WHICH HALF OF YOUR BUDGET IS WASTED
“I know that half of my advertising dollars are wasted … I just don’t know which half.” Early on during my first Advertising course at The University of Texas, I learned these immortal words of John Wanamaker known as the father of the modern department store and modern advertising.
In the ten years since I opened my agency, I have had a number of clients who first came to me months or years after beginning a television and or radio advertising campaign asking for my help. Whether or not they considered their ad campaigns to be at least to some degree successful, I frequently found that a significant portion of their media budgets were misallocated.
When this was the case I adjusted the budgets to make them more effective–and in many cases saved the clients significant amounts of money.
RARELY ARE MEDIA SALES REPS EXPERTS IN MEDIA PLACEMENT.
There are a number of ways an advertising budget can get out of whack. For example, relying solely on media sales reps recommendations on what to buy can be an issue because only in rare instances are media sales reps experts in media placement. Sales reps are experts–or should be–in how to claim the largest share of a client’s budget. If an advertiser has an agency buyer who has been handling the account for a while the buyer may have developed biases or habits that are no longer in the absolute best interests of the their client.
It’s essential to thoughtfully review your advertising media plan on a regular basis. At least quarterly if not monthly. Further, I believe it’s a good practice to have an annual review conducted by an expert who has not been directly involved in the current plan.
If you’re interested having an expert review your current advertising campaign, let me know. In most cases I will conduct a review for no charge.