Text Ad Extreme

I get a ton of email asking about newspaper advertising. First and foremost, people want to know if the growth and popularity of the Internet and other forms of “new” media have rendered newspapers obsolete as an effective advertising medium. And to that I say, no way! Newspapers are alive and well, and as effective as ever! If they weren’t, advertisers (of all shapes and sizes) wouldn’t continue to throw billions of dollars at them every year! Newspapers – local and national – will always be there. They’re not going anywhere, no matter how big the Internet gets or how many forms of “new media” are introduced. They’ve stood the test of time – through radio, TV and the Internet — and they’ll always be a great place to advertise, provided your target market is within the newspaper’s demographic.

Next, people are always asking for advice on newspaper advertising. They want to know the best newspapers to advertise in, the best times to advertise, the best size ads to use, what colors work best, what to say, how to say it, etc. For those people, I’ve put together this list of my best newspaper advertising “secrets.” (Fourteen to be exact.)

Of course, these aren’t really “secrets” – this advice has been around for years. Unlike the Internet and other forms of “new media” which seem to change every day (creating a constant need for bigger and better marketing strategies), newspaper advertising hasn’t changed much in the past 25 years, meaning the tips and techniques that follow have proven themselves to work over and over again. Time-tested and proven – the best kind of advice!

Here we go:

Tip #1: Consistency is key in newspaper advertising. Whether you’re interested in community, local or national newspaper advertising, always think in terms of using it consistently no less than once a week.

Tip #2: Certain days work better than others for certain types of advertising. Generally, the best day to run a newspaper ad is Sunday. That’s when most people spend the most time reading the paper. Let’s take a look at the other days:

Monday is good if your audience is primarily men all weekend sports are usually summarized on Monday.

Tuesday and Sunday are great days for classified ads, especially financial or business related classified ads.

Wednesday and Thursday are good days if those are the food or health days in your paper, and yours is a food or health related offering.

Friday is a good day if your business picks up on the weekends restaurants, bars, nightclubs, some retailers, concert venues, farmer’s markets.

Saturday is good because fewer advertisers use the Saturday edition, thinking it’s a bad day for readership. This means less competition for your prospects attention and money

Tip #3: Positioning your ad. To gain maximum exposure, request that your ad run in the main news section of the paper, as far forward as possible. Traditionally, you were told to always ask for a right-hand page, but recent studies have shown it doesn’t really make a difference. Half the people read the newspaper front to back, the other half, back to front. You should, however, request that your ad be positioned above the fold.

Tip #4: Dominating a page, without paying for it. To dominate a page in the newspaper, which is usually 8 columns wide by twenty-two inches high, design an ad that is five columns wide and twelve or more inches high. This is proven to have the same affect as a full-page ad, at a much lower cost.

Tip #5: Use color. You should also inquire about adding one color. The use of just one color, any color, can dramatically increase your “net exposure” (what I call the number of people who actually read your ad) and nearly double your response rate.

Tip #6: Whatever you do, don t let the newspaper people design your ad for you. Have your ad professionally designed, otherwise it will look like every other ad in the paper. (I once worked in a newspaper ad department, believe me, I know!) Be sure the designer has experience in newspaper ads, too. You want your ad to reproduce properly, which means it may need a certain line-screen. Also, stay away from reverse-type white type against a black background. Keep your type clear; your headline bold.

Tip #7: Make your ad newsworthy. People read newspapers to get the news, so try to make your ad as newsworthy as possible. If your ad is small, give it a distinctive border so it creates a visual identity for your ads.

Tip #8: You’re paying for that space – use it! Be sure to give your prospects enough information to buy what you’re selling. And don’t fall into the trap of revering white space because it looks good. You’re paying for every square inch of that ad – use it. Your ads should win sales, not design awards.

Tip #9: Test, test, test! If you’re just getting started in newspaper advertising, don’t settle on just one newspaper. Test your ad in the various newspapers available to your market to figure out which one works best. Once you’ve figured out which newspapers are read (the most) by your prospects, stick with them.

