Successful TV Advertising Tactics for First-Time Advertisers

Many business owners picture a viewer sitting in front of the screen with full attention. Real viewing is messier. One person has the sound off in a waiting room or on a phone. Another has the volume up but is cooking dinner with their back to the screen. A third is watching a recording and sliding past the commercials. Successful television advertising begins by admitting this and then building commercials that still do their job in each situation.

Television does have a clear advantage: it speaks to the eyes and the ears at once. A commercial can show, tell and play music together, so it can appeal to more than one sense at the same moment. Print is silent and still, and radio has no picture. That combination is why television rewards careful craft and why careless craft is costly.

Keep that table in mind as you read. Each tactic below helps a commercial work in one or more of those situations.

Every word in a commercial has to earn its place because there is so little time. Scriptwriters work to produce the most concise and persuasive pitch the time allows. For extra memorability, some advertisers deliver the message through a spokesperson, which can be a familiar local face or the owner of the business. Combined with strong visuals, a clear voice can make a short spot hard to forget.

A word of caution about word choice. The impression a commercial leaves can differ slightly from what it literally says, and viewers rarely have time to parse the fine print. Some advertisers lean on that gap, but it is a risky habit. A message that promises more than the business will actually provide may win a first sale and lose the customer for good. Write copy you can stand behind in plain language, and make sure the impression a viewer takes away matches what you will actually provide.

When the visuals are appealing, a commercial has a better chance of holding attention long enough to deliver its message. Appeal does not require celebrities or a large budget. It can come from people who look like your customers, from images that show the result of using your product or service, or from a clear demonstration. Pictures of the life your customer wants, such as a finished kitchen, a family at the table or a business running smoothly, let viewers imagine themselves in the scene.

Keep the picture uncluttered. A single clear idea shown well beats many ideas shown quickly. Place the product or the business name where the eye lands, not in a corner, because that is what a fast-forwarding viewer will still catch. Planning, scripting and production all have to serve that simplicity.

Sound is one of television’s biggest assets. A memorable slogan, a short musical signature or a jingle can lodge in a viewer’s memory, so that the tune or the line returns later, when they are in the situation your business solves. That recall can work even when the viewer was not paying close attention to the ad.

One practical point: a recognizable popular song usually involves licensing that adds cost and complexity, so many advertisers choose original music or a short jingle made for the business. Whatever you choose, use it consistently. Sound builds recognition through repetition, and a sound that changes with every spot has nothing to build on.

Many viewers have noticed a commercial that seems louder than the program before it. Volume has long been used to grab attention, but it is not a tactic to build on. Viewers reach for the remote, and broadcasters are expected to keep commercial volume in line with the programming around it. The more dependable way to cut through is contrast in the idea: a surprising picture, a distinctive voice or a line of copy that nobody else in your category would use.

Recording and streaming have changed how commercials are seen, and some advertisers conclude that television no longer works because viewers can skip ahead. The picture is more mixed than that. Plenty of programming, especially news, sports and live events, is still watched as it happens, when skipping is not an option. Many ad-supported streaming services play commercials that cannot be skipped at all. And even a viewer who fast-forwards through a recording still sees images flash past, so a commercial built with that in mind can leave an impression at high speed.

Designing for the skip means opening with the strongest visual, putting the product or the business name large and near the center of the frame, keeping the picture simple enough to register quickly, and never saving the explanation for the final moments. It also means earning attention honestly. Viewers tend to tolerate advertising that is short, relevant and memorable, and to resent advertising that is long, repetitive and generic. A commercial worth watching has a better chance of surviving every way of watching.

Tactics matter little if the commercial runs in the wrong place. Match the programming to your customers: a local news block, a morning show, a sports broadcast and a streaming series each attract different viewers in different moods. Run the commercial often enough for recognition to build, and keep the creative consistent across the schedule so each airing reinforces the one before it. The benefits of TV advertising are easiest to capture when the creative and the buying plan are designed together.

For a first-time advertiser, a sensible starting point is one goal and one response: a visit, a call or a web search. Build the commercial around that response, then use what comes in to decide what to keep and what to change. A local television advertising plan for an Atlanta-area business can start modestly and grow as you learn what viewers do.

Kirk Donovan's approach to advertising begins with the idea that a message exists to get its audience to respond. Applied to television, the test is simple. Judge a commercial by what viewers do after they see it, not only by how polished it looks. A beautifully made spot that gives nobody a reason or a way to act has missed the point, while a plainer spot with a clear message and a clear next step can do real work. Related television and video advertising articles pick up the same thread.