What do TiVO, DVR, Sirius, and XM radio all have in common? They all prevent traditional advertising messages from reaching their intended audience. In today’s era of fast-forward and “On Demand” programming, commercials are becoming increasingly ineffective as consumers gain more control over their mind space.

So what can companies do to reach consumers who have the ability—and the desire—to skip every commercial they come across? They must reach the consumer inside the primetime shows, news shows, talk shows, cooking and travel shows that they are recording.

Messages inside programming are usually unaffected by TIVO editing and fast-forwarding, and since they are vetted by a producer and/or reporter before they go on-air, these messages generally have more credibility. This credibility could be due to the fact that viewers assume that producers have a wide array of products, services, or experts to choose from, and therefore, any product that lands on television is automatically special and important.

Time and production values are also a factor. Traditional advertisements generally last for 30-60 seconds, whereas a product being covered by the morning news could be on television for 3-5 minutes. While the production values of expensive ad campaigns may be higher than the morning news, small businesses are often not able to create advertisements with high production quality. As a result, they have to resort to inexpensive advertising which can actually do the business more harm than good. Businesses can reap the benefits of professional production vales from shows like Oprah and the Today Show by having their products and expertise placed on these shows, as opposed to trying to afford their own low-budget commercials and advertising.

Retainers for PR firms are also much more cost-effective than advertising retainers. At my PR firm, Empower, the cost for a retainer is one-tenth to one-hundredth the cost of national advertising. The consumer impressions garnered from top morning shows are much higher when compared to the consumer impressions garnered from 30-second commercials in the middle of those same top morning shows. When you add in the credibility which comes from being placed within the program, PR is truly the unmistakable choice for large and small businesses alike.

However, some businesses may fear that they cannot control the message when it occurs outside of conventional advertising. While it is true that you cannot control what an anchorman or reporter may ask you about your product, you are 100% in control of your response. Many PR firms, such as Empower, offer media training which helps spokespeople “bridge” or “hook” their message into the TV segment. With this type of training and camera preparation, businesses need not fear the outcome of their television placements. Indeed, PR actually might give businesses even more control over their messaging, since it allows them to pick and choose which programs or demographics they want to focus on. For instance, a home-building business might want to focus their efforts on home and gardening media and a chef might want to focus on cooking media. By tailoring their message to specific audiences, businesses can reach the demographic of their choice.

As technology continues to radically alter the world we live in, businesses must stay on the forefront on these new trends. PR can get you, your product, or your expertise in the very center of the action: Are you ready for it?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 at 3:59 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.