Tip #10: Don’t expect it to work overnight. CARDINAL RULE: Don’t expect newspaper advertising to work instantly! (This takes us back to Tip #1: Consistency is key.) Unless you make a time-sensitive offer such as a free gift for stopping by before a certain date, or offer a discount coupon with an expiration date, don’t expect a stampede of customers through your door the day you run your ad. It won’t happen. Never does.

Tip #11: Use “tracking devices” to measure ad performance. A “tracking device” is any element you can include in your advertising that makes it easier to measure that ad’s effectiveness. Adding a number code or color code to your coupons is a good example of a “tracking device.” This will make them easier to track if you’re using more than one newspaper or advertising on different days. You want to know which coupons came from where, when, and how many. That way, you’ll know which newspapers work the best for you, and on which days, and even which headlines work best for those papers on those days. Get it?

Tip #12: The “big” newspapers aren’t as expensive as you think. If you’re not happy with your local newspaper, or you’d like to hit a larger audience than just your town, look into advertising in the regional editions of USA Today, The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal, if your prospects read them. These regional editions, while more expensive to advertise in that your local newspaper, are much less expensive to advertise in than the national editions. (If you’re a local or regional business, you should NEVER advertise in the national edition. I don’t care what the ad rep tells you, don’t waste your money.)

Tip #13: The first thing people will see in your ad is your headline. This should entice the reader into wanting to learn more. I always INSIST that a headline make a meaningful or fascinating statement of benefit – or an outright offer – to the reader. For instance, “Get Your Tax Refund Today!” or “Professional Tax Preparation Only $10” are much better headlines than “Bob Jones Tax Service.” That’s pretty obvious, I know, but I can’t tell you how many people put the name of their business or product or service or worse yet, some totally worthless copy, in place of a headline and then hide the meaningful, fascinating stuff in the copy. It’s the biggest mistake in advertising! Put your main benefit or offer in the headline (and/or subheading) so even those who don’t read the entire ad will get the main point.

Tip #14: Next, people will see the visual, any subheadings, and then your name. Adding a visual can TRIPLE the “net exposure” of your ad. More people will notice it if it has a photo or image, which means more, in turn, will RESPOND to it. A photo of yourself will add instant credibility. A product image is better than a logo. Even better is an image of your product or service being used. Let people see it in action. Let them see how good it looks, how good it fits or how good it works. Let them see the smile on the face of a person using it.

Even in this super-high-tech day and age, any businesses still rely on newspaper advertising as their primary marketing tool. The key to success with it is to know the “tricks of the trade” I just revealed to you and to stick with it long enough for it to work its magic. (Read: Consistency is key.) The advertising graveyard is full of failed businesses that gave up on newspaper advertising before it had a chance to prove it’s effectiveness. If you’ve made up your mind to do it, whatever you do, DO IT, and don’t give up on it until it works. It will!

 

By: Phil Autelitano

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content

Media advertising is a multi million pound business and incorporates some of the highest paid executives in the salaried world.

It is always specifically targeted towards a particular audience with clever tricks to entice people to buy every product on the market. In fact, without media advertising, many products fall by the way side and are discontinued.

Most media vehicles make the bulk of their money through advertising and the success of a whole company can ride very heavily on this. You can be sure the most stressed individual in a company will be within the advertising personnel.

Without a doubt these days, TV is the biggest medium for advertising. Reaching into virtually every home in the world on a 24 hour basis, campaigns are run by various companies to sell their products and services.

Christmas time is the biggest seller and advertisers know full well the pressure that children put on their parents to have the latest toy or the latest electronic gadget. The parents that can afford all these things will often buy out of the guilt they feel for going out to work and parents in some communities feel pressure from each other to make sure their child has all the latest gizmos.

To this end, from September through to the end of December, TV advertising is aimed at children. It is also a very predictable form of media advertising. Straight after Christmas comes the adverts for the January sales, closely followed by holiday advertising.

At the same time, we are bombarded with advertisements for diet clubs and beauty products to help us recover from the festive season. However, TV as an advertising medium can also be very effective at reaching the widest audience for educational purposes and has often been used for health campaigns.

