So are they biased? Of course they are.
I'm not saying they lie, but if you try to get an unbiased opinion of
media from a sales rep, you're in for a tough time. As a business owner, you
need to sort through the information and determine what is fact, and what is
fiction. This list helps with that task.
Outdoor Advertising
Yellow Pages
Cable and Broadcast Television
Internet
Shoppers
Radio
Direct Mail
Newspaper
Outdoor Advertising
1. The average person isn't exposed to your billboard the same way you
are. Many outdoor sales reps sell their facings (the term for a single
billboard) by driving very slowly by the locations of various boards they
own. The rep points out the location so the prospect (you) sees the board
for as long a time as possible. Then once the client rents the board, they
may go out of their way to drive by it. The average person isn't paying as
much attention to the client's board as the client is.
2. Which billboards do you remember seeing on the way to work?
Make a list of the boards along that route and notice the ones you've never
seen. People who frequently look at billboards are:
- Those that sell outdoor advertising
- Those that advertise on them
- Other advertising sales people
- Everybody else
3. Winter is a risky time to be advertising on billboards. Where
are your eyes when the roads are slippery or the windshield is dirty?
4. The average time someone looks at a billboard is about three
seconds. The billboard companies tell advertisers to keep their messages
short -- seven words or less. How much selling can you do in three seconds
or seven words?
Yellow Pages
5. Most people are right-handed. They hold the phone book in their
right hand, and use their left hand thumb to flip through from back to
front. So what's so great about having the biggest ad in the front -- when
most people see the smaller ones in the back of the section first?
6. According to the Yellow Page industry, Americans look in the Yellow
pages about 3.6 billion times per year. Sound like a lot? That's only
about 14 times a year a person.
7. Beneficial Finance always advertised, "If you're within the sound of
my voice, there's a Beneficial office near you. Look for us in the White
Pages." Smart move -- a listing in the White Pages is free -- and
consumers choose among competing locations instead of competing companies.
8. Yellow Pages advertising is sold as "bigger ads are better" or "color
is better." The best marketing strategy is for people to never have to go
to the Yellow Pages.
Cable and Broadcast Television
9. Good local television production is an oxymoron. Did you know
the average national television commercial costs $289,000 to produce? Put
your locally produced commercial next to a nationally produced commercial,
and they just can't compete.
10. Why do people subscribe to cable? For improved reception,
increased variety, and to get HBO, Showtime, The Movie Channel or another of
the popular premium channels. And which channels CAN'T you advertise on?
11. People are not loyal to broadcast television channels the way they
are loyal to radio stations. People watch television programs, NOT
television channels. So, when you run a schedule that rotates throughout all
the programs on a specific channel, your ad may run in cartoons at one time,
mid-day news later in the day, and a late movie rerun at night. These shows
may all be on the same channel, but obviously, don't appeal to the same
audience.
12. Television continues to get more fragmented. In 1970 there
were three major networks. Fast-forward to 2006 -- and a combination of over
200 broadcast, cable, and satellite channels are at our disposal.
13. The digital video recorder is a threat to television advertising
as we know it. If the DVR doesn't kill it, it will cripple it. The era
of the digital video recorder is looming large as new research studies
emerging from the US indicate that 15% of all Internet households have
connected their computers to a TV or stereo, that DVR users spend 60% of
their TV time watching recorded programs and that when watching recorded
programs, they skip 92% of the commercials.
14. According to Nielsen/Arbitron, television viewership is seasonal.
From winter (the best time) to summer (the worst time), there's a 19% drop
in audience.
15. As family income increases, television viewing decreases.
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