Local TV ads and online marketingDavid WaxmanInternet advertising, search engine marketing, target audience
The winning one-two punch Online advertising
has taken off since 2000 and has been embraced by mortgage
professionals looking to market their products and services. It can
be a relatively affordable and effective way to reach customers,
especially ones who are at a critical point in the purchase-making
process. People often use the Internet to research a product or
service, or to look for a place to buy it.
Yet, despite all of the buzz about Internet advertising and
search engine marketing, it still represents a small percentage of
the overall advertising market--about seven percent in 2006,
according to TNS Media
Intelligence.
What many people don't realize is that Americans continue to
spend more time watching television (nearly 4.5 hours per day on
average) than they allocate to all other media combined, including
the Internet, according to TNS.
The Internet has yet to penetrate the American marketplace as
pervasively as TV, and TV reaches many more American adults on a
given day than the Internet does. In addition, TV offers the unique
capability of narrowly focusing on a target audience, both
geographically and demographically.
That doesn't mean mortgage professionals should forsake Internet
advertising. Utilized together, TV combined with Internet
advertising offers an opportunity to deliver a powerful one-two
marketing punch. The big brands have figured this out. They promote
their company, products and services to their target audience with
TV ads, and they pull those same prospects in with the Internet in
an integrated fashion. Despite the benefits of combining Internet
advertising with other marketing efforts, nearly 60 percent of
small business respondents to a recent Spot Runner survey indicated
that they were not integrating their campaigns. Here's why you
should (and, more importantly, how you can) maximize your use of TV
and Internet advertising to drive business and gain new
customers.
Why TV: Getting your name out
Before people are moved to buy from your Yellow Pages, print, direct
mail or online ad, they usually need to know something about you or
at least recognize your company's name. As an advertiser, you have
to distinguish yourself from dozens of businesses in your phonebook
category, any given day's batch of mail or a crowded search-results
page online. TV is one of the most powerful ways to raise awareness
for your business, because it merges video and audio to grab
people's attention in a way that is impossible through advertising
media like print, radio or even the Internet. Global brands, of
course, spend a great deal of resources establishing, perfecting
and promoting their market differentiators or separating themselves
from each other through TV advertising.
Local businesses, especially those whose products are commodities,
are no different, and they must somehow differentiate themselves
from the pack, be it through advertising, a commitment to
exceptional customer service or another approach.
For many businesses, airing the right TV ad on the right channel
can make all the difference in creating and perpetuating their
brands.
TV advertising can be quite affordable, even for smaller
businesses. It can cost as little as $1,500 to run a four-week
campaign on premium cable channels such as CNN, Fox or HGTV in most U.S. markets. This is
because TV allows advertisers to efficiently zero in on their
target demographics and target geographic markets in a way that no
other medium can. For example, a Mortgage Broker whose main
customers come from within a 10-mile radius could target that area
using local cable, and if the business wanted to primarily target
families, it could choose to only run ads on certain channels, such
as CNN, HGTV or TLC. This
ability to target at the hyper-local level and by customer
demographic is still lacking on the Internet.
TV advertising is essentially made up of a three-part process:
commercial production, media planning and media buying. There are
generally four ways you can get on TV: retain a traditional ad
agency, retain a media-buying firm, do it yourself or work with a
self-serve online ad agency that automates the process.
Even in this era of multiple media choices, TV is by far the
number one advertising medium because it is still unmatched for
building brand awareness, preference and sales.
Why the Internet: Pull customers in
When someone sits down to look online for a new loan or any other
business in his neighborhood, he is already in the market for that
product or service and probably close to taking the next step, be
that calling a consultant, visiting a lender or requesting a loan.
So for many Americans, if they can't find your business online,
they may never find you. Online ads (whether in the form of
text-based or graphical ads that appear on Web sites or
search-result pages, or banner ads that appear at the top of Web
pages) help you reach customers at that pivotal point in their
decision-making process, at which they're actively extracting
information from the Internet about your business category or
product type.
An effective search engine marketing campaign will ensure that
when consumers are searching for products or services that your
company offers, your company will be on the first one or two pages
of the search results.
You can manage your online advertising campaign by working
directly with search engines and Web sites to track the popularity
of relevant keywords and your search results (paid and organic), as
well as which format your ads should take and where they should
appear--or you can pay a firm to do it all for you.
How to integrate your campaigns
Used separately, TV and Internet advertising are important media to
help drive your business. Used together, these two media can be a
powerful combination that will take your marketing campaign to the
next level.
When developing your TV and Internet campaign, create
Web-conscious TV ads, but try to keep the online message you convey
on TV simple and easy to remember. Use straightforward voiceover
language, such as, "Visit us online at www ... " and make sure your
Web address appears prominently in your TV ad. Viewers will visit
your site to get more information, such as your address and hours
of operation. Keep the overall message of your TV ad clear and
simple to avoid overwhelming viewers.
When it comes to running an integrated campaign, timing is
everything. Make sure you run your TV and online campaigns at the
same time and have them overlap whenever possible. In other words,
if you've advertised locally on CNN, consider running targeted
local ads on Yahoo! News to hit your news-minded prospects with a
powerful one-two punch over a short period of time. Make sure your
Web site is easy to navigate and visually appealing.
Take another example--BizFilings, a 30-person
company out of Madison, Wis., that helps entrepreneurs create
corporations, LLCs and non-profits. BizFilings ran a local TV ad
campaign targeted by ZIP code at the same time it ran an online and
direct mail campaign. In six weeks, BizFilings had increased its
monthly sales numbers in all five geographic markets that featured
the ad (350 percent in one region).
The bottom line
Businesses (particularly small businesses with limited brand
awareness) that invest strictly in online marketing may get passed
over on search pages, in favor of companies with more recognizable
or familiar names, while businesses that invest strictly in TV will
concede their spots in the world's most trafficked
marketplace.
With television, you have the ability to drive your brand image
into the hearts and minds of customers and hone in on your target
audience where and when you want to reach them, unlike any other
channel that exists today. However, you only have 30-60 seconds to
convey your key messages and points of differentiation, so use it
also as a way to introduce current and potential customers to your
Web site so they can go online to spend even more time to learn
about your company's product or services. Use your Internet
advertising to make sure customers can easily find your site if
they are searching on Google, Yahoo! or MSN, and provide the tools
they need to make the next step, whether it's to visit your store
or restaurant, make an online purchase or pick up the phone.
Whatever you do with your advertising budget, don't let your
target audience get overwhelmed by choices. Help them remember you
by running an integrated advertising campaign that reaches them at
various stages of the buying process.
David Waxman is the co-founder of Spot Runner Inc., an
advertising agency based in Los Angeles. He may be reached through
his company's Web site at www.spotrunner.com.