Magazines have a specific audience to target as they know the type of people that purchase their magazine. In fact, the last three pages of many women’s magazines are devoted to cosmetic surgery advertising.

Women’s magazines will be crammed with adverts for beauty products, plastic surgery and dietary supplements. It involves anything to make us look more youthful and more beautiful, depicted by beautiful women with huge eyes, eyelashes that should really require scaffolding for health and safety reasons and the flawless skin of a baby.

Men’s magazines are similar in that they appeal to the ego with promises of a better body, usually symbolised with a toned man sporting orange skin waxed to within an inch of his life. However, the man’s magazine will often have more lifestyle advertising, offering sports events and sports toys and gadgets for all his spare time.

Even children’s comics will contain a certain, though limited, amount of advertising.

Radio is another avenue for media advertising though not as widely used. People listening to radio will be interested in some of the advertising but attention span is usually short and too much advertising will cause a listener to change channels rather than buy the advertised product.

National newspapers devote approximately a third of their daily newspaper to advertising and can be quiet useful if you are looking for something specific. Each day will usually be targeted towards a specific type of advertising, whether it be financial, holidays, recruitment or classifieds.

Local newspapers, as well as local radio, are good mediums for advertising local events and companies. This is a relatively cheap way of advertising and reaching potential customers in your immediate area.

If you are looking for something in particular then specific publications are a good way to find the product or service you need, for example, gay and lesbian publications are a good place to look for recruitment because you can be sure of being placed with an employer who is not biased in any way.

In general, media advertising is to draw your attention to the products and services available. It also a way of convincing you that you need something when you don’t. It is an easy way of playing to people’s egos and convincing them that if they just bought this product they could look better, have a better lifestyle, be richer, be more popular etc etc.

Always make an informed decision of your own and do not be swayed by advertising techniques.



By: Catherine Harvey

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content

by Philip Yaffe

“I know that half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The problem is, I don’t know which half.”

This succinct resume of the advertiser’s dilemma is often attributed to John Wanamaker, the department store pioneer. Some people prefer to give the credit to Henry Ford, the automobile pioneer, or other favorite business giants. Whoever said it first, it is certain that it has been said thousand and thousand of times since.

The significance of the observation is nothing short of astounding. These are people whose business is investing and harvesting financial assets, yet when it comes to advertising, they freely admit to wasting at least half of their money!

But the observation can be turned on its head. Viewed from this perspective, it means that these same extremely clever and resourceful marketers believe that the power of advertising is so great, even at only 50% effectiveness they still get their money’s worth. This is equally astounding!

The value of advertising can most easily be seen with mass marketed products. For example, a breakfast cereal launches a major advertising campaign; within a few days to weeks the sales figures will reflect the impact of the campaign. With technical and industrial products, the picture is not quite so clear. Few people buy a car or a piece of industrial equipment on impulse. They build up to it over a long period of time, so that the cause-and-effect relationship between advertising and sales is virtually impossible to evaluate.

Nevertheless, advertising is indispensable. So the question is, can you construct advertising campaigns that will assure the best return on investment (ROI), even when that return cannot be directly measured?

The answer is both yes and no. It is “no” if you believe that advertising by nature is more of an art than a science. It is “yes” if you believe that advertising is a combination of both art and science.

It is certainly true that advertising has a major “art” component, i.e. that people who have a “feel” for it are likely to produce better, more effective advertising than people who don’t. Unfortunately, this verity has led to the false conclusion that advertising is predominantly art, i.e. a matter of taste.

When advertising is viewed as largely a question of personal preference, the rational component of the exercise takes second importance. Worse, it often degenerates into a kind of pseudoscience of rules and regulations with no scientific justification:

– Be positive: no one likes negative advertising

– Avoid simple, straightforward headlines; headlines should “tease” readers into the advert

– Use big, bold visuals; people are impressed by pictures

– Show the solution, not the problem: this is reassuring to potential buyers

– Never write more than 15 – 20 words of body copy; no one reads body copy anyhow

– Make payoff lines (slogans) clever and memorable, not explicit and to the point

The summation seems to be: Advertising is entertainment. If you can attract attention and give a show, then you will sell.

