If the idea of advertising intimidates you, then you are not alone. For many business owners and marketing professionals it takes a leap of faith to invest in advertising... especially when money is tight.
As a result, advertising often becomes an easy target for budget cuts. Unfortunately, cutting advertising in order to save money makes as much sense as treating hunger by eating less. Your marketing - and advertising - are the source of new and repeat business.
Happily, there are easy ways to cut your advertising spending without shutting off the spigot to new business. In most cases, these cost-cutting techniques will actually raise the profits you make from every advertising dollar you spend.
Using these techniques will allow you to have your cake, and eat it too. While your competition scrambles to cut their advertising budgets, you will be laughing all the way to the bank. Customers that normally would have ended up buying from your competition will instead become eager customers for your business. |
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Cost-Cutting Secret #1: Ask
The Bible famously asserts, “Ask, and ye shall receive.”
Even so, surprisingly few marketers ever bother to so much as ask for a discount when buying advertising space. You, however, know better.
The next time you buy advertising space, be sure to ask for a discount. Most publishers will cheerfully oblige you, especially if you are a first-time customer. Indeed, the more your competition cuts their advertising, the more publishers will scramble to win your business.
After asking for a discount, be sure to request the standard 15% advertising agency markdown as well. If you provide a pre-made quality advertisement that is ready to be printed, publications will happily extend this offer to you if you ask for it specifically.
Finally, be sure to ask the publisher if they have any remnant space available for you to use. Often, as a new issue of a magazine or newspaper goes to print, publishers find themselves with unexpected blank space that they need to fill – quickly. Even magazines such as TIME and Newsweek regularly cope with remnant space that they need to fill.
By simply asking about remnant space, you can often secure fantastic deals if your timing is right. I personally have seen clients regularly save 60-70% on their advertising by timing their advertising with publishers’ remnant space needs.
Cost-Cutting Secret #2: Make Your Ads as Persuasive as Possible
The more effective your advertising becomes at attracting new customers, the more money you will make from your investment.
Therefore, it makes sense to ensure that your ad is as persuasive as possible before buying space for it.
One of the worst mistakes advertisers make is to rely on the magazine or newspaper publisher to design the advertisement for them. Most often, a low-wage graphic artist will end up with the crucial job of creating your ad. Don’t let this happen to you.
Designers are trained to design visually appealing ads. Sadly, most graphic designers know next to nothing about how to actually write an advertisement that translates into a flood of sales for you. The question is: would you rather have a beautiful ad, or one that successfully persuades readers to become buyers?
A well-designed and persuasive ad can be used again and again, sometimes for years. Such a successful ad will bring you a torrent of profits, and dramatically improve the profitability of your advertising.
Therefore, it pays to invest more upfront to design a powerful ad. Such an expertly-designed ad can pay for itself each and every time you use it – week after week, month after month.
Expert copywriters and professional marketing consultants will often write and design superior ads that pay for themselves in virtually no time flat. These professionals often have graphic designers working for them, whom they personally direct to produce an eye-catching and persuasive advertisement that produces results.
Cost-Cutting Secret #3: Avoid Costly Commitments That You Will Probably Regret
The single most crucial aspect in an advertisement’s success is the media in which it appears. In other words, your selection of the right magazine, publication, or location for your advertisement will make or break its success more than any other factor.
Anytime you find yourself about to advertise in a new publication, keep the above statement in mind. Often, you may find yourself tempted to sign long advertising contracts in order to save money on each ad you purchase.
Doing so only raises your risk with very little to show for it. Advertising in untested publications is far more risky than advertising in media that has proven successful in the past.
Therefore, at least initially, you will find that you get the best results by buying no more than one or two ads in a wider range of publications. The alternative - signing a long-term advertising contract in a single publication - will only make you hostage for months to a publication that isn’t delivering sales, should your first ad flop.
By trying out a wide range of publications (in effect, taking an intelligent shotgun approach), you will quickly discover which ones deliver the best results. At that point, you can confidently commit to a longer-term contract with the profitable publications.
The result will be less time and money spent trying out media that doesn’t work… allowing you to focus your resources on the winners.
Daniel Lorente is the author of How To Prosper in the Coming Recession and The Unfair Advantage Guide to Attracting All The Customers You Can Handle. President of the Aphelion Marketing Institute, he gives seminars and publishes Internet Sales Review magazine for professionals across the world. Daniel Lorente also speaks at conferences and coaches executives on becoming more persuasive.
Daniel can be reached at 1-800-440-8057, or by e-mail at daniel@aphelionmarketing.com.
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