We’re diverging slightly today from our normal course. We’re all about Internet marketing here at Work Media world headquarters. But we’re not just Internet geeks…we’re marketers. We have spent a lot of time studying all forms of marketing, and not just the on-line variety. With that in mind, we thought today we would talk about a couple of cheap ways to do TV advertising.

In general, we are opposed to mass market “image” advertising. You can spend a whole lot of money for very little results. It is also far less measurable than online advertising. However, if you are careful about how and where you buy your air time and use TV advertising in conjunction with Internet or direct marketing, it can be a powerful addition to your marketing mix.

The two low-cost ways to advertise on TV that we are going to talk about today are: 1. Making your own commercial and purchasing discounted air time; and 2. use the services of a one-stop TV ad aggregator.

To do things on your own, you will first need to find a way to create your own commercial. Given today’s cheap cameras and video editing software, this is much more feasible that it once was. But you will probably get a better result if you seek the assistance of someone who knows what he is doing.

Assuming you are able to create the commercial, the next step is buying airtime. First you should decide in advance where you would like your commercial to run. You need to target prospects who are strong candidates for your product or service. If you run a financial-related business, for instance, your best bet may be something like MSNBC – a channel that focuses on financial news.

You should try to establish a relationship with a salesperson at the TV station. If you can find one who is young and still trying to build his client portfolio, then you have a better chance at getting some deals. Once you have a relationship established, make it known that you need discount airtime and are flexible with regards to when your ads run, as long as it is on the appropriate channels. You may be able to pick up discounted airtime near the end of the month. TV stations fill unsold airtime with commercials of existing advertisers – for free. They would rather sell it to you at a discount than give it away for free.

The other option is to use the services of a company like Spot Runner. Spot Runner lets you customize a pre-created commercial with your own logo and voice over, and then lets you pick specific airtimes on specific channels. The interesting thing is that they can help you target your ads down to the neighborhood. The company already has everything in place – all you have to do is fill in the details.

One strong budget-minded use of TV advertising is to direct the viewer to your web site. Your web site can explain way more about your business than you have time to explain in a 30 or 60 second commercial. However, don’t just direct viewers to your front page. Create some kind of special offer, create a landing page devoted to it, and promote the URL to the landing page in your ads.

For help creating an aggressive, multi-pronged marketing plan, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.