One writer on the subject bluntly stated: “Advertising consists of first hitting people in the face with a pie, then delivering your message.” It is of course true that you must attract attention before you can deliver your message. But just how seriously is anyone like to take your message while he is wiping whipped cream off his face?

Advertising may have elements of show business. But if it is only show business, it will fail. On the other hand, if we are more detached in our analysis — i.e. if we put the art of advertising and the science of advertising into better balance — we many learn some valuable lesions. And gain some valuable commercial leverage.

I have done considerably work in pharmaceutical marketing. Doctors are perhaps the most difficult targets in the world, because what you “sell” them is ideas and information, which later on they may or may not turn into prescriptions for their patients. Thus, while the following examples relate specifically to doctors and medicines, the underlying principles are universally valid. Throughout this article, wherever you see the word “doctor”, mentally substitute the name of your potential technical and/or industrial customer and see how well these ideas fit.

Facing the Facts

David Ogilvy, one of the most highly regarded gurus of consumer advertising, asserts: “Very few advertisements contain enough factual information to sell the product. There is a ludicrous tradition among copywriters that consumers aren’t interested in facts. Northing could be farther from the truth.”

If this contention is valid for housewives, how much more valid must it be for doctors!

Medicine is a serious business. When a doctor reads a medical journal, he is looking for medical information. Otherwise, he would be reading something else. It therefore follows: Advertising in medical journals that gives real medical information is likely to attract more attention and achieve better results than advertising which doesn’t.

If this seems self-evident, medical journals bear witness to the opposite. The majority of adverts tend to fall into two categories:

1. Lots of words, but little real information (lack of a focused message).

2. A clever headline, a pleasing picture—and no information at all.

The excuse for the first kind of advert is often: “It is a new product; we need to create a personality for it.” It is hard to imagine how an empty personality, based solely on errant prose, will result in positive promotion.

The excuse for the second category of adverts often is: “It is a well known product; this is simply a reminder advert.” Certainly it makes sense to remind the doctor that a medicine exists. But it makes even more sense to remind him of why he is using it, if he is already using it. Or why he should be using it, if he isn’t.

The 80/20 Rule

The objection will now be raised: Doesn’t this “art + science” concept of advertising necessitate long body copy? Does it make sense to write long body copy when no one reads it anyhow?

Let’s examine this contention in reverse order.

For every 100 doctors who read the headline and look at the visual of an advert, let’s say only 20 will actually read the body. Does this represent an 80% wastage? Emphatically no.

The 80/20 rule is a fundamental tenet of technical and industrial marketing, i.e. in general 80% of sales come from 20% of customers. The same principle applies to advertising.

Readers who just look at the headline and visual, then turn the page, at that moment are not the real customers for the product. Those who remain to read the body copy are the real customers for the product. This is the ideal moment to tell them bout it, because this is when they want to know about it. Otherwise, they too are likely to turn the page and an excellent selling opportunity will be lost.

Body is important, in fact vital, because it is your only real chance to make the sale. But how long should that body copy be?

This is like asking how long is a piece of string. You don’t answer this question by counting the number of words. Rather, you consider the value of the words. The best guide is: If the body copy contains one word more than needed to deliver the message, it is probably too long; if it contains one word less than need to deliver the message, it is definitely too short, regardless of how many words are used!



Of course, it makes no sense to simply print the prescribing information. As Bill Bernbach, a legendary practitioner of consumer advertising, has written: “Be certain that your advertisement says something to the consumer; that it informs and renders a service. Then be certain that it says what it has to say in a way no one has ever said it before.”

Notice the balance in this advice.

First: “Be certain that your advertisement says something to the consumer.” This is advertising as a science. Determining what you want to say about your product and what you ought to say about it are two different things. This is why most good advertising starts with market research. And never lets anything go to press before it has been thoroughly tested.

Second: “Be certain that your advertisement says what it has to say in a way that no one has ever said it before.” This is advertising as an art.

