Guide to Television Ad Buying and Placement

Determine your market and the costs of buying TV advertising

If you have a small market, consider local cable access or other local options when buying a TV advertisement. If you're going after a bigger market, know that you don't have to lose an arm and a leg to purchase an ad. Costs vary based on demographics, time slots and the ad length, so you may find that you don't have to spend as much as you thought.

I recommend: Gaebler's primer on television advertising costs is a good place to start. Also, Entrepreneur offers a couple of good write-ups on both the costs of a network TV advertisement and cable TV ads.

Find an affordable televising advertising agency

Buying television advertising is easier and cheaper due to a growing demand from small to mid-sized businesses and companies willing to meet that demand. You can find several online agencies that can produce quality ads for local or network television.

I recommend: Just as its name claims, Cheap TV Spots offers affordable (or "cheap") television advertisements, both local and national, while TazMedia offers affordable cable TV advertising to small businesses.

Get an affordable pre-packaged television advertisement you can customize

Not only can you find customizable pre-packaged advertisements, but you can also purchase customizable and royalty-free clips from a stock footage library. Don't forget to check local video production companies in your area. These options make television ad buying and placement very convenient for small companies.

I recommend: Spot Runner offers pre-packaged ads by industry that you can personalize and at reasonable prices. Mpower Media also has pre-packaged ads at low rates. Thought Equity Motion's library includes royalty-free stock footage from which to choose production-ready commercials.