Joined: 19 May 2007 Posts: 206 Location: Camp Verde, AZ
Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:24 pm Post subject: Re: Help for Setting an Advertising Budget, Part One.
Bud wrote:
Second, an industry standard dictates that your advertising has to run the entire time span of your market's 'buying cycle.' That cycle tells you how long to run your ad, and how often to space them apart. For instance, say we are advertising toothpaste, and we know that people typically buy it every six weeks. We also know that some people seeing our advertisement will have just purchased it and will not be interested for another six weeks. Others will not need it until next week, some 2 more weeks from now, some 3 weeks, some 4, 5 and lastly the original 6 weeks. However, we do not know who those people are, the ones (5 out of 6!) who will ignore our ad because of lack of need. So we have to'hit' them all six times, once every six weeks.
Likewise, your car repair ad will fall on people who are mostly 'not interested' right now, but 'might be' in the future. If you are determined to actually sell something in your ads, despite the fact its bad practice to do so, budget for six times and space the ads to cover the life span of whatever you are selling.
What questions do you have about this topic?
Bud,
I am unclear with what you are trying to say about how often to place the ads. Do people not read the ads until they are ready to buy? Do we need to advertize for 6 cycles?
Lets say we determine that people buy auto repair every 12 weeks (oil changes). Are we to
1) put out 6 ads two weeks apart to cover the 12 week period.
2) put out 6 ads 12 weeks apart, for a period of 72 weeks.
3) Put out 6 ads, two weeks apart to cover the 12 week period and then repeat this 6 times for a total of 72 ads?
Thanks.
_________________ David Wittmayer
Owner / Manager
Hansen Enterprises Fleet Repair, LLC
Camp Verde, AZ
www.hefrshop.com
Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:38 pm Post subject: Re: Help for Setting an Advertising Budget, Part One.
I am unclear with what you are trying to say about how often to place the ads.
That's because I'm still cramming too much information into short posts, and because the subject material is soo strange to most business owners.
When Louis and I were members of IATN I saw where a shop owner had hired an ad guy. He paid him $500 and then waited weeks for his 'specially written' ad. Later the ad was delivered, but there was only one version of it, not the usual several to run. Even worse, there were no instructions on how to best use the ad. Not good. This forum will help to fill in all those gaps and help its readers maximize their advertising.
Do people not read the ads until they are ready to buy?
Exactly. Getting people to actually read your ads is one of the biggest challenges you and every other business owner faces.
Do we need to advertize for 6 cycles?
No, only one is sufficient to see how well your ad works. If it does work well, improve only one aspect of it, then run it again for another cycle. If the ad was was a dud, change or fix it, and try that ad for another cycle. Test, test, test. That is one hallmark of successfull advertisers.
Lets say we determine that people buy auto repair every 12 weeks (oil changes). Are we to
1) put out 6 ads two weeks apart to cover the 12 week period.
Yes, exactly. That is a great example. Everybody in your market will have bought an oil change during that time period, and the ones who actually read your ad had their chance to ignore or act on it.
2) put out 6 ads 12 weeks apart, for a period of 72 weeks.
No, that doesn't make sense.
3) Put out 6 ads, two weeks apart to cover the 12 week period and then repeat this 6 times for a total of 72 ads?
Yes, but if the ad is profitable don't stop after 72 weeks. Run it continually for life. Why stop? Won't you always need new customers?
Your present customers will also continue to read your ads. Don't you want to keep them convinced they are dealing with the right people? Remember Matt's big post on Coca-Cola and McDonalds. We learned that they advertise continually to their present customers, to help keep them loyal.
A rule of thumb is to spend 60% of your advertising budget on things that have worked well for you, and the other 40% on new advertising methods you are experimenting with.
Thanks for your questions. Does that make the post more clear?
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Do people not read the ads until they are ready to buy? Do we need to advertize for 6 cycles?