How the advert expresses its message, both visually and verbally, can vary dramatically depending on who is saying it. The total impact the advert will achieve intimately depends on the talents of the art director and the copywriter, the so-called “creates” of the business.

The Use and Abuse of Creativity

Introducing the copywriter and art director into the discussion raises the vexing question of creativity in advertising.

“Creativity” is probably one of the most abused and misused words in English or any other language. As we have seen, some people think it means hitting people in the face with a pie. We have also seen the dangers of this approach. Surprising and shocking people in order to gain their attention can:

– Undermine the credibility of the serious message you are trying to deliver.

– Lead to rapid advertising “wear-out”. You can surprise and shock people only once; after that, you are likely to have no effect. Worse, you may have a negative effect!

Stripped of mythology, saying what you have to say in a way that it has never before been said simply means: Putting forward the essentials of the message in such a way that they cannot be ignored — on the first exposure and on subsequent exposures.

So much emphasis is placed on attracting attention and conveying a message on the first exposure (“pie in the face”), very little thought seems to be given to what will happen, if anything, on the second, third and subsequent exposures. This is the concept of “wear-out”; after how many exposures does the advert stop having any useful impact?

The concept of wear-out is closely allied to the idea of repetition. Unlike supermarket adverts, adverts for prescription pharmaceuticals seldom appear only once (“Buy now before supplies run out; Special discount prices, stock up now”). Instead, they usually run for at least several months, and often a year or longer.

True, few doctors read the same advert more than once, but they cannot help seeing it more than once. They will certainly see it much more often than they will see the pharmaceutical representative who visits them. Advertising is the most frequent and most consistent point of contact between the doctor and the company.

A truly efficient advert should have impact each and every time it is seen — whether it is read each time or not. This is why the fundamental structure is so important. And why it is well worth spending the time and energy to get it right, i.e. concept development not only for journal adverts, but also for brochures, mailings, oral presentations, symposia, etc.

How do you create advertising with such power and longevity?

In general, any advert that communicates the product name and main sell proposition in a flash should continue to work as long as the underlying strategy remains the same. The assumption is, each exposure — even if it is only as long as it takes to turn the page — reinforces previous impressions of the message in the journals, mailings, etc. Adverts that rely on “teaser” headlines or other indirect approaches are more problematical. It is far more likely that the doctor will perceive this kind of advertising as promotion rather than information, and will turn the page with no reinforcement of the selling message.

Courage and Conviction

A truly effective long-life advert may not always appear smashingly striking at first sight; however, if it is well constructed it will grow and gain strength over time. By contrast, an advert that is extremely striking at first sight — this being its major attribute — may in fact lose power over time. Sometimes overnight.

Developing advertisements that sell on first and subsequent exposures admits of no hard and fast rules. Some times it may mean an extremely factual advert that looks almost like editorial copy; other time it may be an advert with a highly emotional content. It all depends on the nature of the product; the nature of the market, and what ideas, true or false, are already in the doctor’s mind.

There is more to good technical and industrial advertising than meets the eye. Indeed, a superficial analysis is likely to be very misleading, with very expensive consequences. To properly evaluate an advertising campaign, it is necessary to know the underlying strategy and the objectives that strategy is designed to achieve.

By way of example, here are the descriptions of three advertising campaigns I produced when I was creative director of a specialized medical advertising agency. You may not fully understand the products, but look closely at the description of each advert.

1. Product: Vasodilator

Objective: Increase prescriptions by repositioning it as the first product of a new, more effective therapeutic class

Headline: “6 Actions on the Blood and the Vessels to Combat Claudication and its Premonitory Symptoms”

Visual: 6 symbols in the form of a rectangle representing the 6 modes of action

Body copy: factual, moderate length

2. Product: Benzodiazepine

Objective: Stabilize leadership position/market share in an anti-benzodiazepine marketing environment

Headline: “My Conditions for Prescribing an Anxiolytic to My Patients”

Visual: Intelligent, serious-looking general practitioner speaking the headline

Body copy: factual, short

3. Beta-2 mimetic bronchodilator

Objective: Maximize sales potential by overcoming market prejudice to using oral beta-2 mimetics in the treatment of nocturnal asthma

Headline: “Asthma: Night Is the Enemy”

Visual: Artist’s impression of the experience of a night-time asthma attack, painted by an asthmatic artist who actually suffers such attacks.

