The wrong attitude can be costly. Here, I break down three common yet flawed mindsets that many small business owners have when it comes to buying ad space.
“I like this (radio station, magazine, TV network, etc) so I want to advertise there.”
The purpose of advertising is not to reach you. It’s to reach your potential new customers. Before purchasing ad space, it’s important to analyze the demographics that any media outlet caters to and see how they align with the demographics that you want to reach. Not only do they need to align with your target demographics but also your target geographic coverage. For example, if you only serve clients in Long Island and you advertise with a radio station that reaches the entire NYC Metropolitan area, you’ll be reaching a lot of people in the Five Boroughs, Long Island, Westchester, Rockland County, Northern New Jersey, Southern Connecticut. Too many of your impressions will come from people who don’t even live in the communities that you serve! You may be thinking that you don’t have the time to research the demographics and geographic coverage of multiple different advertising opportunities. Luckily, you don’t have to. When you sign on with JS Media, we do that work for you.
“I just want to spend as little money on advertising as possible.”
Saving money on advertising is important and it’s something that JS Media can help you with. But it shouldn’t be your main concern. Imagine buying a shirt at a heavily discounted price but then going home to find out that this shirt is two sizes too small for you. Even though you had gotten a great discount, you still wasted money on something that’s not the right fit for you. That’s the same thing that happens when you buy ad space that’s cheap but not effective, except you’re wasting a lot more money because ad space is way more expensive than a shirt! At JS Media, our top priority is to help you find advertising opportunities that will be the best fit for you and then, we help you secure the best rates on those opportunities.
“I want to try this out for a month and see how this works.”
The problem with that mindset is that one month is never enough time to test whether or not your ad campaign is working. It’s rare that someone will call you right after they’ve seen your ad for the first time. And if it does happen like that, you probably just got lucky. But if someone has been seeing your ad consistently over an extended period of time, you’ll be top-of-mind for when they are in the market for your services. Think of the ads that you remember. If you’re in Northern New Jersey, Rob Sells New Jersey, Corradino & Papa, and Teterboro Jeep are probably some that come to mind. You remember these ads because you’ve seen them not just once but several times. I typically recommend to my clients that they make a commitment of at least six months in order to create top-of-mind awareness.
If you’ve had one or more of these approaches toward buying ad space in the past, you’re probably starting to realize that buying ad space is a lot more complicated than you had initially thought. But for you, JS Media is here to help you navigate this process and make it easier for you.
