Avoid These Missteps in Your Ads

Today's small business owner has many avenues to get the word out about their product. Tried and true techniques like utilizing color printing for targeted direct mail campaigns are still quite popular.

However, many opportunities formerly only available to large businesses are often now within the reach of a small business owner. A salient example is television advertising.

Formerly, the expense of advertising on television proved prohibitive for the small business owner. However, today there has emerged a new era of services, which match up advertisers with last minute unfilled time slots. You probably will not get prime time exposure on a popular show; however, the amount of eyeballs you can reach is still significant. The cost of some unsold time can make ROI on these spots quite attractive.

Many small business owners choose to star in their own commercials. Sometimes this is out of ego while other times it is driven by a pure passion to spread the word about their product. When going to produce a television ad it behooves a small business owner to avoid mistakes made myriad times in the past by their peers. Visual ads have great impact upon your branding effort. A bad commercial can cause harm to your brand as opposed to promoting it.

Stunts are not advised. Hanging out of an office window or jumping over a flaming pit is not images befitting of a business owner. Many mistakenly believe that shock value or some such stunt will attract attention. It very well may attract attention; however, it is not of the sort you desire.

Avoid dressing up in costumes or other strange garb. Many business owners seek to assume an alternate persona for their advertising image. It is best just to be yourself. Many seek costumes or other facades because they are not comfortable being themselves on camera. If this is the case, then you are best served not personally appearing and letting the work be done by professional actors.

Owners should similarly avoid singing. Unless you possess rare talent, the result of this strategy is usually the annoyance of your audience. Depending on how bad you actually are it could result in the remote being deployed and your commercial immediately muted.

Shouting should also be avoided at all costs. One successful shouting campaign many years ago has led to myriad failing attempts to copy it. As indicated before, it is best to be yourself. Unless you shout constantly like a crazy person then do not assume that persona on television.

Stay away from bashing the competition. Let the merits of your product speak instead. If you were advertising color printing services, then use examples and maybe testimonials from satisfied customers. Do not harp on how the other color printing business in town misses deadlines. In the end, it will create a negative impression of your brand.

Much of television advertising can be managed by common sense. Be entertaining but do not go over the top. Maintain a demeanor, which your brand deserves. This powerful avenue of advertising can go a long ways in solidifying your brand. However, if done incorrectly it can backfire thus hurting your brand and image.

Kaye Z. Marks is an avid writer and follower of developments in color printing industry and how these improvements can benefit small to medium-scale business.

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