Body copy: factual; extremely short

At first glance the vasodilator and benzodiazepine adverts might appear uninspired, even banal. They are unlikely to win any awards for advertising “creativity”. On the other hand, the asthma advert is exactly the type that could win a creativity award.

Despite their superficial differences, fundamentally they are quire similar. All three adverts had very high awareness and credibility scores. One of the so-called “banal” adverts was so well received — and had such an impact on sales — that when we proposed a more “imaginative” version, the product manager, originally unconvinced by it, growled: “If you touch my advert, I will break your arm.”

Conclusion: All three adverts were extremely creative in the real sense of the word, because they:

1. Clearly reflected the nature of the product

2. Precisely addressed the needs of the market

3. Elicited the desired response (won prescriptions)

The serious advertiser would do well to bear this functional definition of creativity uppermost in mind.

It takes courage to reject an advertising campaign proposal that is striking, cute, funny, artistic, etc., in favor of one that doesn’t seem to possess these desirable characteristics. A so-called “unimaginative” campaign that clearly responds to the needs of the market and has the innate capacity to grow and develop (i.e. continue generating sales) is considerably more creative, in the true sense of the word, than one that flashes like a meteor, then dissipates its energy and loses impact before it has had a chance to do its job.

Philip Yaffe is a former writer with The Wall Street Journal and international marketing communication consultant. He now teaches courses in persuasive communication in Brussels, Belgium. Because his clients use English as a second or third language, his approach to writing and public speaking is somewhat different from other communication coaches. He is the author of In the “I” of the Storm: the Simple Secrets of Writing & Speaking (Almost) like a Professional, available from the publisher (storypublishers.be) and Amazon (amazon.com). Contact: phil.yaffe@yahoo.com, phil.yaffe@gmail.com



By: Philip Yaffe

About the Author:

Kansieo.com

  

Businesses around the world invest, or to be more precise, they spend, untold numbers of dollars to advertise, market and promote their products and services to make sales and gain new clients. In an economic downturn these expenditures may be reduced due to cost constraints and consumer reluctance to buy.

As an example it costs around $1,000usd for a small classified advertisement in the weekend editions of major USA newspapers, $2-3,000usd for a similar placement in monthly travel magazines.  Radio spots, from ‘cheap and nasty’ during the hours when nobody is really awake to prime time messages to thousands, the majority of whom may not be interested and many of the rest may just go to a competitor.  In effect, business advertisers may often pay for ‘lack of performance’.  Either the advertising copy was ineffective or the reach of the medium and quality of the audience was ineffective.

In other fields of endeavour we work, perform, produce and then get paid.  Why not in advertising? 

It may be the time to rethink the effectiveness of our advertising spend and to rethink who we spend it with, what we spend it on, when we should spend it, where we should spend it, why we are spending it, how we should spend it?  Or even, ‘if’ we should spend it.

In other words, how can we get more value from our advertising spend? Is there a better way?

The internet affords us all exceptional opportunities to showcase our wares but the same problem arises: how do small businesses let the world know about their own websites when contending with the major players who are always able to buy more  ‘googling’ stuff than they can?

As well as being approached by media reps from local to national newspapers and magazines, small businesses now get inundated with internet offers such as: ‘top 10 search engine rankings for your website;  50,000 hits guaranteed;  increased visits assured with our email programs to our double opt-in email clients.’ And so on and so forth. The emails arrive daily to inboxes everywhere.

Businesses do not want looky-loos clogging up their websites. They want committed buyers to review and compare their products to others.  They do not want to give their hard-earned money to advertisers who simply want to sell advertising space. They want advertising partners.

