Stick to Time
You've bought a :30 commercial package. As tempting as it might be to squeak in an extra few seconds, you just can't do it. Your commercial must time out to the exact time you've paid for. Going over will only get your all-to-important call to action clipped because those last few seconds will be cut off when your commercial airs.
Hiring a Production Company
Of course, you want your commercial to be professional. You can hire a production company or many television stations have their own production companies in-house. They can handle all aspects of your commercial, including writing, shooting and editing your commercial. Shop around for prices. Some production companies are able to offer you a commercial package for as low as $100 that will include still pictures shot with a high quality video camera.
Scheduling Your Commercial
Placement of your commercial is very important. It determines who will see your commercial and how much you will pay for its air time. Having your commercial air at 3 a.m. will save you money but if you don't reach your audience it's not money well spent. The same holds true for the station you're airing your ad on as well. If you're advertising your maternity clothing store, you don't want schedule air time on ESPN with your local cable company.
Frequency
Television is less demanding on frequency than radio but it still deserves more than a one-shot deal. If you were advertising during the Super Bowl, that would be a completely different story. But on the local level, you need to identify the key times your ad should run and buy enough air time for your commercial to reach your audience at least twice. More times would be ideal.
Consistency
Use the same announcer, jingle, fonts, colors, etc. to keep your commercial consistent. This helps people start to get to know your company by all of these factors. The more you recognize the lady pitching the hair salon down the street, the more you know exactly what that company's name and address is before she even speaks in the commercial.