Businesses Are Already Looking Ahead To 2022 | COVID 2022

The coronavirus hit businesses hard in 2020 and 2021, and while the forecast for COVID in 2022 is hard to predict, business owners are already preparing for next year. Whether your business has been able to stay open throughout 2021, or you’re preparing to re-open your business in 2022; this article spotlights a new technology that can help you generate repeat business and deliver important messages to your visitors during these uncertain times.

Preparing your Business for COVID 2022

If you managed to keep your doors open during the pandemic, then you already know the challenges that business owners are facing regarding healthy & safety. If you’re re-opening, it can be overwhelming as there’s a lot to train your staff and employees on. Doors and tables need to be disinfected regularly, masks are mandatory, and seating is spaced out — you get the idea.

Related: Top 5 Ways to Prepare Your Business Space for COVID-19

But signs on the ground encouraging social distancing and staff members taking your temperature with a gun don’t make for a very welcoming atmosphere; it doesn’t matter if these precautions are for your customers’ safety, it still feels strange and can turn visitors off. Customers who don’t feel safe probably won’t come back for a long time, or at least until the virus is gone- which could be a while.

Safely Communicating with your Visitors about the Coronavirus

Making your customers feel safe is just as important as making sure they’re safe; the difference being that you can adhere to strict health & safety regulations, but easily forget how it affects customer experience. COVID-19 has a lot of people stressed, so finding a way to reduce that stress wherever possible should be top-of-the-list.

They key to making customers FEEL safe is communication.

Except, effective communication can be hard for small businesses; especially medical offices. There usually aren’t a lot of good options. Yet, every business has messages they need and/or want to get across to customers; sales, specials, etc. — including COVID-related messaging. Most business owners settle for posters or fliers, without realizing that the best place for their messaging is the TV in their business. The best is to use a custom TV network.

Not sure what a “Custom TV Network” is? Click here.

If you’ve got a TV and you aren’t using a custom TV network, your visitors are at the mercy of the news. At this point, the whole world knows about the coronavirus. We also get to hear about how many new cases there are each day, and how many people have died; people don’t need to be reminded of this everwhere they go- especially inside of your business.

If you have a TV in your business, chances are you customers are seeing that kind of messaging, and it’s stressing people out. Being informed is one thing — but constantly being reminded that there’s a pandemic is overwhelming. Your visitors don’t need that. The safest, most-effective way to communicate with your customers is through the TV in your business; but only if that TV is playing content that you control.

Tackling COVID-22 in your Business with a Custom TV Network

One of the best things you can do to prepare your business for COVID 2021 is getting rid of any mention of the coronavirus off your TV. Anything COVID-related — unless it’s your own personal messaging, isn’t necessary to have playing in your business. In fact, for all of the reasons stated previously it’s probably doing more harm than good. People aren’t visiting your restaurant, medical office, or car dealership for the bad news. Whether they’re looking at the TV for 20 minutes or 20 seconds, it’s the perfect opportunity to comfort them, and inform them about anything you want them to take advantage of; either while they’re there, or the next time they visit.

If you had the choice — would you rather show the news? Or would you rather show something that supports your business?

Custom TV networks are designed with your business in mind. It gives you more control over what show up on your TV, and gives you variety of content. Additionally, the right technology will let you upload you own messages to play in between videos. Once you realize what’s possible with custom TV software, it’s hard to imagine any business owner choosing cable over a system that improves visitor experience, AND is a powerful marketing tool.

Want more reasons to cut cable? This article gives you 10.

Want to Learn more about Custom TV Networks? Check out It’s Relevant TV

Don’t get overwhelmed with choices — It’s Relevant TV is the best place to start looking if you’re curious about a custom TV network for your business. Feature-rich and easy-to-use, It’s Relevant will show you exactly what to expect from custom television software. Chat with the experts at ItsRelevant.com if you have any questions, or schedule a demo to get a firsthand look at the technology.

How Much Does It Cost To Advertise On TV? | It’s Relevant TV

How Much Does it Cost to Advertise on TV?

Great question! The answer depends on whether or not your ad is going to be local, or national. Local ads cost significantly less, and are the go-to for smaller businesses for obvious reasons; your business with 1 to 3 locations on the East Coast doesn’t need to reach people in California. National ads- on the other hand, will cost much more per spot, but will cost less when divided among the viewers you are reaching.

If you’re reading this, chances are that what you’re interested in is a local advertisement — however both will be covered. Before we start, it is worth noting that there’s a third option that most business owners don’t think of; which is running your ads on the TV within your business itself. If you think that’s counterintuitive to the point of playing an ad on television, keep on reading and see why more and more business owners are adopting this new strategy.

