Marketing and all things related

The only thing worse than watching television advertising is buying television advertising. And for local markets, most small businesses do not have the time or money to produce and air television commercials. But this missed opportunity might change with the launch of Spot Runner, a new self-serve web-based ad-buying system for local television. On the Spot Runner service, small business owners chose a product or service category, and select from thousands of generic pre-taped video ads. Naturally, the ads can be customized with business-specific voice-overs. The spots cost only about $ 500 compared to thousands of dollars for original production. Next, the small business owner provides a budget range for air time, and a choice of local markets. Spot Runner then generates a media plan which includes the cost of final custom production work and the air time for a local market campaign. Spot Runner even delivers the video to the station, and sends the advertiser a schedule. See SiliconBeat for more information. While still a beta product, Marketing Blurb believes Spot Runner is a promising concept for small businesses who might not otherwise consider television.