Advertising is a growing, $300 billion industry in the United States alone, and it comes in all shapes and sizes. Advertising is everywhere. However, an essential part of developing your campaign is to decide which mediums are best suited for advertising your particular business. Any advertising campaign generally addresses a certain segment of the population, through specific means that are most likely to appeal to them. You can advertise your business or product through various methods: on radio, on TV, print, online, direct mail, scrutinizing outdoor advertising, and so on.
Television is a $68 billion business, comprising almost 2,000 broadcast stations plus numerous cable and satellite TV stations. As the number of stations has increased significantly, and continues to increase, it has also become easier for advertisers, because TV programming is much more targeted. The audience for the Discovery Channel will most likely differ considerably from the audience from Lifetime or Women's Entertainment channel, therefore the audience is more targeted to a specific segment.
However, TV advertising is the most expensive medium, and not everybody can afford TV commercials. TV is a mass medium, even with the more focused channels, your ad budget will require a significant investment. But if you can afford it and you prefer television to a more narrowly focused media, it is very important to find the right station and negociate the best deal for your ad and your business.
Tv stations use a lot of technical jargon, and if you're working with more than one station, the stations will most likely become competitive with one another. The result? They start bombarding you with more and more detailed rating information. This research data they provide you is designed to show their stations in the best possible light, while making the other competing stations look inferior. However, remember that it's a marketing strategy designed to sweet you away from the competition. Play hard, don't get easily convinced and be sure to have at least a basic understanding of what stations are presenting to you and where these numbers come from. And don't forget, you're buying the program, not the station.
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