Want to Advertise on TV? Here’s what to Expect

Business owners looking to run a local ad can expect to pay upwards of $1,500 for a 30-second advertisement on a broadcast network — compared to national ads, which can cost as much as $120,000 for an ad of the same length. Cable TV networks in limited areas can cost as little as $50 per spot, but the viewing audience for those ads is very small.

A Quick Calculation:
Just think if there are 200,000 cable subscribers. 50% of them may be watching TV at any given time, so that’s 100,000 audience. Now, those people have the choice between a thousand different cable channels. Most will gravitate towards the broadcast stations like NBC, Fox, CBS and ABC. So you may only be left with 40,000 viewers that are choosing between the other 1,000 channels. Divided evenly between the channels you might expect that ad to be shown to just 40 people. So even for a “cheap” ad on regional cable purchased for $50, you’d be paying $1.20 per viewer in the example above.

Television ads are costly, and that money spent is a lot for a small business — especially when there’s no guarantee that you’re going to make that money back. When it comes to most advertising platforms; cable TV, billboards, newspapers, etc. — you’re paying to have your message exposed to thousands, if not hundreds-of-thousands of people on the off-chance that a large number of them will see it, be interested, and then act on it. That’s a lot of off-chances.

Don’t bet your advertising budget on the Law of Averages. Not when you can achieve the same goals, with the same ad, for far less money.

The Advantages of Advertising on your Own Business’ TV

Some might argue that the point of having a commercial ad is to have it play on broadcast television; in people’s homes. The “I don’t need to advertise to customers who are already in my business” stance comes from a place of logic, but it has its flaws. Most notably, it’s ignoring the simple fact that those customers- who are already in your business, are there because:

1.) They trust you, or they trust your brand

2.) You sell a product that they need, or you offer a service that you provide.

3.) They are statistically more likely to (re)visit your business than someone who had never been there before.

Less often than you might think it’s because they saw your ad at home on TV. The small handful of “those-interested” that you might get out of a TV ad will have an equal mindset to those who are already visiting your business naturally. It’s far easier, and way more cost-effective, to target customers who are already in your location.

Why spend thousands of dollars fishing for 1-in-1,000 people who are interested in your brand when you can instead target 1,000 visitors who you know are already interested?

Selling visitors on additional products and services while they’re right there — where they can buy or act on it that second, is the best strategy for generating more sales and repeat business. If you were advertise on TV, your product, service, or message would REALLY have to motivate the consumer to stop what they’re doing, get up, go out, and visit your business. No matter which way you look at it, the best place for your business’ ad is your business’ TV.

Finding the Right Advertising Platform to Stream your Business’ Ads

DIY solutions cost time, money, and upkeep to maintain; trust a business TV provider to do all the hard work for you.

Finding the right platform can be a little overwhelming, especially if you’re new to the technology. The best place to start looking for business TV software is It’s Relevant TV. The TV experts there know businesses, and they know television; schedule a call with them for a closer look at the technology, or chat with a representative if you have any questions about using custom TV software in your business.

If you’re going to advertise on TV, make it your business’ TV.

Triple Play from Cable TV = Big Strikeout for Businesses

Don’t TRIPLE PAY for TV Services in Your Business

Cable bills are a growing concern for businesses. If you’re like many of the other business owners in the country, you’re tired of it. How often do we hear about a new “promotional offer” for a “triple play” that gives us TV, internet, and phone with a great rate? And the rate is great – until the initial period ends and the bills go up. At that point it’s nearly impossible to get them back down. In fact, over time they triple for many. You thought you had a triple play when in reality it just became a triple PAY.

Whether you are looking for discounted rates with Optimum, Comcast, Time Warner, Xfinity, Charter, Cox Communications, Bright House, Cable One, RCN or Mediacom, it’s the value that’s missing from all of the business TV offerings.

Cable’s problem isn’t just the cost, it’s the lack of VALUE.

We compared the rates among many of the top cable companies offering service to businesses. The average customer we work with pays between $300 to $700 a month on their cable subscription services. Cable won’t compete with itself, which has left us with cable monopolies across the country forcing these high rates. In the end, that’s not just unaffordable for many, it’s unpredictable and gives nothing back to your business.

Regardless of how much your business’ cable bill is costing you – in all likelihood you’re missing a real return. TV has always been seen as a utility. At It’s Relevant, we see it as an investment. Instead of just paying for programming to distract your customers, we would encourage you to draw their attention to content that will grow your business.

The Cable TV Alternative for Businesses

It’s Relevant TV has developed a service that draws the attention of your customers and directs their focus to the things that make you more money. Services that they might not have been aware of, special deals or offers, and even local events. All of these things can be promoted on your TV with It’s Relevant, allowing you to get closer to visitors.

Top 10 Reasons to Cancel Cable TV or Satellite TV in Your Business

Are You Using Cable or Satellite TV in your Business?

