Rule #1: Everything is Negotiable
The key is to find out what the real bottom point is on pricing… what the media outlet will REALLY sell it for. Some programs have higher demand than others which can mean higher rates. It’s like tickets to the Super Bowl… if it’s sold out and you want tickets, you can probably get them, but you will pay a premium price. Or if you wait until the last minute to purchase airline tickets, prices are generally higher than if you had bought them in advance.
You can see in 60-seconds or less if you are currently over-paying and if so by how much. This is step one to form a baseline on cost controls. Once you have determined your score, call us, and we will show you how to use the chart to lower your ad costs.
Many media companies are controlled by Wall Street with quarterly numbers and budgets to make, and if there is unsold inventory, they will almost always sell it at some price because all inventory is perishable. Once the time period has passed, the media seller can never recapture that revenue. Most media groups teach yield management to their sales managers…how to maximize the inventory they have left to squeeze every available dollar onto the books. So don’t be intimidated about what a media company says it won’t do; we’ve walked away from placing thousands of dollars in business and then get a manager’s call to see if there is any last adjustment that can be made to get our business.
Here are just five of the negotiation techniques we use to lower your costs instantly. I’ll use radio as an example, but these techniques apply to most all media in any situation:
Negotiation Techniques We Use to Lower Your Costs Instantly
- Convert schedules to a blend of non-preemptible and preemptible spots so that you wind up paying lower rates overall and achieving a higher number of ad impressions for the same budget you are currently spending.
- Buy the first two weeks of the month when demand is less when compared to the last 15 days of the month. Certain categories such as insurance companies buy significantly more inventory in the last two weeks to make their sales numbers.
- Insist on value-added merchandising, free 5-second or 10-second announcements such as “This sports update is brought to you by (the name of your business and what you do)” as part of your buy.
-
- Listen to an example below to learn how much you may be over-paying for your advertising.
-
- Manage preemptions daily and move preempted dollars from one station to another. This daily move management ensures that your reach and frequency do not suffer as you move the same dollars from station to station on those stations that fit your demographic and qualitative target.
Click here to see how much you are probably overpaying right now.
Click here to contact us and receive a free advertising analysis.
Or, call now for a free analysis. (615) 646-9636