Aug 18, 2011 Do You Buy Your Advertising... Like You Buy Gum?
By Sarah Ripley, Wizard of Ads Partner
Samantha: It was an impulse purchase!
Carrie: Gum is an impulse purchase… this is more than gum!
- Samantha trying to justify her cosmetic chemical peel decision as an impulse purchase she has on Sex and The City.
Carrie has perfectly expressed the reasonable expectation of an “impulse purchase”. Much the same can be said about impulse purchases with your business’s marketing - they should be strictly reserved for stands in grocery shopping lines.
There are many scams, tricks, sneaky tactics, dodgy offers, (you get it…), out there – victims often being new businesses. “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”.
The issue you face when making an impulse purchase is that you aren’t efficiently thinking about the resulting consequences of this decision, resulting in actions that aren’t working towards the needs of your business as well as wasting a huge amount of money… You need to ask yourself every time, “Is this the highest and best use of my money?”
Sales reps use a lot of tactics in order to sell you something. Some of the common ones include:
Offering “free” editorial with your print Ad purchase, therefore making the “package” more appealing. It can be appealing to have the opportunity to write more about your business, but be warned – the publication usually will have no obligation to print your editorial exactly as you have supplied and may change if they wish. You haven’t paid for the editorial space so it leaves the door of your business wide open.
The allure of “distress rates” which are the rates that are discounted at the 11th hour just before the publication needs to go to print, whereby spaces need to be filled and therefore prices cut. The main issue that stems from this is you will most likely not have sufficient time to produce a well-structured message and attractive Ad, therefore you are really just placing an Ad for the sake of it.
With broadcast media, (i.e. radio and TV), bundling a schedule with a lot of bonuses. Bonus spots are not paid for by you; therefore the station has no obligation to actually run them. They are the push up bras of the broadcasting world – FILLERS that are all for show – used to make things look bigger, better, and more attractive but when it’s time for action, they seem to disappear… Also, bonus spots cannot be scheduled to the time slots/shows as paid spots can – they can play at any time and therefore you aren’t getting the consistency and repetition required for effective advertising.
Advising you “your competitors are doing it”. This is an all time pet hate tactic used by reps which comes back to the old adage your Mum would have said to you, “If little Jimmy was going to jump off a bridge, would you?” Just because your competitors are, doesn’t mean you should or have to. And being in the same places as your competitors can often work AGAINST you.
If you don’t have an effective marketing message and strategy the above sales rep tactics will cause you to make impulse purchases. The result being, more wasted marketing dollars.
So, keep impulse purchases for the grocery store and out of your business – even if it does sound amazing, as chances are, your impulses will stifle your business’s growth.
Reader Comments (2)
A couple of thoughts. Yes bonus ads are just that. Bonus. However, if you advise the station they will not be paid unless all ads, paid for and bonus, run as promised. Your paid schedule hits those you want to target. The bonus is filler, hitting a few of your customers, but many of your non customers, who may be a customer someday. It is name exposure and helps build top of mind awareness. It is contingent on YOU and your REP to watch where the bonus fall and work at getting the best times available.
As far as last minute print deals, you're assuming again that a business does NO print advertising. If you have or are doing print, then you should have one or two messages at hand that can be resized. Again it's more important what print publication you're using. Location, Location, Location.
Yes agreed regarding your thoughts on bonus spots, however my point was not regarding the use of, effectiveness, or logistics in running bonus spots, but for business owners to be aware of how bonus spots are shown to make a schedule more attractive.
Also - effective advertising doesn't look at "targeting" people as such. Rather - talking to the same people at the same time on the same days, so that when their need arises, the business they have heard consistently for the past x amount of time is top of mind. Bonus spots will only potentially attract a buyer who is in the market right there and then when they hear the Ad, and doesn't have other businesses that are top of mind. Therefore, doesn't effectively contribute to the advertising strategy as paid, consistent spots do.
Regarding print advertising - I believe that even if you ARE using print advertising in your campaign, that last minute deals are still not a good idea. The message should come first, the media/mode in which to deliver that message should come second. The problem that exists with last minute deals, is that it makes you scramble to put together wording/an Ad or resize a current one. This kind of rushed media before message action usually results in a half-assed Ad and spending money that is probably better spent on something else.