MediaCorp Overland Park, Kansas Publicity Suggestions

Author: Kaye Marks

There are so many ways to advertise these days that it is hard to know what options to use and how to use them. Here are some quick and easy tips to effectively advertise your business or product.

Do’s

Do be sure to book ahead for the holidays. If you want to place a television commercial or newspaper advertisement around the holidays, you need to get your ad in these places months ahead of time. Many businesses clamor to get their ads in around the holidays and will have to pay top dollar for it or take the least popular times if they wait too long.

Do keep your message fresh for the variety of media outlets. Do not use the exact same copy for each type of advertisement you employ. You do want to keep the same message, but use different words for different media to get that message across. This way you will not be annoyingly repetitive.

Do tout your benefits, not your features. People want to know what your product can do for them. This is what draws them in. They will learn about all your great features after you have garnered enough interest for them to walk into your store.

Do learn from other advertising campaigns, including your competitions’. When you see an ad that really grabs your attention, take note and think about why - what about it made you look, stop, and take the time to read or listen? Ask others in your company or family to do the same. You can also ask what your co-workers’ favorite commercials are - they are bound to remember at least one. Write these down and see if you find a common factor that makes these commercials so memorable. Try to incorporate this factor in your advertising materials.

Don’ts

Do not advertise in one type of media. To be effective, advertising has to be repetitive (but not annoyingly so! See above.) This is best achieved through different channels - newspaper ads, radio ads, brochures or other color printing pieces, flyers, billboards, and television ads - the list is nearly endless. By advertising in a variety of places, you will get your message out to more people - the people that do not watch television, you will get through the newspaper. People that do not walk by your flyers will hear your radio ads.

Author: Arik Bannister

I recently had an interesting question from a customer I created a television commercial for. It was a 30 second spot for a text messaging service, and they wondered if they should run it as an online video ad first, as a ‘tester’ (their term, not mine).

I thought this was a pretty ingenious idea, for quite a few reasons, so I offered the following insights and suggestions:

1. Running the commercial initially online, as a video ad, will save money because it’s free.

2. The online video ad will generate interest and create brand awareness at the same time…for free.

3. The video ad can be watched over and over again, sent to friends for them to check out, and the viewer can even bookmark it to return to the page later for information about this text messaging service.

4. It’s FREE - FREE- FREE

5. The viewing audience for this customer’s product (text messaging) is friggin’ built in…It’s the same demographic that watches video ads (18-44).

6. You can literally track views in real -time if you are the compulsive type. No more waiting to see how well your commercial effects sales. Now you can track who sees it, how much of it they watched, where they live, what they’re wearing, and whether they’re democrat or republican…ok, I made those last two up - but the rest is true!

My suggestions were:

1. Run the video ad on video sharing websites, as well as their website as a ‘click-to-play’.

2. Create a YouTube channel and send their video ad to current subscribers

3. Definitely add the video ad to Revver and BlipTV

4. Create a MySpace page for the product, and use PimpMyPage.com to make it really pop…connect with their audience

Now keep in mind, I create TV commercials as much as possible…it pays more and I still believe in the medium. But I gotta say, this online video ad stuff is starting to make a whole lot of sense! If you’re looking to cash in on the online video ad rush, here are some of the premier companies that I think create the best video ads at the best prices: