When you’re first starting out in your business, it’s easy to jump at whatever advertising opportunities come your way. Discount magazine ad? Sign me up! Free month of radio ads when you buy one month? Where do I sign?
But you have to research all advertising opportunities. If the medium doesn’t have your target audience or doesn’t have the reach you need and want for the money you’re shelling out, then it’s just a waste of money. Not all advertising is good advertising.
Guidelines When Considering Advertising Opportunities
1. Don’t advertise in a newspaper, magazine or other medium that you haven’t read with your own two eyes. No one knows your product like you do, not even your well-intentioned family member.
2. Ask the advertiser for a complete media kit. If they don’t have a media kit, that’s a huge red flag that you do not want to do business with this advertiser. Ask for a sample copy of the publication and circulation numbers. The media kit should also include articles about the company, published elsewhere than their internal newsletter; a fact sheet on the company; and ideally, testimonials from others who have advertised with the company.
3. Don’t buy radio time in the form of ads or as a special guest unless you listen to the radio station yourself and you know it and its audience. Some people pay for radio time, thinking that they can become a radio talk show expert or add that title to their resume. The cost for all that radio time to become an “expert” is not worth it.
4. When you order a mailing list from a list broker, be sure to stipulate that you require 95 percent accuracy of addresses that are deliverable. Some addresses are naturally going to be old or incorrect, but the majority should be deliverable. Make it a condition of your contract that you’ll get your money back if only 94 percent or less of your direct mail pieces are deliverable. Be sure to get this in writing beforehand so you have a leg to stand on if it happens. This is one of the oldest tricks in the book – a list broker claims to have thousands of names in your target audience, but then only a hundred people actually get your ad. Don’t fall for it!
5. If a product review site asks for your ad, and then promises a review, run away. Your review and ad shouldn’t appear in the same issue, no matter what the salesperson says. People can see right through this and will think that your product was only reviewed because you bought ad space (and essentially, it’s true in this scam).
And finally, make sure to get everything in writing. It’s easy to let a salesperson sweep your thoughts away to a magical land of your product flying off the shelf once people see your new ad, but be sure you read all the fine print before signing your name.
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