Should You Tune In To TV Advertising?
Restaurants USA, March 1997

A modest investment in a well-conceived TV ad campaign can set your operation apart from the competition, but an ill-planned ad can sap your bank account and prompt potential customers to channel-surf your restaurant into oblivion.
By Phillip M. Perry

Too expensive. Too complicated. Too time-consuming. Those are the common perceptions of TV advertising among many independent restaurant owners, who prefer to pour all their advertising dollars into more cost-effective newspaper and radio ads. But leaving TV out of your advertising recipe can be costly, especially if competitors get a jump on you with a sprinkling of tasty ads.

Why should restaurateurs consider TV advertising? "TV is the ultimate medium to impress the public," says Keith Brunson, president of The Brunson Agency in Austin, Texas. "TV has what other media do not: a moving picture. That drives home your business message with an impact far more emotional than any other medium."

And people choose to buy a product or patronize a restaurant based on their emotions. "People start thinking of a TV advertiser as a big deal," says Brunson. "You start hearing them say, 'that was on TV' when they visit your restaurant and see some advertised special."

Using television correctly can help your restaurant blast the competition out of the water, but using the medium poorly can backfire — leading to dollars wasted on ill-planned TV campaigns that sap your bank account and erode your bottom line.

"You can waste a lot of money with poorly conceived TV ads," says David F. Ramacitti, an advertising consultant in Moline, Illinois. "If you make no impression on anyone, you throw your money away."

Before deciding to channel your money into TV advertising, learn some industry secrets from advertising gurus that can help you boost business with a modest investment in a TV ad campaign.

Stick with one "selling point"

Decide on a key benefit, or "selling point," that you want your TV ads to drive home.

The "selling point" is your key to success. Reason: Too many ideas in one commercial confuse the viewer, who is more accustomed to a single concept in every TV ad. You run the risk that the viewer will remember nothing.

Examples of some key selling points include the following:

Save money. We have low-priced menu specials every day.

Save yourself the grief of patronizing a restaurant with poor service. We offer excellent service.

Our restaurant can help you feed your family when you're pressed for time.

When choosing a key point, consider the following questions. Is it a theme you can echo in your print and radio ads? Is it impressive enough — in terms of consumer benefits — to actually draw lots of customers? Is it beefy enough to carry your ad campaign for at least one year? (Repetition is essential to impress the idea upon the minds of viewers.) Is it unique to your restaurant versus other operations? Is it something you personally can take pride in? (Your enthusiasm will help sell the idea.)

Create a snappy visual image

Now that you have your selling point, create a "visual image" that effectively communicates that selling point to viewers.

In a 30-second commercial, you typically spend five seconds on the opening and another five on the closing. That leaves 20 seconds for your core message, which you must communicate in a visually exciting way.

"One of the most common mistakes is to make a commercial that is visually dull," says Ramacitti. "Examples are commercials with talking heads, or with long camera spans of merchandise." Creating dull material is an understandable error, because most new television advertisers are more accustomed to newspaper and radio media, where there is no video to contend with.

In a newspaper ad, you can simply state your selling point unvarnished. Not so in a TV ad. If your ads are visually dull, then viewers will channel-surf your message into oblivion.

You need to create a visual image that will be arresting and fascinating and that will communicate your selling point in such a way as to compel the viewer to visit your restaurant.

Here are some examples of visuals designed to reinforce the selling point.

Selling point: Reasonably priced menu. Visual image: Happy customers who have enough money left over to roll in after eating at your restaurant.

Selling point: Excellent service. Visual image: A diner sitting in a restaurant desperately trying to get a server's attention; shift to a shot of the same person sitting in your restaurant surrounded by attentive servers.

Selling point: Home-cooked meals to go. Visual image: A harried mother trying to cook dinner, work and tend to children all at once. She picks up the phone, calls your restaurant and orders a healthy, home-cooked meal, which is delivered promptly to her door.

Separate your restaurant from the rest

Do your homework before shooting a TV ad. Videotape the commercials placed by competing restaurateurs and by other small businesses in your region. What do they have in common? By reviewing these commercials, you will pick up clues as to what seems to be working for them and what doesn't.

You will also begin to see opportunities to differentiate your operation from the competition. Is everyone else using loud music and aggressive visuals? Perhaps you can attract consumers' attention by putting together a series of slower-paced commercials. If you are on a busy street where everyone is shouting, you will be heard better if you whisper.

Don't clutter the message

Have you included too many benefits that do not relate to your key message? Eliminate them. Back up and take the broader view. Ask yourself: What does the spot do as a whole?

If your core idea is that you have an experienced waitstaff who provide top-notch service, your statement that your restaurant also offers takeout will have to be cut. Remember that including unrelated benefits makes your ad less effective.

Make visuals work for you

Although your commercial must be visually appealing, the visual must continually illustrate your key message. You want the viewer to remember your restaurant — not just the clever commercial.

"Surveys show that for many commercials, viewers recall the drama, but can't remember what it was for," says Jeff Wyant, president of Mico Productions, Inc., in New York City. "Winning awards is not as important as driving traffic into the store."

"Many first-time TV advertisers forget about the sales orientation," says Marc Rauch, creative and marketing director at Clark & Associates in Rancho Cordova, California. "Even retailers who have been successful with newspaper ads suddenly start thinking about an institutional message when they advertise on TV."

The solution is to translate your institutional message into a benefit that will attract diners. For example, suppose you want to broadcast the message that you are a family-owned restaurant that has been serving the community for 25 years. That message on its own will not attract customers. Instead, develop a commercial that says your operation is more dependable than other restaurants in providing quality food and service because of your experienced staff.

Make your name stick

If you're like most people, you can probably think of at least one television commercial memorable for its content — but for which you somehow can't remember the advertiser. Sometimes that is because the advertisement is visually appealing but does not emphasize customer benefits from the business.

