Selling Against Other Media #2

Here's part two of our series, Selling Against Other Media.  Today we focus on broadcast television.

Since it’s inception in the 1950’s television has become one of the most effective advertising vehicles in history. Despite television’s higher cost (both production cost and spot cost) advertisers can’t seem to buy enough of it. Twenty six cents out of every dollar spent in advertising still winds up on television.

Television advertisers enjoy the best of three worlds; sight, sound and motion. When used correctly, television can be a highly effective medium because it takes advantage of a basic human instinct. Like cats, (another predator with eyes centered on the front of the face), people preternaturally like to watch things move. Television plays right into that basic human instinct.

Broadcast television generally offers a very high reach potential. That is, many people are likely to be watching a broadcast television program at any given time, especially in prime time. And advertisers (national, regional and local) will pay premium rates to reach these larger audiences.

Many businesses perceive that television advertising is more “glamorous” than other media, that somehow television is a more prestigious advertising vehicle than say, radio, billboard or direct mail. Advertising agencies may recommend television to their clients because with higher rates and more expensive schedule costs, the agency’s commission is higher. Agencies also make big bucks from television spot production.

Television’s higher cost presents a problem for some advertisers. That is, television spots may be so expensive to buy that you can’t afford to run your commercials as frequently as you’d like. So when buying television, there is always a trade-off. You’re buying a large audience (reach) but you can’t afford to advertise as often (frequency). Compromising lower frequency for higher reach is the gamble you take with broadcast TV, so the commercials that you air had better be efficient and effective.

Here are some of the reasons local advertisers like broadcast television.

• Sight, sound and      motion-Local direct clients can use sound along with photos, animation,      graphics and video.
• High reach-Broadcast      television stations have massive CUME audiences, usually bigger than the      newspaper’s readership number.
• Formatted by program-One      television station could reach many demographic groups with an array of      different program choices.
• Level playing field-The      biggest advertiser on a station can only run thirty seconds or less. A small advertiser can also run a thirty      second ad. The largest client on a      television station might run two spots in a program. A smaller advertiser could also own two      spots in a television program.
• Prestige-Many clients      perceive that advertising on television represents the pinnacle of      success. Some advertisers stroke      their egos by appearing in their own commercials.
• In-home advantage-Viewers      invite commercials into their homes. 

Here is what competitive media may be saying about broadcast television and how you might respond.

• Objection-Commercial time on broadcast television is      expensive-Television’s cost per spot is much higher than with radio or      cable.

Response-You get what you pay for. If we reach a significantly larger audience than other media, we deserve to be paid for it. 

• Objection-High-cost production-Because of all of the elements      involved-video, graphics, and sound, television commercials generally cost      more to produce.

Response-This is no longer necessarily true. With the advances we’ve made technologically it is now possible at many television stations to make agency-quality commercials for a fraction of the cost. 

• Objection-Long production lead time-Due to the tedious nature      of television spot production and a shortage of production facilities it      can take a while to produce a new spot.

Response-In the past this may have been the case. But again with modern production facilities we’re able to work much faster than before.

• Objection-No frequency-Because      of television’s higher cost per spot it’s difficult for a local business      to buy a lot of television.

Response-That depends on a number of factors, including how and when you buy us. Let’s work out an ROI analysis and see whether or not you can afford not to use us.

• Objection-Almost all viewing is done at home-People don’t      usually watch television at work or in their cars.

Response-This may be true, but don’t discount the time people spend in front of their televisions at home. Hours upon hours at a time in many cases. Other media still don’t compete when it comes to time spent watching television at home.

• Objection-Increasingly fragmented home audience-The      proliferation of competitive devices like video games, DVD players and      computers is impacting the number of hours that people watch television.

Response-We’ve had competitive media in homes since the first VCRs and Atari game machines first came along. Before that we had other competitors like Monopoly and card games. Television viewing was then and still is today number one in the home. 

• Objection-Digital video recorders allow commercial      zapping-TiVo and other DVRs are becoming commonplace in most homes.

Response-Research also shows that since the inception of DVRs that people are actually watching more television than they did before. Clever television commercials can cause people to stop fast-forward and watch.

As you can see there are many ways to take advantage of the “holes” in other media and at the same time defend broadcast from attacks by other media. The most effective and least used strategy for getting dollars from other media is to go after products and services that are completely over represented on other media and under represented on yours. 

For example, most tire stores advertise in print, the newspapers and the Yellow Pages. Smart broadcast sellers cull one client from the herd and say, “Look. The Yellow Pages/newspaper is a good medium. That is, it’s a big lake with lots of fish in it. I also represent a big lake with lots of fish. But Mr. Tire Man, in your particular product/service category, wouldn’t you agree that the newspaper/Yellow Pages is being a little over fished? When somebody comes to the newspaper/Yellow Pages, they’re shopping all of your competitors. Every single one of you has a line in the water when you use the newspaper/Yellow Pages. But look at our nice lake. We have thousands of consumers who will need tires sooner or later and we don’t have one single tire dealer fishing on our lake. You’d practically have a monopoly here on our lake.”

Use your strengths against other media’s weaknesses and get more local direct advertisers. It may take time to whittle down a die-hard newspaper or Yellow Pages user so do it in stages. Over time give your client ammunition he can use against his reps from other media. Help the client chisel out a budget for you by cutting back on his buys on other media.

Let us hear from you.  If you work for a broadcast television station how do you defend yourself from salespeople from other media who are calling on your clients?  What do you tell clients about media they're using outside of television?