What type of advertising is this?

We know that the change from traditional, analog advertising to digital can be confusing and even a bit scary for some small businesses. It's a new world.

With regard to video viewing habits, most Americans now get their TV content from streaming -- followed by cable and broadcast television, in that order. There are pluses and minuses to this trend. In the old days, a business could run a series of television ads and reach a ton of people. For advertisers whose products or services were available across a large geographic region, this made good business sense. What you lacked in the ability to target was made up for in the vast reach that television advertising offered.

Of course, for smaller businesses or those that catered to a niche market, the value proposition offered by traditional television advertising just wasn't there.

Now, we get our video content from dozens of sources. Whereas before a person watching Sports Center on ESPN was forced to access that programming through either their local cable provider or a satellite service, now the options for accessing this content are vast across various multichannel video services, ESPN's own streaming service, mobile, and more.

So, the bad news is that media has never been more fragmented, and it has never been more difficult to reach a vast audience affordably.

However, the good news is that, while audiences are indeed fragmented across many services and platforms, we have the ability to target like never before. Instead of paying to reach viewers that are not likely customers, ad placements can be highly targeted to audiences based upon geography, gender, homeownership, buying habits and more.

All campaigns run on digital platforms and not via traditional cable, satellite, or broadcast -- although almost all of these traditional outlets now have digital versions of their products that reach the same audience.

How many people will my ad reach?

Audience sizes are almost impossible to predict accurately. We know how many targeted ads are served, of course, but the number of people watching is usually derived based on averages. Surveys indicate that about 50% of all streamed ads reach multiple viewers at once.

So how many people will see my ad?

The size of your potential audience reach depends on the targeting criteria you assign to your campaign. Obviously, a campaign targeting all individuals 18 years of age or greater will have a greater potential audience than a campaign targeting only, say, moms in their 30s. While reach is still an important factor in the advertising equation, advanced targeting has shifted much of the focus away from reach to frequency -- with the objective of reaching the most number of actual potential customers as many times as possible.

What should I expect to get out of a campaign?

We often hear from people who say they have tried advertising, but it did not work for them. Of course, we all know that advertising does actually work and that our own purchasing decisions have been greatly influenced by advertising. So where is the disconnect?

Usually, the answer lies in too little advertising for too short a period of time. The average person must be exposed to an advertising message seven to 10 times before he/she will act on it. We often describe this process as being like climbing a mountain. Getting to the summit takes some effort, patience, and diligence.

But the other factor that usually limits response is a lack of consistency in advertising. For the vast majority of companies, advertising is not something you can turn on and off like a faucet and expect to get measurable results. While the options for advertising are indeed vast, the best advertising is always going to be consistent advertising.

To be sure, your actual advertising message also plays an important role. Ads should be creative, but concise since the average ad length now is trending downward to 15 seconds to accommodate shorter attention spans.

A properly placed and executed advertising strategy is a smart move for your business. Just be patient and consistent in order to achieve results.

Will I receive a schedule of when my ad will run? What about run reports?

No. Advance schedules harken back to the days of traditional media outlets that operated on a log basis (broadcast television and radio still operate this way for their over-the-air products, for the most part). Digital ads are served on a 1:1 basis based on the targeting criteria of the campaign. As a result, not everyone sees the same ad at the same time and it would be impossible to know in advance exactly who is tuning in when. In a similar fashion, the run reports issued at the end of a campaign look quite a bit different than they used to (you may remember the pages and pages of paper stations sent out generated from their broadcast logs to show line after line of dates and times).

However, a digital advertising run report is much more streamlined, but it can show important data such as how viewers interacted with your ad and how many watched the ad to completion, for instance. Run reports are transmitted via email the month following the end of the campaign.

Where exactly will my ad run?

As we mentioned earlier, most television networks are now available across an array of platforms. And on top of that, these platforms are available across a range of different devices. For most advertisers, we have found that a siloed approach works best -- limiting ads to a narrow number of platforms. While there are many potential ways people can watch, it is generally best to target audiences that watch in specific ways habitually in order to boost frequency. Within that siloed approach, we usually allocate about 60% of impressions to large screens (television) and about 40% to mobile devices.

What about other types of ads such as display and digital audio?

Running display (banner ads) and/or digital audio (platforms such as iHeart, Audacy, Spotify, Pandora, TuneIn, etc.) are great ways to boost campaign frequency and overall performance. In some cases, we offer packages that include these additional media options as either an included service or an optional add-on.

Should I supply my own ad or use your professional production services?

We offer both options and even sometimes offer special promotions that make purchasing production services a very attractive option.

Why do we do that?

We often find that client-provided ads do not meet network standards and sometimes do not run as a result, causing much troubleshooting to have to take place. If you are providing your own creative, make sure the company producing your ad receives all of the ad specs in advance. You will receive these via email after placing your order.