Businesses should be given the opportunity to work with a ‘pay for performance’ option for their own advertising spend. In other words, “work with me, perform with me, produce with me, get results with me and then bill me.”  The P4P partnership could generate more advertising revenue than the old system of  “just pay, shut up, wait and be thankful for what you get.”  Let’s consider a P4P arrangement where a percentage of sales is given to advertisers who produce sales. Many businesses might welcome such an opportunity to partner with forward-thinking advertisers. Just consider how much more advertising copy could be placed.

An example:

A business that operates websites that offer travel in over 70 countries and with products available to travellers in all countries.  This company needs to advertise in every country, in all traditional media and in all e-commerce media such as e-newsletters, ezines and websites plus tv, radio and of course the electronic social media. To do this would take an enormous budget, which is not available, but to do this on a P4P arrangement could lead to sales growth that could never be realized with the traditional methods.  There could be many similar businesses around the world that could also grow more quickly.  Advertisers who are willing to accept a radical change in their business practices by operating a P4P option could also benefit from the business growth of the thousands of global businesses that would embrace this innovative new concept.  Sharing the risk of both success and failure.  End of example.

The way we now advertise, market and promote business must change.  Advertisers should consider P4P and share the risk and the greater rewards for performance. The advertising industry could experience more business, more profits and lead global economic recovery.

More global businesses will readily accept a P4P partnership.  Businesses and advertisers can perform together and make better returns for both by sharing the risk and producing improved sales.  However, the P4P format should only be implemented when both parties agree that it could produce better incomes for both parties.  If advertisers consider that there would be no benefits for them with a P4P arrangement, the business has to also rethink their own advertising methods and lack of confidence of the advertiser for declining the arrangement.  A catch 22, but real world.

Although most businesses do not want window shoppers, looky-loos, timewasters, or those who unfortunately cannot afford to buy, they must also be aware that, in travel anyway, “today’s backpacker may be tomorrow’s luxury travel buyer” and should be nurtured and even developed as future customers.  A P4P partnership of media and business could develop improved campaigns leading to healthier long-term business growth for all partners.

A recent real case example for internet advertising is as follows:

An internet marketing company stating that they had ‘a list of 3,000,000 enthusiastic travellers’ recently approached a local business.  Before even asking for the cost of using their services the business owner switched the tactics by offering them the opportunity to send their message to this list over a period of months, but on a P4P basis (at their cost).  The business owner offered to pay them $10usd per sale (out of a $35 total sale).  Their comments, “we do not do business that way.” 

The retort from the business owner:  “if you are not prepared to try and get 1% (yes one percent) of your database to buy my offer (30,000 x $10 = earnings of $300k), it appears to me that you do not have any confidence in your own database, my offer, or my product, but you would take my money upfront even though you have no belief in the success of the mailing. This is not the way I want to do business and you are not the company I want to do business with.”

If advertisers believe that your advertisement will work for you why would they not want to earn a better income from a P4P arrangement?  Or do they really have an in-house ethical conflict between editorial and advertising departments?  If so, what are advertorials and the published press releases sent from public relations agencies?

Over the years all types of businesses have been convinced by all forms of media to advertise but rarely are they asked to assess the results of the advertisement.  Advertisers keep taking the money.  Businesses keep on doing the same thing because they have been convinced that they need to be seen and to “do it this way.”  Well, maybe it’s time for a change.

The present economic climate is causing stress and strife around the world. Advertisers could find that they have so much white space available forcing them to print thinner newspapers and to offer discounted rates to their recession-proof clients.  But what if these advertising agencies and media outlets started to work on a P4P basis with all types of businesses to create new partnerships of media and frontline operations from restaurants to who knows what?  A win for the media, a win for the businesses and a win for the buyers who stay informed and are kept aware of local, regional or international opportunities.  And maybe full staffing, thick papers and magazines, robust ezines and e-newsletters that will make us all feel more confident about the economy.

Not all situations will allow a p4p partnership but there are enough out there to reward all parties and all we need to do is develop simple operating systems to make this new way attractive and secure for all participants.

