[VIDEO] Get Your Brand on TV with CTV/OTT

Transcript:

Hi, I’m Dave here from Arc Intermedia, a digital marketing agency just outside of Philadelphia PA and welcome back to what am I working on today.

Today’s backdrop is sunrise at the Grand Canyon. Be careful around the edges.

Earlier today, I sat in on a client meeting where Laura and Olivia on our paid advertising team – those two are so good, presented results from a CTV campaign that we’re running. The results were really great which always makes for a good meeting and a happy client.

If you’re not familiar with CTV, it stands for Connected Television. This is a method by which marketers can run commercials on streaming networks that are seen on TVs, tablets, and mobile devices without having to buy airtime directly from broadcasting and cable companies. Marketers and agencies like us use online platforms, like Disney, Trade Desk, Hulu, Simpli.fi, and many others where we can run the an entire campaign – upload the video file, leverage some really interesting targeting, control spend and flighting. And we can run campaigns with smaller budgets than doing the traditional big TV buy. It’s so powerful to be able to run TV spots during top streaming shows, sports, even your favorite cooking shows!

We really like the digital aspect of the targeting, spending controls, and the metrics we can get while affording our clients the cache of being on TV. Being seen during popular TV shows still carries a lot of weight and subconsciously implies value and quality.

We often use CTV to introduce a company, a product, or a service to build its brand and leverage the broad reach of TV. We can use 1st and 3rd party data for targeting the exact people we want to reach, we can target down to the zip code, we can tie in audience interests, as well as their activity across the web, especially if they’ve already shown interest for what we’re offering. Alexa is listening!

For the client we met with today, they had a location providing local services but they were somewhat unknown and there was brand confusion with other local companies with similar names. We wanted people to see and hear about our client’s brand so that our other marketing tactics could be more successful. We love CTV as part of a full digital program where it’s not responsible for the final sale but rather supports the more direct tactics that do focus on closing the deal.

So here’s some advice for those of you just learning about CTV or considering it:

First. Define your goal and what CTV should do within a larger marketing program. Also, define a budget that will get a meaningful amount of impressions. There are some forecasting tools for this.

Second. While you don’t need a Hollywood quality commercial or a celebrity endorser you should still have a quality spot with 15, 30, and 60 second versions that represent your brand really well. Don’t damage your brand with a poor quality commercial.

Third. You’re going to want to research a platform that has great targeting and great reporting. Some of the better platforms do have budget minimums that might be higher than your spend. If so, hire a digital agency that has CTV experience, a platform in place that can run smaller budgets, and can guide you on strategy and the content.

So go ahead, explore getting your brand on TV. It may not be as expensive or as daunting as you think. Good luck!