Ep: 57 - Don't Count TV Out: Why TV Marketing isn't Dead

The days of TV commercials may feel far behind us but truthfully, they still have ample power when it comes to brand legitimacy and recognition. Using TV to create stronger ties across multiple verticals continues to bring in consistent results.

That’s why we sat down with Elena Hengel, VP of Marketing at Marketing Architects. She believes TV advertisement is the ultimate support for social media and direct mail marketing – and has the stats and experience to prove it.

Join us as we discuss:

• How TV supports multiple mediums
• The value of contextual marketing
• Challenges in TV commercial marketing

TV’s reach is still unrivaled

Sure, social media marketing is all the rage — but if you’re trying to reach a broad and diverse audience, TV should be your medium of choice, says Elena.

“TV has the potential to build your brand and drive sales at the same time, and it does both really effectively,” she says. “For some of our clients, TV’S ROI even rivals social, which I find amazing.”

Between traditional cable TV and streaming services, there are multitudinous ways to get in front of your target audience — and the fact that it’s video-based instead of centered around static imagery ensures customers make a stronger emotional connection with your brand.

“We can all remember those commercials from our childhoods,” she says. “When you watch a TV commercial and you know other people are seeing the same thing, it can add legitimacy to brands.”

That intangible, universal appeal still hits home with consumers in a way that other marketing channels struggle to replicate. There simply isn’t another medium that carries that kind of impact, Elena says.

Contextual marketing carries immense value

Contextual marketing is all about targeting ads based on contextually relevant content instead of factors like browsing history or user patterns. For example, a fishing supply company would put a TV ad on the fishing channel because that’s where their core buyer base is. This approach differs from behavioral marketing — which targets consumers based on web browsing habits, cookies and more — in a way marketers should pay more attention to.

“I think we’ve gotten so spoiled by being able to target the right person at the right time for the right price that we’re missing the simple math,” she says. “And you don’t run into some of the challenges with privacy and other similar topics.”

That’s not to say marketers should totally abandon behavioral marketing. They should simply consider both strategies in accordance with their budget and target audiences, says Elena.

TV commercial marketing is not without its challenges

While TV commercials are a powerful tool in a marketer’s arsenal, they’re not without their challenges. Chief among them is the difficulties that come with measuring ROI, says Elena.

“It’s hard to attribute direct sales to TV so marketers should be prepared to have multiple attribution models in place,” she says.

While the C-suite needs to see data that underscores the impact of TV, so much of TV commercials’ impact rests on someone seeing the commercial, then seeing something else a few days later — an ad, a product in a store, or something else that jogs their memory — and recalling that commercial.

Tracking data and organizing it in a way that ensures marketers see how their commercials are performing is the main key to surmounting commercial marketing conversion challenges, Elena says. After all, the worst outcome would be spending a huge chunk of change on TV marketing and not even knowing if it works.

“That’s why it’s crucial to have a marketing operations team that knows how to use data effectively,” she says. “We have the most success when we work with teams that have their data organized.”

Want to learn more about the benefits of TV commercials and how to gather data that demonstrate campaign success? Listen on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you find your podcasts.