It is that time of year again. With the sending of my July invoices to clients, I spend time reflecting on the first half of the year and what we have accomplished.
Has our campaign been effective? If not, what part of the project wasn’t up to par? How can we modify it for the second half of the year to boost visibility, revenue and branding?
A good example of this is a radio sponsorship we purchased. It was bought by the marketing manager in an effort to boost sales to a certain slice of the demographics-in this case, union workers. He listened to a morning show with two male personalities that straddled the border between Howard Stern and your 12 year old nephew. Highly rated in the weekly cum, it was worth a try. We made the effort to get these guys to embrace our product, medical supplies, but to no avail. Ideas like basket of “interesting” items, like adult diapers, ED devices, and such still didn’t crack these guys into embracing us and giving us any more than the standard, “this traffic update is brought to you by….”. Needless to say, it is time to cut bait.
When an advertiser has limited funds, it is imperative that you maximize spending with convergence marketing. In other words, don’t just throw money into commercials, get additional perks with your spending. Whether it is the form of “live reads” or appearances, anything to add texture to a straight advertising buy will give you more depth of budget. Don’t be afraid to ask for extras, remember; you can always go down, but rarely can you go back up.
Lesson #2, just because you listen, read or watch, doesn’t mean your potential or existing client does. Listen to your rep, read the trades, understand what you are buying. It all goes back to understanding who you are and what you do. Self evaluation is a necessary and key component of running a successful business.
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