Cable TV and Satellite TV costs are on the rise, while they continue to offer little benefit for your business. Business owners are finding a better way to utilize their TVs, to not only entertain their customers, but to make the business more money at the same time. Why only spend money on cable/satellite when you can be making money with It’s Relevant TV?

The Top 10 Reasons to Switch (Video)

1. Cable TV COSTS Money, It’s Relevant TV MAKES you money.

It’s Relevant TV is designed to make your business money by integrating your own promotions, videos and social media into the programming. These integrations lead to an increase in the average customer spend, social media followership and return visits/referrals. Traditional TV doesn’t give you any customization, while IRTV lets you customize every part of what’s being delivered to your customers.

2. Competitive Ad Block®

Cable and Satellite TV have a ton of commercials, often 16-22 minutes an hour. And while everyone expects to see commercials on TV, the one thing you as a business owner shouldn’t tolerate is a competitor to advertising in your location.

If you own a Mercedes-Benz Dealership, would you want a BMW commercial being played to your customers? Of course not. That’s why It’s Relevant has Competitive Ad Block®. It comes with all IRTV systems, and automatically blocks out ads from your industry competitors.

3. No Repetitive Loop & Better Content

If your TV is tuned to a news network you’re likely showing the same content over and over on repeat all day long. A repetitive loop just makes customers feel like they are waiting longer, and no one wants that! It’s Relevant TV is different. The programs never loop! Instead, we bring in fresh content all day long and switch between different content types to keep things interesting.

TV has a lot of channels, and you may find your staff and visitors having to change between them during the day. It’s Relevant TV has just as many choices, but instead of picking one channel, you choose all of the categories of content your visitors will enjoy most. We change the channel for you throughout the day, switching up the programming types every few minutes, increasing the number of touch-points you have with your customers.

4. Display Your Own Ads

Short of buying expensive advertising spots, Cable and Satellite offer no way to get your ads and messages across to customers. It’s Relevant TV makes it easy to feature your messaging next to the programming. You can create and upload images right from your computer or smartphone. IRTV handles the rest, rotating through your ads constantly throughout the day.

You can even set specific days or hours of the day to show specific ads. So for instance, if you run a restaurant, you can have breakfast specials shown until 11am, lunch until 3pm, and dinner for the rest of the night.

5. National News & 5-Day Weather Forecasts

Cable and Satellite TV offer a variety of weather and news channels. But you have to be tuned to one of the channels to get the information. As we all know, any extended viewing of news or weather leads to viewer boredom.

It’s Relevant TV allows you to mix in news and weather information seamlessly throughout the day amidst other more entertaining programming. So you can have food shows, travel programs, celebrity interviews, and news/weather all together instead of being stuck on a single repetitive channel for hours.

6. Real-Time Social Media Display (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)

Is your business on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter? How do you encourage people to follow your accounts? Are you getting real customers to follow you?

It’s Relevant TV will display your posts in real-time, showing your most recent photo and text updates to your customers. This is great because it encourages people that have been to your location to follow you. People that have physically been there are more likely to return when following you than someone that’s never been to your location before.

7. Display Your Own Videos

Cable and Satellite TV offer no way for you to display your own videos. You’re just stuck with the channels they provide. It’s Relevant TV is different. If you have a TV commercial or two, you can run them on your TVs. If you have a video message from a staff member for your customers, you can have it displayed for them. It’s as easy as uploading a video from your computer, or recording one on your phone. It’s Relevant TV takes care of rotating your messages evenly throughout the day, and even adds subtitles to your video productions so that they can be displayed on the TV without sound if you desire.

8. Sell/Barter Your Ad Space

Are there businesses in your area that might want to advertise to your customers? It’s Relevant TV provides you with a platform to display the ads and make direct revenue from them.

Let’s say you run an office, and across the street there is a restaurant. As people wait in your office they could see an ad for a special deal at the restaurant. You could charge the restaurant $50 or $100 a month to display their image ad on your TV, however much you choose – you set the price. And you keep all of the revenue.

9. All Family-Friendly Content

Unlike Cable and Satellite TV, It’s Relevant TV only provides content that is prescreened and family friendly. It’s far too often that cable channels have a tame piece of programming one minute and something disgusting, offensive or inappropriate the next. It’s Relevant TV gives you as a business owner piece of mind.

10. Easy Installation

Cable and Satellite TV require long installations, large windows of time for an installer to come, complex wiring, drilling holes and a lot of headaches.

It’s Relevant TV comes as an easy self-install kit. It takes just 5 minutes to get going, and you can do it on your time, when it’s convenient for you. No holes to drill, no shady installers to have to deal with- Just the TV programming your business needs on your terms.

Consult with a TV Expert

It’s Relevant TV offers a free consultation with business owners. You can reach TV specialists by emailing retail {at} itsrelevant.com or by calling (855) ITS-RELE between 8:30AM and 6:00PM EST, Monday-Friday.