Never ask a barber if you need a haircut: How to avoid being taken advantage of with your advertising campaigns

Mar 8, 2013 | Advertising How-To, Direct Response Advertising

In over 20 years of managing advertising campaigns, it never ceases to amaze me how crazy the reasoning behind buying certain advertising packages are.

Here are some tips on how to avoid being taken advantage of:

#1.) Don’t buy a schedule that a media rep is selling. Buy what you need.

When I worked in media sales, I found that management was always coming up with “special packages” that utilized the space or spots that were not being sold and packaging the spots with more desirable space in order to get rid of the underperforming inventory.

This typically was never in the clients’ best interest. And I would never sell them. Because it was the ad space no smart buyers wanted. But they would always have cool names to make the advertiser want to buy. “March Madness Million Spot Package,” “Holiday Special,” “The One Day Sale.” Be careful of these packages. They look good on paper. But most often times, they are not worth the paper (or email) they are printed on.

#2.) Put your ads where your customers are–not where you want to see them.

“I’m paying for the spots so I want to see them.” “I like this show, so can we put my spots there?” “My wife loves this program…how about we place some of our ads there?” If you don’t make up the majority of your target customer base then it’s quite possible you are digesting media in a different way. Be careful to limit your ad dollar waste by placing your message before your core customer base. You will get a better return on investment.

#3.) Determine your desired outcome before you start. If you know the goal you have in mind before you start your campaign, then you’ll know if you achieved it or not. It’s even more effective to have the media outlets on board helping you achieve your goal. Don’t let someone just sell you spots, space, clicks or impressions. You will lose every time. Go into your campaign knowing what you want out of it. Number of visits to your site, number of calls, leads, responses, foot traffic… These are the targets you’ll want to know before your spend a penny.

How to Make Your Advertising Pay for Itself

Feb 20, 2013 | Advertising How-To, Direct Response Advertising

Want to become an advertising superhero and make your advertising actually become a revenue stream vs. an expense?

Here are four steps to accomplish that:

1. Understand your sales system. Ask yourself, “How do we convert leads into sales most effectively? Is it online? Over the phone? In person? A certain day of week or time of day? What is the conversion ratio from each? Which one is easier to convert?”
2. Once you know when and how you generate sales effectively, now you can make your advertising match your sales strengths. TV, Radio, Online, Mobile, Pay Per Click, Pay Per Lead, Newspaper, Magazine, Inserts: Each one has strengths and weaknesses. You need to make sure your advertising mix matches your strength in closing sales. A good advertising agency will help guide you here.
3. Develop a conversion ratio so you can define your media effectiveness ratio. Dig into your sales data. Figure out how many prospects you have to engage to generate a sale. Then write down how much revenue an avg. sale generates. For example, if you close three sales out of 10 leads, then your conversion ratio is 30%. If you generate $1,000 on avg. per sale, then your revenue is $3,000 for every 10 leads or responses your advertising generates.
4. Media Effectiveness Ratio. To discover your Media Effectiveness Ratio, look at your conversion and revenue numbers. From the example above: If you can drive a qualified lead or response for $100 each, and you generate 10 responses from every $1,000 you invest, then you know on average you can create $3,000 in revenue. Your Media Effectiveness Ratio is 3 to 1 with these numbers. And these are the numbers you need to know to make your advertising a revenue stream.