Ad Team LA - Ten Essential Questions

Ten Essential Questions to Ask Your Advertising Agency (or Yourself!)

1. Do I Really Need An Advertising Agency?

When you find advertising projects keeping you from doing business, it is time to consider hiring an objective advertising professional. When a business starts up, company management often puts on many hats - one of which is advertising director. As the company grows, the advertising program often becomes hard to control in your spare time. Many advertising decisions are made before evaluating where current customers are coming from. The resulting ad programs run the risk of being cut globally instead of evaluating what is working and what is not. A professional agency will always set up a sourcing method so you will know what works and what doesn't.

2. Can I Handle Advertising In My Spare Time?

It depends on the size of your business. Small companies are more aware of which of their advertising programs are working. However, as a company grows, budgeting is often increased without knowledge of the response rate for each media. In addition, customer trends are often changing. An objective advertising consultant without a media incentive is more likely to steer you in the right course. An advertising professional will use the information gathered in market research and media kits to create a dynamic ad that will grab your target market and position you against your competition to give you the results you need.

3. What's The Cost Of Hiring An Advertising Agency?

Agencies used to work on commission from the media that was purchased. The agency would receive a commission from the media vendor and the client would be billed the full amount of the ad from the agency. Many take a fee for each project or ongoing consulting work. Others rely on the commissions or charge a 15% fee over the cost of the media when the media they select does not pay commissions. There are even agencies that are taking a partnering approach and receiving a set fee plus an incentive from the client as sales grow.

4. What's The Difference In Advertising Agencies?

Sales and talent. Some of the best sales people in the business are Account Executives of advertising agencies. So, it is not surprising that some of the biggest ad agencies don't win the awards. On the other end of the scale, there are smaller agencies that win every year for their creative approach to a market challenge. Smaller agencies typically offer a more personal approach to the client's needs. Consider your needs and then decide on your criteria.

5. How Can An Advertising Agency Improve My Business?

There are many ways in which a good agency can improve your business. However, you must decide how much you want an agency to do for you. Then you have to let them do that job. They can give you a specific media and marketing plan to reach the target market for your product. In addition they can help you decide which marketing projects are worth investing in, given your budget. They can also improve your image and help build your brand. It is important that you are specific about your goals and then let your agency help you meet them.

6. What's A Media Plan?

The comparison between media alternatives can be very complicated and needs to be evaluated on many levels. Once you have set your advertising budget and your target market has been defined, a Media Plan is created. This is your blueprint on where to spend your advertising and marketing dollars. A media planner will evaluate the cost efficiency of your media for reaching your target market. They will evaluate the various media alternatives that you can purchase and determine which will give you the reach and frequency required to reach your goals. The resulting plan will keep you on track all year long.

7. How Important Is Ad Layout?

Why not ask yourself that question? Consider any type of product that you have recently purchased. Then consider why you purchased the brand you decided upon. Chances are that they have sold you on a benefit that differentiates them from their competition in your mind. That means that their ad team did their homework, they used the media to communicate that product's niche. They used graphics or a concept that demanded the attention of the target market - you. With only a short period of time to communicate that message, it is very important that the ad or script is very well thought out and displayed. No one works to read an ad.

8. What Is A Fair Advertising Budget?

There are several philosophies of advertising investments. One of the most common is basing the advertising budget on a percentage of gross sales. On the average that number falls between 4% and 6% of gross sales. Other camps believe that advertising drives sales, therefore an advertising investment must be aggressive to increase volume. To determine your philosophy, you might want to look at past investments and compare correlating sale figures those months. As your company grows, so do your advertising options. It is easy to blindly throw money into advertising as long as business is going well. However, as time goes on, sales will experience natural peaks and valleys. During those periods, companies often realize it is time to scrutinize the effectiveness of their ads. Ads typically lead to more traffic, but unless that traffic is likely to use your product, it is not a good investment. That is why your media plan must consider qualitative as well as quantitative information.

9. How Important Is Commercial Photography?

Like advertising design, commercial photography can make a real difference attracting the attention of your target market. This is particularly important when you advertise in crowded publications. Unlike broadcasts, printed ads cannot use other senses to appeal to the target. Everything in print is visual. Your message must be simple and the graphics and photography must make your potential customer stop and read. A photographer who understands this will design the photograph to appeal to your target.

10. Are Websites A Good Advertising Investment?

Yes - if you have a method of supporting your site. Websites are a great way to keep existing customers loyal and to improve communication between you and the end user of your products. For these two reasons alone, websites are worth the investment. Your product also has a lot to do with the benefits of websites. Does your competition have a site? Is your product purchase based on education? A good website starts with a market plan that identifies the purpose of your site before it is designed. If your product is high-tech, you cannot do without a website. Many of the current Internet users are techies and techie wannabe's. The Internet will be their tool of choice for vendor and product identification.

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