Rick is a good friend and my client. He has plumbing and air conditioning, as he has been in the past 20 years. Rick told me that every year he saw more and more money on their ads, and every year they form less answers: when he called me he was frustrated and unsure what to do about it. This guy is on an intellectual end and if you read this article you might be the same.
This has been happening:
The ad auction, which may be the magazine, magazine, business directory or other publications), tries to get as many businesses to advertise with them. . That's their goal. The more they enter, the more they do. Now if you're placing an ad, you want little competition (so you post an ad), but the AP wants more competition so that they get more money – this is a major conflicts of interest. The AP does not have the best interests in mind.
In response to this contest, AP's sales representatives advise you to make it bigger if you want to make the most of your ad and you need to advertise colors.
This is not always true; Indeed, if you continue to read you, you will find that it is often not true.
Of course there are more colors you have and the bigger the ad, the more they charge you. If you hear, "You see, the bigger the ad, the more companies you'll come with", you should monitor your BS screen. Remember, the more sales representatives you pay the more he / she does, and the more AP does. At this point, it is likely to plunge into those sales representatives, you do not have your interests to good, does it?
This is a price war and the casualties are small business owners: Every year, companies say they need to spend more on bigger and more colorful ads to create the same number of calls and sales as they did at last year. Business owners who are confused and frustrated, end up paying more and raising the bar, so that each year prices rise. This is the fierce cycle that my client Rick has been stuck in, again, you might find this too.
What about the "free" graphic design that the offer offers – this is very useful, right?
Goodness no. In fact, Rick told me that the process was a nightmare and he's just one of thousands. Remember, one of the main goals of marketing and advertising is to help you stand out of the crowd. Keep in mind that AP does not matter if you stand out or if you get a high return on your investment – only buying a bigger and more colorful ad.
To prevent a larger advertisement they charge you, AP offers you the gift "gift" back so the cost does not seem so unrealistic. What they do is pay cheap produce graphic artists to display your ad as fast as possible – like assembly. In the end, the AP will pay about $ 25- $ 125 to design your ad, comparing it to the increase he or she paid for the ad. Does not sound like such a good deal does it?
For many years, several owners of the company, who originally thought it was the first deal, demanded: "I had to spend some annoying time telling his artist every little thing … it was almost like me was designing advertise me and he was just pushing the buttons ". Finally, the owners of the company did not get an advertisement they wanted, they did not get the results they wanted and many of them are still steaming in the whole situation.
What is the solution?
Well, the owner of our company, Rick has been around the block before and he is a good boy. He became tired of pumping money into a bigger advertisement, he became clever and started focusing on quality and not quantity.
Instead of looking like any other ad in the phone book, Rick decides to invest his money in having a better and effective advertisement designed – smart motion
Hmm, better and bigger, can it work? Totally.
Make sure you understand this, it's important: what you say in your ad and how you say it's more important than the size of your ad. Do not be fooled into thinking that your ad can only bring in more calls and customers if you make it bigger and more colorful.
When developing any kind of advertising for your business, start working with someone who has your best focus on your heart. As we have already discovered, it's probably not an AP or salesman who works for them. Instead of hiring a designer who has a track record of designing effective ads that always make their customers money.
Make sure you work only with designers who have proven track record of success, have written and sound stories and guaranteed all their work. Now you have someone working for you who is not only a certified expert, but they should have the same goals that you do – to get the most out of your ad.