TV commercials lend significant credibility to your brand. Even a single commercial helps build trust among your audiences, encouraging people to connect with you. Professional commercial production can be invaluable, and they're surprisingly accessible for local businesses to create. However, to achieve the best results, you need to know how to approach it to get the best results.
If you want to learn more about creating commercials that help you excel, the following are some tips for successful TV commercials.
Decide on Your Goals
The first step to take when producing a commercial is to determine what you want to accomplish with it. In doing so, you'll want to decide on a specific call to action (CTA) that encourages people to complete the desired task. Be sure to choose one particular goal to make your message clear to your audiences.
Ultimately, your CTA needs to align with your goal. For instance, you may want people to call your business using a specific phone number, or you may include an address for your website to increase website traffic. Other commercials may encourage people to visit your nearest physical location to boost foot traffic. If you want to achieve multiple goals, you can always create multiple commercials to add variety and further hold your customers' interest. With a far-reaching and varied TV advertising strategy, you can create a commercial that will stand out.
Develop Your Script
The next step in creating commercials will entail writing a script. Unlike movie scripts, TV commercial scripts must be concise and brief, based on the length of the commercial. TV commercials are typically only around 15 to 90 seconds long, and they also use a different type of format compared to scripts for feature-length films. The goal is also considerably different, as you need to convince audiences that your business is worth engaging with instead of merely entertaining them.
A solid commercial script will organize and plan out specifically how you'll achieve your goals. Your script should contain crucial points that inform and win over audiences while staying within time constrictions, which will maximize the efficacy of your commercials.
Choose the Face of Your Commercial
You also need to consider how you'll represent your business on the screen. You have several options available to you, depending on what you want to achieve. For instance, you can work with live actors or use animation, mascots, or text-based commercials to represent your brand.
The representative you choose for your commercials also needs to further your goals as you attempt to appeal to audiences. When selecting a face for your company, try to decide whether you want it to showcase the owner, your employees, people in the community, or someone you hire specifically for the task. Base your decision on which goals you're trying to achieve and what you think will best further those efforts.
Plan Your Shots
While the script details the narrative of your commercial, a shot indicates the specific shots and how they'll look. A shot list will also determine where to film each shot, whether it will include graphics or whether you need to film B-roll footage. In other words, a shot list is an action plan for your script, so when filming, you know what you need. You also plan out the editing process ahead of time, which saves time during post-production.
If you can take the time to develop a shot list, you'll benefit from an even more efficient production process, helping turn your plans into reality with practical guidelines for each shot. Additionally, you'll be able to cut down on costs as you determine what each shot will require to stay within your budget.
Conduct the Film Shoot
The film shoot involves getting the team and equipment together to shoot the commercial. You can go it alone, or you can work with a production team to accomplish this. However, there are many steps to consider, making a production team helpful in many cases, especially if you want the best results.
In planning the film shoot, you need to consider the size of the production, how much time you'll need, how many people it involves, and the type of equipment you'll require. Again, while you may be able to determine this on your own, it can be a hassle, especially when you're in a situation that can't afford any mistakes. A production team has the expertise to ensure you have everything you need to guarantee a smooth process.
Use Post-Production to Finish Your Shoot
After completing the filming process, it's time to polish the final product during post-production. Post-production involves various processes, such as editing, sound editing, adding graphics, and completing other tasks that put the final commercial together. High-quality post-production will highlight your quality and enhance lower quality to create a unified package. It makes the difference between amateurish or professional-looking commercials.
Produce a Winning Commercial with a Resourceful Media Partner
Producing a quality commercial involves many moving parts that must properly align throughout production. If you lack experience with commercial production, it often pays to work with more experienced professionals who have the equipment you need. With a trusted media partner behind your commercials, you can benefit from access to the resources and extra help that brings the best results.
