Making Advertising Pay for Itself We%26apos;ve learned the old adage about %26quot;50 percent of all advertising is wasted%26quot; is wrong. Actually, the percentage is higher. From working with local and regional advertising clients, we%26apos;ve determined that at least 60 percent of a typical client%26apos;s advertising dollars are wasted because they have burned ad dollars in the wrong places, advertising to the wrong people, in the wrong vehicles, on the wrong days. Enough about the problem. Let%26apos;s talk solution. Let%26apos;s start with what an advertising budget really is: a small percentage of the gross sales of a company that is allocated to create more demand for even more sales. The ad budget is the %26quot;gas money%26quot; of a company. Without new customers, business soon will begin to stall. So we help clients redefine their ad budget to help them see how important it is to have the budget working at its highest level of performance. Otherwise, the client will be just another member of the 60 Percent Wasted Ad Budget Club. What we see most often are clients whose ad expenses are too high or too low in relation to the amount of sales volume. This red flag can be a symptom of a weakening plan; if so, it%26apos;s important to fix the advertising plan before they can expect to generate a return over the prior year. Our clients need three important things: Profitable advertising; measurable advertising; and effective advertising. It%26apos;s our job to help them find it. To begin, we often suggest a client write down the top 10 reasons a consumer would buy from his business to help the client (and us) see their business the way a consumer will. It%26apos;s a very simple process but an important step that many clients have never done. It%26apos;s said that a cash register ringing is the only true indicator of a successful advertising campaign. But ironically, when asked, buying consumers seldom credit a business%26apos;s ad plan as the reason they bought - which is truly exasperating to clients. That%26apos;s not to say the advertising was ineffective. It just means that at the time of sale, the consumer made a purchase based on features and benefits of the product or service. The newspaper ad, radio or TV commercial is very far back in the mind of the customer emotionally. They%26apos;ve moved past the advertising%26apos;s emotional impact and into their logical rationale to buy. We try to help make the client%26apos;s progression into an advertising campaign the most profitable, measurable and effective move they%26apos;ve ever made. If you need help with any of the items above, give us a call at 406-203-4200 and talk to us about your marketing plan. We can help you get on the web, write press releases, plan an event, plan and/or implement an advertising plan and more!
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