Why TV Advertising Doesn’t Work
By Anna Johnson on November 1st, 2008Interesting article by Rich Harshaw. He suggests, rather convincingly, that conventional television (TV) advertising isn’t about selling… and has never been about selling. Not since the advent of the 30 second ad spot anyway…
Rich claims that because, over the years, the duration of television spots has declined – from 2 minutes to just 30 seconds (due to rising ad prices) – and because the huge costs have limited the number of marketers able to advertise on TV – advertisers have not only had less time to sell, but have effectively given up trying.
Instead, they now focus on trying to grab the viewer’s attention… or create ‘brand awareness’.
This in turn, has meant the emphasis of TV advertising has shifted from trying to sell to being ‘creative’ which, among other things, has led to the widespread use of slogans:
“The idea was to get into the consumer’s brain with something creative that would stimulate them and cause them to recall the product later on when they needed it.”
Because TV advertising has become all about grabbing attention (rather than selling), the creative approach has come to dominate. It has also ended up spreading to other types of advertising media, including radio, newspaper, magazines, billboards, yellow pages, and so on.
Problem is… creative advertising doesn’t work for small and medium sized businesses (SMBs). (It may not work for large companies either.)
For one thing, SMBs typically don’t have the budgets to spend the kind of money required to grab and keep consumers’ attention (it takes several, not just one, ad spot). For another, it’s unlikely to be cost-effective. SMBs typically need to make sales and generate cash as soon as possible… pouring money into branding that doesn’t pay-off quickly enough is likely to jeopardize their very survival.
None of this is to suggest that advertising used by SMBs shouldn’t aim to grab prospects’ attention. It should and must. It’s just that such advertising should strive to do MORE than that. It should aim to persuade prospects to take a specific action…
Hence, the idea of direct response advertising. And that’s really the only kind of advertising that small and mid-sized businesses should engage in. Perhaps large companies too… If that rules out running 30 second ad spots on TV, so be it. Depending on the product, service or offer, it certainly rules IN infomercials, long-form sales letters and other kinds of ads designed to sell.
