For part two of the “All Advertising Is Local” custom video series presented by Ad Age Studio 30 in partnership with Comcast Spotlight, we visited with several business owners and marketing experts in the Philadelphia area to gauge the benefits of local cable TV advertising.

A little can go a long way when it comes to this kind of targeted approach, especially if you plan it right. “We can tailor ads to people that are watching certain shows at certain times to give them the message that would be pertinent to them,” says Paul Muller, president, Tri-State Toyota Dealers’ Association (authorized Toyota dealers located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware).

That message can also be integrated gradually, to great effect. Stewart Wiggins, the owner of a Medi-Weightloss franchise in Delaware, discusses his decision to advertise during the 2018 World Cup. But it wasn’t just airing ads throughout a major worldwide event that made the difference. What turned the tide was the spots appearing on multiple cable networks, like the Golf Channel and Lifetime Movie Network. This led to the audience’s increased recognition of Medi-Weightloss. “They might not be familiar with the brand,” says Wiggins, “but these little 30-second snippets, as they come on, [the audience] becomes more familiar with it, the next thing you know, they go online and they look us up. That’s what we want them to do.

Targeting an audience via local cable TV advertising can also be far more cost-effective and cost-efficient. “The value is huge,” says David Neff, president and CEO, Neff Associates. “If you’re gonna have your client advertise on all the broadcast networks, but you only need to reach folks in, like, three counties, there would be a lot of waste.” 

As Wiggins already mentioned, targeted cable TV advertising can directly lead to an uptick in business, an advantage echoed by Bernie Sweeney, VP, sales and marketing of Oliver Heating and Cooling, a company based in Pennsylvania and New Jersey: “We can see when we run a cable TV ad, [there’s] an influx of customers on our website, which is telling us that it’s working.”

The result of this method is that businesses, through the use of readily available data, can see the effectiveness of local advertising. “I think what we really see happening is, data is driving the discussion,” says Travis Flood, director of research, Comcast Spotlight, “and we’re excited because now we can start proving value to their campaign.”