Millions of Americans watch local TV news, according to the ratings. Yet, we rarely see or hear from them in local TV news marketing. It’s ironic because viewers do weigh in often on local TV news coverage. They comment via Facebook or Twitter. They email and call. In my opinion, it’s a missed opportunity. (By […]
Millions of Americans watch local TV news, according to the ratings. Yet, we rarely see or hear from them in local TV news marketing.
It’s ironic because viewers do weigh in often on local TV news coverage. They comment via Facebook or Twitter. They email and call.
In my opinion, it’s a missed opportunity.
(By the way, how easy is it for people to call your station? Imagine a caller sees a breaking news story while driving and googles, “call WXXX’s newsroom.” Will they see a newsroom phone number they can click on right away to call?)
Regular readers of this column know that I’m a big fan of viewer testimonials as a marketing and advertising technique. I’m also a fan of hearing from the people inside the newsroom as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=22&v=rGT9k7ohfhw
But that doesn’t mean I’m a one-trick pony. I’ve written and produced lots of local TV news ads that don’t feature testimonials.
It’s just that all too often, local TV ads seem to have only point of view — ours.
Consider a new advertising campaign from Capital One.
Banks tend to evoke the kind of emotion that lawyers and politicians do, as in next to none. But yet without banks, local businesses could not survive and prosper.
So Capital One saw this as an opportunity.
In a new campaign called Spark Plug their advertising team created 150 ads featuring fans of entrepreneurial companies.
“We simply wanted to capture the excitement and passion that comes from a fan’s voice, as opposed to the often calculated, more logical message that might come from an owner,” Sue DeSilva told Adweek. DeSilva is the creative director at Mullen Lowe, the company that created the campaign.
A caption on a picture declared, “The ads provide a more authentic endorsement than the owner might give.”
Isn’t that what viewer testimonials for local TV news might provide — authenticity, credibility, emotion?
I’ve found that you can’t write the kinds of comments viewers give about your station’s news. If I did write it, nobody would believe it.
The feel of these spots is bright and breezy and that’s intentional. The fans come off as interesting, cool, and vibrant, even though many of them are older, like news viewers.
Local TV news viewer testimonials don’t have to dull, stodgy, and predictable.
It’s all in how you present it.
Click here to read the entire article about this campaing in Adweek.
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