The business in the example above could operate on a P4P basis.  It could have a P4P arrangement with many different partners in many different countries at the same time. Any downside for the media partners would be minimized by their thorough understanding of the business services and products. They would know the wants and needs of the business and so be in a position to not just accept an advertisement but to be totally involved in the generation of leads and buyers.  All partners could get the maximum benefit from the opportunity because the only way to earn revenues is to produce results by better use of skills, creativity, contacts and advertising reach.

A simple method for internet businesses is for unique pages or URLs to be set up for each P4P operation so that accurate assessments can be made of the specific promotion and the fees based on the same statistics and buyers.   Another ‘comfort-zone’ action could be for the media P4P partner to collect the ‘gross takings’ and to remit the net after deductions, to the other partner.  Vouchers can be created giving all parties an audit trail.  Trust is paramount in P4P partnerships.

Many small businesses will survive and help save the global economies. Big business will continue heavy layoffs, cutbacks and corrections until the good times roll again, which could be a long way into the future.  Let’s take action now.

Small business together with Small Internet Media (e-newsletters, ezines) and other Smart Media can try new ways to pull us all out of the economic mire. If they seriously consider this new way of advertising, marketing and promotion ‘with’ their clients, not ‘for’ their clients, they can  “get going now, or they can sit back, take no risks, take no chances, ignore P4P opportunities, downsize, get laid off, change careers, move away or just keep doing the same old thing and stagnate.”

Thousands of businesses around the world would welcome approaches from all forms of media to advertise, market and promote within a P4P partnership arrangement. This could be a simple way to not only help business survival in the recession but will enable us to prepare for future growth.

We go to work, perform our duties, finish the job, produce results and then we get paid. Why then should we not expect to pay only for the ‘results’ of’ our advertising and not just ‘for’ advertising?

Imagine the global acceptance of P4P.  Businesses would be able to advertise anywhere and would never again have budgetary restrictions to advertise, market and promote sales. Media businesses would be getting new clients from places that they would never have considered and at the same time, helping their own clients to expand.   Why don’t we do it?

Just because; “We don’t do business that way” is unacceptable!

The positive side of an economic downturn is that new opportunities arise for creative and progressive entrepreneurs to start new ventures such as P4P advertising.  They are out there.



By: Anthony Francis

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content for WordPress

One of the most important parts of any business is advertising. It does not matter if you are working online or have a brick and mortar business, without advertising, no one will know about the goods or services you provide in your business. In fact, advertising cost is likely to be one of the most expensive items of your business in its early days when you are trying to draw people to your business.

By investing in advertising for your business, you also invest in future income. Certainly you can use some of the free online advertising methods but you gain more exposure for your business if you invest in some fee based advertising. In fact, some of the fee based classified ads offer many exceptional features compared to the basic features of the free packages. For instances, you may have bold ads, tags to draw people to your advertisement and much more when you pay for your advertisement.

The key to your success is reaching your target audience and you can only do that with effective advertising that is geared toward that target audience. You can pay thousands of dollars for advertising but that will nott mean anything if you do not reach your target audience. For example, if you are a distributor of snow blowers, you do not want to advertise to people in places that never have any snow. Your target audience for this type of product is people in areas where snow is imminent during certain times of the year.

Advertising to Alaska is wise use of your advertising budget while advertising to Hawaii is frivolous and wasteful. An important part of setting up your business is learning your target audience. For some products your target audience may change, especially if you distribute your products internationally. Other countries may be having summer during winter in other places. Its important for you to know these things so you can direct your advertising accordingly.

Some advertising methods are more effective than others, so you want to take the time to find out the most effective methods for your business. For a local business, the most effective method is likely to be newspaper advertising and direct mailing in the form of flyers and mail inserts that advertisers send to households in their areas. For an online business, it is unlikely classified advertisements online will be very effective.

For online businesses, a website that is optimized for SEO is your best tool along with direct emailing to those who have asked for information. In many cases, the method you use is by trial and error, so you want to be prepared to make use of more than one method of advertising. The most expensive form of advertising is probably advertising in the Yellow Pages but if you have a traditional business with a building, it’s a very good choice to make.



By: Obinna Heche

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content