Now then; here’s another unlikely facet to my personality. I have a love of horror movies. So does my friend Claire – about once a month of a boring evening we are likely to be found on a sofa with a bottle of something red; glued to a horror classic.
So, last week, we were watching a horror movie, on a horror channel, at around 2am. I can’t remember the channel, but there was an ad-break. And lo and behold: the first ad was for a ‘Playskool’ brand toy for children.
Now, I am prepared to believe that there are mums and dads up at 2am – after all, kids can keep you up all night and day. I am also prepared to believe that there are mums and dads who like horror movies – blood’n'gore and parenting aren’t completely mutually exclusive.
But you can’t tell me that a 2am horror film offers a remotely useful response compared to “In the Night Garden” (I have a lot of godchildren – I have learned a lot about children’s programmes recently…). It seems to me that Playskool have been sold a pup.
All of which made me wonder: what does a business get for the effort of advertising? Not many small businesses can afford to advertise on TV; but the rules of advertising in general broadly remain the same. Here is what little I know.
- Never pay ratecard: Whatever the official cost of advertising in your local newspaper, trade press etc. never, never, ever pay the full quoted price. Advertising sales is like buying a car: always open to negotiation.
- Creative is separate to buying: Since the dawn of advertising, the creative bit has always (rightly) been separated from the buying bit. Designing an ad which suits your needs is very different to knowing where to put it for maximum value and response. Feel free to get your ad designed by someone you choose – rather than e.g. the in-house creative team of the publication in which you want to advertise.
- Push for position: It’s your right to try to get the best value you can for your money. For example, I think it’s bonkers that people pay a fortune for a double-page spread in a newspaper. Readers flip straight over DPSs because there’s nothing else to read. Similarly, publications rightly charge more for certain positions (like inside front cover) which they know attract a higher response. So, in your negotiation foir print placement, push for better positioning: try asking for one of these (very few of which carry ‘official’ extra pricing:
- Guaranteed not next to another advertisement
- Next to appropriate article
- First 20% of publication
- Centre pages
- Top-left positioning
- If it doesn’t work, don’t try again! Advertising either works, or it doesn’t. Salespeople are trained to try to get you to sign up for longer periods. This is rubbish. If your ad doesn’t yield results at all, don’t throw good money after bad. Spend your budget somewhere else.
- It’s a numbers game. Advertising is about numbers- how many people you reach who might be interested in what you’re offering. And that’s it. Demand circulation numbers for the duration of your advert; and make a cold-blooded judgement on its value.
Filed under: PR, marketing, sales | Tagged: advertising, business, buying, buying advertising, creative, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, marketing, ratecard, run a business, start a business
