Business

How to Make a Great TV Ad in 4 Simple Steps

Written by Chloe Harwood

TV advertising has certainly evolved over the years and with so much competition with digital advertising it has never been more important to get it right. If you are considering jumping into the world of TV advertising, but are not sure where to start, then read on for tips on how to create your very own TV advert.

The Big Idea

With so many distractions these days such as ad-skipping technology and consumer distractions it is more challenging than ever to grab the attention of consumers through TV. So the first place to start is to come up with the main idea for your commercial. TV advertising is still pretty expensive and as you are going to need to pay for everything from the airtime for your advert all the way through to a TV production company to help you put everything together.

So firstly get all your ideas down on paper and start working through all your objectives, creative thoughts and business objectives, until you come up with the big idea that is going to draw in the attention of your target market.

Script Writing

Once you have your great idea, at the forefront of your mind, it is then time to start fleshing out the finer details of your ad and the best place to start with that is with your script. You don’t need to be an advertising mastermind to come up with a great script, but it does help to do some research. Look around at other TV commercials, in your area of business, to pick up on important elements such as tone, pacing and direction.

As you have a very limited amount of time to grab the attention of your audience you will need to make sure that your opening line is short and punchy. So don’t get caught up in complicated or long-winded dialogue or voice overs, instead try to get your message across as succinctly and as concisely as possible.

People or No People?

Some of the best adverts of all time haven’t featured any people, so don’t put any pressure on yourself to have to start looking to hire actors and to have to start scrambling around for extra budget to pay for a handful of actors. On the other hand people do relate to people so they can be a very powerful commodity when it comes to TV advertising. Using people that represent your target market is a really good idea when looking to use actors, but make sure that the script and direction for your ad will ensure that everyone looks natural and will pull off the vision that you have.

Production Company

Last but by no means least you will want to hire a production company that will be able to make your commercial look professional and polished. A production company will be able to handle all aspects of your commercial from the writing to the shooting and to the post-production editing. You can be as much or as little involved as you wish but make sure that you are shopping around to find the best quality company that will be able to bring your vision to life, do your ideas justice and that will best represent your company.

About the author

Chloe Harwood