Construction television ads in the Internet era

An example of a video ad produced by yourwebads.com for a fee of less than $500 plus less than $20 a month to maintain.

New technologies and services are emerging to allow contractors to produce professional-quality videos at a fraction of traditional prices. Right now, I know of two routes to inexpensive video advertising, a new service from Google, Google TvAds and, perhaps more impressively and of more immediate value to contractors, yourwebads.com, which will allow you to post professional video ads on the web for a modest set up fee with running monthly costs of less than $20.00.

Jeff Uecker, vice president of Burbank, CA based Big Time Productions and vice president of sales and development for yourwebads.com, provided the following news release:

Affordable Web Commercials - General Contractors Big Time Productions is proud to announce the launch of YourWebAds.com, the next BIG thing for small business. YourWebAds.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRLog (Press Release) – Mar 10, 2009 – Big Time Productions is proud to announce the launch of YourWebAds.com, the next BIG thing for small business. http://www.yourwebads.com YOURWEBADS.COM IS A TURN-KEY MARKETING SOLUTION FOR TODAY’S SMALL BUSINESS PROFESSIONALS. Challenging economic times require that you get the best VALUE and RESULTS from every advertising dollar! The NEXT big thing for small business is web commercials. And here at YourWebAds.com, we’ve created an economical mutli-media marketing option that can help grow your business no matter what the financial climate may be. We create high-end custom web commercials for a fraction of the normal costs. Our multi-media marketing plan includes a custom commercial, search engine listing and a website with your own domain name to house that commercial! For only $499.00 and a low maintenance charge of $19.99 a month, you will be able to further legitimize your business and services and best your competition by establishing an online presence with your very own professional commercial and website. Use coupon code CM12 for $100 off your transaction! Visit the contractor's section of the site today! http://www.yourwebads.com/c-3-contractor-services.aspx

I asked Jeff why his company had decided to focus on the construction industry, not known for leading-edge marketing strategies. He said one of the company's partners is involved in construction, and knows the challenges of marketing in the current economy. Jeff says the concept is so new that he must rely on early reports for assessment of the service's success, but he has heard reports of early users receiving calls and winning jobs because of the video ads.

He says the difference between his service and Google's offer -- which includes a free do-it-yourself module -- is that Google is focused on developing and placing ads on cable television systems, while yourwebads.com provides you with ads you can use on our own websites, embed in emails, and other direct marketing initiatives. They'll provide a site for you if you don't have one. This gives you control of your advertising and means you do not need to rely on potentially expensive third-party media for your video ad to be publicized. Of course, you can still elect to receive publicity that way.

Yourwebads.com will provide a $100 discount if you reference coupon code CM12.

Is this video publicity worthwhile? While I wouldn't stake my marketing reputation (and life) on this technology, the risk-reward ratio justifies the expense for most contractors with existing websites set on a static framework.

Here is another example of a video ad produced by yourwebads.com.