads for local restaurants are boring (says market research, not me), so taking an "event" approach would not only be less expensive, it would probably be more engaging and effective. (For example, a Mexican food restaurant in my area that doesn't normally advertise ran very effective Cinco de Mayo campaign, figuring that if they draw new customers in once, they'd keep some of them as regulars.)

Check to see if your local cable operator can do "zoning" -- where your ad only runs in the neighborhoods from which your customers would come. That can be a real cost saver for businesses that draw from limited geographic areas.

Also bear in mind that this fall, political ads will be dominant. If you have races in your locale that are being hotly contested and political campaigns start buying up the available airtime, you may suddenly find that it's impossible (or much more expensive than you are being told now) to get ad slots. If I owned a small business that had never done television advertising before, and was considering a long-running spot (as opposed to an event type ad), I'd be planning and budgeting now for a campaign that would launch in January 2009 (after the election and holidays).

Hope this helps. Best wishes.

I think you have gotten some really great and informed answers.

Here are my short answers:

Yes, I have created it and have seen it work wonderfully and I have seen it work poorly.

No, the costs are not too far out of reach - one of the most successful Super Bowl Spots was a FedEx buy that cost nothing to produce but generated great returns. It was 30 seconds of a color bar with a written message that said something like: "Here is where I multi million dollar TV spot would have run if only those idiots at our "PREVIOUS" agency had only used Fedex to delivery it to the station." It got tons of play and response. Take time to find good help.

Please consider what you are trying to do with your advertising increase awareness, drive sales, encourage trial, and etc. It may be any of these or a combination of all but the key is to understand what you are asking TV to do, like any other medium.

• TV lets you deliver to the largest audience at one time.
• Radio still delivers great segmentation.
• Print is weaker but still helps to educate.
• Mobile and outdoor are great ways to reach people on the go
• Direct mail and interactive lets you target and deliver a more informative message.

When combined, they work a lot better than relying on one or two to do all the heavy lifting.

Set your expectations after talking with someone with experience, who is not trying to sell you something. There are great advertising professionals who teach in almost every city at the University, college and junior college level who will be more than happy to talk with you or try the ad club of your area. But you have gotten some really great advice here, but consider the source.

Good luck.