Quote:
Originally Posted by JPhillips
Yeah I was thinking local cable ads, but I don't know if Google can do that.
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The problem for a lot of first time TV advertisers is that the cost of producing the spot exceeds the amount of money they intended to spend on running the spot, and they end up paying that little bit more on making a commercial that they then can't afford to run anywhere.
In a case like this (where image is an important part of the product) it's critical that the production be good quality. The local ads for Joe's Drug Store that look like they were shot with your uncle's handy cam aren't going to cut it. Sometimes you'll get "deals" from the cable company to produce the spot but I don't think I've ever seen one that wasn't an example a getting what you pay for.
With a property this size & scope I'd figure on a bare minimum of $4k to shoot the spot & that doesn't count the rights fee for any music, talent buyouts (you often pay for the right to use a voiceover for X weeks or months and then the "talent expires" so you're stuck writing another check or paying more up front for a longer buyout). And that's with me religiously avoiding the use of any unionized talent, if that's an issue in Missouri then you can add anywhere from 50% to 150% more to the cost right off the bat.
If you get past the cost of doing good production for a (relatively) small business then the spots themselves aren't all that expensive, especially in off-peak & worse times. With cable it becomes largely a matter of throwing enough weight at the target, but you have to remember that you're often reaching audiences of less than 1,000 people even in decent sized markets. Heck, I've seen smaller medium markets (say Knoxville up to the size of Nashville) where A25-54 audiences in prime cable were <100. At some point you can reach more people with a local/regional magazine ad or print or by sticking three flyers on telephone poles outside a corner bakery.