Has Anyone Ran A Commercial On Cable

Thewoodman

I am looking to get a commercial put toghther for the cable network. I am looking for input.

1.Have any of you done this before?

2. If so what were your results?

3.Any Ideas for the layout of a commercial?

I will take any advice you have, good or bad lay it on me.

Mark

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pcplumber

2nd commercial - woman throws plunger at her husband

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5-nFplnEOI

FOURTH COMMERCIAL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J68KAOpTjk

FIRST COMMERCIAL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2WWNGwW-ks

We ran 1400 of these commercials on cable and got only two calls to clean a drain in a condo. We turned both calls away. Next time we are going to try network television. I never met anyone who was satisfied with cable.

jamestrd

u dont have to marry a plumber to get your drain fixed, you just gotta bang one.

jamestrd

I ran a commeercial back in 02 i belive it was..

didnt really get much out of it, but we did recieve some calls.

When the rest of your advertsisng is strong and inplace, the commercials will reinforce it, as anything else...

but the expenses to be seen at the right times and channels can start to add up..

I think we were paying about 20 bucks for a 30 seocnd spot acorss a few channels, some spots will cost more if they are prime time and on more watched channels and shows..

Cable is making some sweet deals to draw biz for themselvs, so im sure you can get a nicve package, but dont expect the world form it.

JonM

Pre-made commercials

http://www.mpowermedia.com

HomeGuard

TV is tough to get direct responce. Its good for building a brand but not to just start and get the phone to ring. I ran a program for 3 months and recieved one job from it.(directly)

But I sold other jobs not related to the commercial and the homeowner would say " didn;t I see you on tv?". I thought that was pretty cool, and I feel like it kind of legitamized my company.

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threaderman

I like the way you think!

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Your plumbing & gas specialist proudly serving Oklahoma City OK, Moore, Warr-acres, Norman, Midwest City, Edmond, Bethany, Forest Park

bamawildcat

TV works, you just have to target your demographic.

Okay, cable: Do you want the kind of customer bored enough to watch the cable company's advertisement channel at 4 AM?

If you call the network stations, they can show you who watches their shows. You would want to pick a target age, like 18-34, and put your commercial in that show.

Vinny

We ran a commercial in 07 and 08. We shot it in fall 06. In the first year we spent $14,000 on air time and it yeaild plenty of quality leads. I cant recall the exact amount, but i recall the lead cost being about $125/lead. Not bad considering yellow pages numbers are far more expensive.

The best channels were the financial channels and womens TV.

The biggest thing is the name exposure and branding benefits too. Not many other media can do that.

We spent about $3000 to do the shoot and edit. The cable company would have made a commercial for about $1000 complete, but their commercials are basicly some background music with little or no real time footage and no story line. It'll have some stills laced together with a BS voice over. Go to my web site to see the difference. My commercial tells a story in a comical way.

Network TV may be an alternitive depending on your market. In our area, network TV advertising is super expensive and cable is far more watched than network.

I relied on the account rep to create the air time matrix with the caviat that if it didnt generate an amount of leads that when broke down would cost not greater than 300 per lead, this would be a 1 time relationship.

We ran the same spot in 08 spending more money for more air time and more channels, but net net, leads were down and cost per lead was up to $200 per lead. Blame it on the ecomomy or whatever, but even when things werent too bad back in May or June, leads were down year to year.

This year we are putting another spot together and will only spend $10,000 on air time and abot $2000 on shoot and edit. I intend to almost mimic the 07 matrix as best as possible with the budget I set.

BTW, if you do this thing, push the rep for a poop load of non prime time free spots. They can give them away and they use the spot as filler because no one wants to pay for those slots. If your ever up at 3AM and flipon the TV, and see someones commercial, chances are its a freebe.

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rbsremodeling

I looked into this last year but did not follow through. Check out Spot Runner. This is what I looked at. There where a few other sites like it

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Bill Z

I've used television for over 15 years with varied results. Cable always manages to disappoint when we compare results. Network can be rewarding depending on your goals and methods. Might be different in your area.

Just like building decks, there are so many options depending on your goals. You may want instant leads, you may want to build a long term image, or create traffic to your website or showroom. Get an agency to help you shape a long term program. I've used national agencies, local agencies, and bought direct from the stations. We've mostly used a small one man agency who watches our back, looks for deals and keeps his production costs reasonable.

Again, just as you might advise your customers about the ins and outs of decks, there's an agency out there that is the right size for you. A good agency will save you money and get better results. They get paid based on 15% of the gross amount you spend. Typically, buying direct won't save anything, you pay the station the same rate whether you have an agency or not, the 15% comes out of the station's pocket, not yours.

I could tell you about our results, but it means nothing without knowing your goals. Watch some TV, when you see some commercials you like call the advertiser and ask what agency they use. Interview the agency and see what their minimums are, how they charge for production, and make sure you stay in control of your budget. The big guys will tell you to spend, spend, spend.

On the other hand, if you are thinking your budget is $5K for the year and you really want to try it, just go cable and cross your fingers. Cable stations may do the commercial for free with a minimum purchase. A real television campaign is at least $30k per year range, depending on the size of your market.

One last hint, we are currently spending $0 on TV, very little in NP, and practically nothing everywhere else. We are still getting leads from signs, trucks, referrals, past customers, and luck. In our area, the average bear is a little fearful and I don't think we can change that. Can't afford to gable on advertising until the fear subsides.

Carport King

We run TV commericals [see post] and we do so for a year. We spend $5000 a month for 500 commericals per month

It has worked for us because we have been in the area for 20 years and we sell a lot of different products and services.

If you sell only one or two products or services I doubt it would be woth it.

I wrote all the words for the commericals and the only thing I did not like is that they would not let me do an ad moving and showing the benifits of our products.

We had to sit in a chair and be one on one.

We shot all three commericals in one day and I had our owner change his shirt for each commerical but the lady that interviewed DJ did not.So she looks kind of stupid.

So yes it does work for the long term as long as you do additional marketing with it to keep your name out there. Our phones rings with 250-350 leads a week.