Lets Talk

That was one of the good questions the writer asked. She was doing an article on the advertising agency business; and I was one of her sources. The answer was simple; I didn’t need to give it much thought.

Recognize the problem

Way back when I started the business twenty plus years ago, I recognized client retention was a huge problem in the advertising industry. I gave it a lot of thought then knowing that client retention was the lifeblood of every business. The statistics has since got much worse.  (Today, the average client/ agency relationship is about thirteen months.)

More research

Finally, my big secret revealed. It was simple, just two words. Learn fast. After we knew we had won the business we did even more research. We read about the industry, the completion, our new clients back history. You name it we read it. Unofficially, the theory was we would learn so much so quickly. They couldn’t afford to fire us. Besides, imagine what a pain in the buttocks it is to train someone
all over again.

It helped us

Make the learning curve really, really short. Do great work and provide outrageous service.
You’ll be amazed how your client retention rates soar. Combined with a little luck, it helped us keep clients over ten years on average.

It is a well known fact; advertising is an expensive investment in any business.

You need to maximize the dollars in your ad budget. Most magazine reps can

show you the larger the ad space (size of your ad) in their publication, the greater

the lead generation. So a two-page, four color ad might theoretically generate 300 inquires

vs. a small fractional 1/3 of a page ad, may only generate 25, 30 inquires or even less.

That seems to make sense doesn’t it?  Occasionally a smaller ad can “out pull” a bigger ad.

But, that is a rare circumstance some people might even consider it just plain luck.

What can an advertiser do especially if they have a modest budget? I am glad you asked.

Here are three media placement options to consider:

1)      Buy a “junior page” you’ll own the space because in most cases they surround that ad with editorial copy (note you will need to edit the copy not just reduce it down to a 7” X 10” format) from the original 11” X 14” tabloid size.

2)      Take two horizontal half page ads, left and right respectively. Negotiate hard to have your editorial copy (press release) above your “junior spread”

3)      This is a bit “old school” as the younger folks like to say. But trust me it does work.
Create three 1/3 square ads. Place in consecutive lower right pages, like 6, 8, and 10.

If it works you will be a hero! If it doesn’t, oh what the heck at least you tried
something new and stepped out of your comfort zone.

My guess is that most people can name maybe five or six at best. Last week,
I posted an article in reference to making a prediction about “will print media survive”
Below is a list of the top ten papers, I thought it would be interesting to see what happens to
the big boys over the next six to twelve months. I made my prediction, what is yours?
The order below starts with the highest circulation.

The Wall Street Journal
USA Today
New York Times
New York Daily News
The Los Angeles Times
San Jose Mercury News
The New York Post
The Washington Post
Chicago Tribune
Dallas Morning News

This information was confirmed by 24/7wallst.com. Please visit that site for more detailed information about circulation, financial stability and editor’s predictions for survival.

The ongoing conversation in advertising is: “will print media survive”.

It is no secret, newspapers, magazines anything in print is getting thinner

by the issue. Most people blame it on the Internet; I think that’s a fair assessment.

But, I also don’t think newspapers will become extinct either.

The delivery of the form will change, it has too. Call it Darwinian if you like.

Ironically, I see newspapers going back to their original presentation. One sheet

(maybe?  11” X 14” in size) with some bold headlines in different point sizes,

and fonts, to make them visually exciting. After these attractive headlines, a one or

two sentence summary of the article with the option to read the full article on line.

The major difference is the information/news is preselected by the individual.

Does this sound familiar? It should. News aggregators do it online with great success.

However, old habits die hard. (Traditional newspapers) The population is aging andreading online is a pain. Recycling paper is an issue; Newspapers are in trouble financially, every other week a new one closes. We’ll see soon how this story unfolds.

Over the last 25 years, I have talked to a lot of successful people in advertising.

Some of the positions and titles they held varied considerably from Executive Vice-President of

Advertising World-Wide, Account-Supervisors at advertising agencies, Media Reps and even

Chief Marketing Officers.

Healthy dose

In retrospect, there was one common personality trait that stood out among this assorted and

collective group.  Most if not all; of these folks shared a very healthy dose of (PMA)

“Positive Mental Attitude” with rare exception. So, I started to wonder are these people putting

me on or faking it? The more I thought about it, I concluded absolutely not. It is really hard to

fake enthusiasm unless you are one heck of an actor and everyone can’t be that good at acting.

Extending my PMA observations beyond advertising people, I was thinking what an impact this

has on improving your life and the people around you.

Challenges vs. Problems

No more viewing events from the dark-side, no more pessimistic thinking, less worrying

about issues (you can’t change anyway). Just imagine how a real attitude adjustment

changes the way you see issues. Problems are seen as challenges looking for answers.

Best of all, PMA is contagious it affects everyone around you with positive vibrations!

This is the biggest piece of business that you have ever won. It is also how small businesses

“get to the next level”. So, after all the celebrating, high fiving and accolades to your staff

you are thinking. What do I do now?

Urgent meeting

You grab your new business guy and his team together quickly.

You have no time to waste. You are on a roll. The momentum is sky high. However, the

number one reason for this urgent meeting is to prepare yourself. Not for how you are

going to handle this new account. Hopefully, you have sorted that out already.

It is reality

“Prepare Yourself” to find another piece of business just as large to insulate yourself. If this

new account is 40, 50 or even 60% of your total gross volume. You could be in trouble at

anytime when/if you lose this business. Sounds a bit pessimistic I know. But it is not, it is reality.

S___ happens

Mergers, acquisitions, client staff changes and even bankruptcy,

I have seen it happen .

Thank goodness it never happened at my agency. Besides, just

imagine if you get another huge account, what a great party it will be!

It should come as no surprise that this “NEW” form of advertising is internet based.

The last few years have seen ad dollars continually shifting to the internet, away from

traditional advertising. (TV, Radio, Direct response and Print) I suspect this trend will continue.

The ad folk’s call this style of advertising “Re-targeting” it is a simple process. However, it does pose

some potential risk for the advertiser. Why? Let me explain. Basically the process works as follows:

You respond to an email or visit a website; you express some interest in the product or service.

A cookie is now installed on your computer.  Then you go to another website, surprise there is a banner

display ad for the company that you showed interest in their products.

Now, this is the risk part I mentioned earlier. Some prospects, (potential customers) might see this as

an invasion of privacy. You just never know.

Marketing guru and genius author Seth Godin has talked about. Mass merchandising is dead. “It’s all

about targeted one to one advertising”  Seth is one smart cookie lets see if he is right