But often there is another problem: The advertiser did not sufficiently identify the business. Here are some techniques for making your restaurant's name stick in consumers' minds.

Mention your restaurant's name several times throughout the commercial.

Use a "musical logo." This is a simple tune that you should use in all of your television and radio ads. Consumers will start to think of the tune as representing your restaurant and will remember to eat there.

If appropriate, include the operation's name in a catchy jingle or create a play-on-words slogan that includes the restaurant's name.

Have customers sing your praises

People remember people. So use customer testimonials if you can. No matter what the medium, testimonials are one of the most powerful techniques for attracting new customers. And with that technique, local advertisers can often do what national operations can't — use local people who are recognizable to the customer base.

If you do use testimonials, you are faced with a challenge. How do you get nonactors to give professional, camera-worthy performances? The solution is to use lots of people, so that the amount of time any one person is on the screen is minimal. "Try a series of quick cuts of smiling customers saying how much they love your restaurant, and why," says David Ramacitti. "Maybe you can use as many as a dozen to two dozen in one 30-second spot." The rapid-fire action will keep the viewer riveted to the screen while driving home your key message.

If you do not care to use testimonials, you can still capitalize on a "people" orientation by broadcasting a series of quick shots of your smiling staff.

Open and close with a bang

"The opening is everything," says Ramacitti. "Like the headline of a newspaper article, it gets the audience's attention. Hook the viewer in the first few seconds with why you are running the ad and what you want to accomplish. If you don't get the audience on your side in two seconds, the rest is lost."

Ramacitti suggests that operators ask the following two questions about the opening of a TV ad: Does it get attention? Does it reflect the message? One way commercials can achieve both goals is to open with an enthusiastic actor saying "You wouldn't believe the price..." or "This story is incredible..." Those are attention-getters.

But avoid sensationalism. If you sound too much like a hawker, your spot will not be as effective. A big on-screen explosion will capture people's attention...but does it illustrate your message?

In the final five seconds of your commercial, include a call to action. "Invite the viewer to come in and enjoy a special for a limited time only," says Marc Rauch. "You should also show your restaurant's logo, phone number and location."

Use both voice and text in your close. Appealing to two senses at the same time will make your message — and your restaurant — more memorable.

What's the Tab for a TV Ad? You have to budget both for producing the commercial and for broadcasting it. "People often think that television commercials have to be expensive," says Jeff Wyant, president of Mico Productions, Inc., in New York City. "They don't. For as little as $500 or $700 you can put together a commercial from existing materials." For example, you could create a montage of slides of satisfied customers, or a sequence of pictures showing your merchandise. Or splice together some stock footage from vendors with some stimulating commentary. "Stock video" and "library music" — terms for production components often available free of charge — can go a long way if handled creatively. As for broadcast time, you may be surprised at how inexpensive spots can be. Rates vary dramatically by time of day and program placement. In a midsize city, a single 30-second spot at an off-hour might cost $40. A spot on the 10 o'clock evening news might be $1,000. You will usually purchase a "package" of spots on a station. That's because a single spot will do you little good: Commercials need to be repeated to get a message across to viewers. Such a package typically comes down to an average of $100 per spot. So if you purchase 30 spots over the course of a week, your budget will be $3,000. To economize over the long haul, explore the idea of "saturation." In that strategy, you buy a lot of spots during a single week; then hold off on doing TV advertising for several weeks; then return to saturation for another week. The saturation will impress viewers because of the number of ads you are running. You can also economize by buying "run of schedule" spots. Those ads are broadcast whenever the station has available air time. It is far more expensive to specify the programs during which you want your ads to run. One final way to economize is to combine production so your radio spot uses the same audio as your TV spot.

Picking a Production House Did you know you can get a commercial produced for free? Go to your local television station, agree to buy $2,000 or $3,000 worth of air time, and the station will often agree to shoot your spot gratis. First-time advertisers often go this route. Of course, you will not get the quality that you would from a production house — and that means the commercial is likely to pull in fewer customers. "Stations just don't know about good advertising," says Marc Rauch, creative and marketing director at Clark & Associates in Rancho Cordova, California. "They just know how to sell time." You can get a list of production houses from your local TV stations. But how do you select one? "Find people who have made successful commercials," says Rauch. "Forget about how beautiful the commercials are — how successful have they been in selling?" Ask for the names of former clients, and then ask those clients whether they saw real success in terms of increased customer counts. Says Rauch: "You want someone who makes the cash register ring."

Spot Check Local television advertisers overwhelmingly prefer 30-second spots, according to the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB) in New York City. In a recent TVB survey, 30-second spots accounted for 85 percent of local commercials. The next most popular length was 15 seconds, accounting for 8 percent of activity. Advertisers see 15-second spots as more useful for promoting "brand awareness" than for increasing store customer counts. Therefore, national advertisers are more likely to take on the 15-second challenge. In the TVB survey, 32 percent of network TV spots were 15 seconds long, while 65 percent were 30 seconds long. To get more information on television-advertising trends, contact the Television Bureau of Advertising for a free copy of Trends in Television, at 850 Third Ave., New York, New York 10022, or (212) 486-1111.

Consider Cable Don't overlook cable television when planning your commercials. "The strength of cable is targeted marketing," says Gary Tietjen, director of local sales and marketing for the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau in New York City. "Cable is able to zero in not only geographically but demographically on people most likely to purchase your product," says Tietjen. That is especially important when you are interested in attracting customers who reside close to your restaurant. Many cable operators are now offering "zoning," which lets you target your commercial to specific neighborhoods. That can give you more sales power for every dollar you spend, because you will not be wasting your money reaching households that are too far from your operation.

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