How To Advertise On A National Level On A Small Business Budget
Below is a summary of the tips crafted by Brian Cristiano, CEO of BOLD WORLDWIDE. To read the entire article complete with real-world case studies click below.
1. Tell an honest story.
Big companies have budgets to make their TV ads look like Hollywood movies. Small businesses do not. But with an authentic, genuine message and the right team, even low budgets can produce advertisements that look professional and connect a great product or service with target customers. The deeper you can create that connection, the more effective your advertising campaign will be.
2. Buy spot cable.
Low budgets can look like national campaigns for a fraction of the cost by buying local commercial time on the big cable channels in multiple markets, allowing advertisers to target their ads more efficiently. Viewers can’t tell if an ad is running nationally or locally, so if the production is high-quality, viewers will associate your brand with the other top-tier advertisers they’re watching, instantly boosting your credibility.
3. Develop a cohesive campaign.
With the increasingly complex media environment, even veteran big-budget advertisers are unsure of the right media mix. The key for small advertisers is to develop a cohesive campaign that makes you look like a national advertiser by connecting the same brand message across each media platform; your website needs to reflect what’s airing on TV, and what’s on TV needs to correspond with your digital ads.
For example:If you’re paying to produce a TV commercial, get the most out of it by having a 30 second version cut for TV, a 60 second cut for your website and a similar, but different version made for online advertising. Digital advertising on YouTube, ESPN.com, or any websites your customers spend time on, lets you leverage the TV commercial without spreading the campaign budget too thin. The bonus of digital advertising is that it’s fully measurable, and you can gain insights through valuable data you may otherwise not have.
