For every Super Bowl Sunday, there’s a Super Bowl Monday – while the football fans in your office talk about the game, everyone else is talking about the commercials. It’s that transcendent quality that drives companies to spend millions of dollars on a precious few seconds of advertising time every year. But the effective philosophies, as outlined by Business Week, behind those big pockets are free.

Send a Clear Message
As late as the Tuesday or Wednesday before the game, ad agencies were fine tuning their Super Bowl spots to make sure everything was ready to go, right down to the sound quality. Some agencies even watched their spots on conspicuously low-tech equipment just to make sure they could be seen and heard across the spectrum of technology. Regardless of the method, the message is clear: make sure your message is clear. No matter which media outlet you choose to market your business, use your advertising investment to make a lasting impression with potential customers. Also, make sure it’s the message you want to send. After some of last year’s ads left a bad taste in viewers’ mouths, this year’s ads were decidedly lighter. The last thing any business owner wants to do is spend money sending customers to the competition

Maximize Your Investment
Every year, the cost of Super Bowl advertising rises. And every year, the pundits wax rhetorical as to whether it’s worth the money and how effective the ads are. The irony is that for the most part, any company that can afford to spend that kind of money on advertising isn’t taking that big a risk. But for small business owners, marketing is all about getting the most bang for your buck. Do your homework ahead of time and decide on a strategy.

Generate Buzz
What makes Super Bowl ads great is their water cooler factor – they get people talking, even if it’s because the ad is downright irritating (who can forget those Quizno’s ads with the creepy singing socks?). And with websites like YouTube, this year’s Super Bowl ads were the topic of conversation long before kickoff. Create a message that sticks in people’s heads and gets them thinking about your business.

Break New Ground
Because the Super Bowl is such a universally watched event, it presents a truly unique marketing opportunity. Over the years, relatively unknown companies have gone out on a limb with Super Bowl ad time and reaped whirlwinds of success. Even if you’re not ready to drop a few million on one commercial, you can never go wrong looking for new and unique ways to market your business. Untapped marketing outlets can also mean untapped customers, and will also distinguish you from your competition.