Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

How To Best Downsize An Ad Campaign

Posted by na_erlendson on 3/8/2009 at 9:13 PM ET 250 Points
I am new to my role as a marketing assistant (previously worked in pr and journalism) and have inherited a bloated ad budget. I'd like to downsize our spending on ad placements in trade pubs to use the funds on other outreach efforts and could use some guidance on how best to do this. My challenges are:
- the creative which is really copy heavy, probably works best as existing full page... Or is copy-heavy ads ok as half page islands in news tab?
- we're duplicating efforts in multiple pubs with same audience, but there's a pay to play culture with almost all of them when it comes to editorial coverage

Any advice on how to develop my downsized ad calendar for the rest of the year?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 3/8/2009 at 9:45 PM Accepted
    Since you don't mention effectiveness measures, I'm assuming you have no way to tell which of your variables (copy, publication, etc.) are delivering for you and which are not.

    That being the case, you probably ought to start by reducing the frequency in some/all of the publications (to free up some funds) and establishing some way to measure response to each ... including the new media you'd add.

    You might also want to bring in a consultant who can look at the copy and the media list and make suggestions without the benefit of solid response analytics. It's not ideal, but I've been involved in several projects like this, and having that professional outside assessment is better than nothing ... at least until you have a more objective way to measure effectiveness.

    If you want to pursue this, contact me off-line via the contact info in my profile.
  • Posted by na_erlendson on 3/9/2009 at 2:25 AM Author
    The only ad I've booked in my month on the job will actually be part of a reader survey assessing the effectiveness of the ad and the readers perception of both the ad and company. I'm hoping to gain some valuable information that will help with the development of a new campaign or at least some tweaking of the current- which will be done with the help of an agency.

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 3/9/2009 at 9:59 AM Accepted
    How's your website & SEO? Web metrics are easy to measure, and when people are searching (online), they are clearly interested in information (as opposed to reading an ad which may be applicable to them). Make sure your offering can be easily found, and that your site clearly targets the benefits to your prospects.
  • Posted by na_erlendson on 3/10/2009 at 10:36 AM Author
    Yes, we want to free up funds to do more consumer targeted advertising in cooperation with our customets and through their promotional vehicles so we can see an impact on actual sales in the regions we are advertising, but the trade media is important too. So I'm really just looking for some tips on where to start cutting back
  • Posted on 3/11/2009 at 7:46 PM Accepted
    There's no way we can tell you where to cut without knowing what the total program looks like and what seems to be working and what isn't. If you don't have decent metrics, then your best bet is a subjective outside assessment from an expert.

    As a general rule, you should probably consider cutting back on the frequency of ads in the trade journals ... instead of monthly in each one cut back to quarterly, and schedule the timing so that there's an ad every month in at least one pub.

    Beyond that, it's a combination of adjusting copy, adjusting ad size, and looking at the marketing plan holistically to see which elements seem redundant.

    All of this is best done with some good metrics in place so it isn't subjective forever. Many of us have been down this road before and we can help, but we need details and we would need to get more involved in your business and marketing plan than we can in short answers on this forum.
  • Posted by na_erlendson on 3/12/2009 at 10:11 PM Author
    Your questions helped me think a lot of this through and I actually developed a decent schedule, reducing the trade ad budget by almost half by reducing from full to half size ads, taking us out of trade pubs that didn't concern ate product type specifically. With the reduction of ads and number of pubs, I was able to maintain frequency and slightly increase in the pubs that really matter. Now I can allocate those funds toward consumer targeted ad vehicles that can be measured and the development of consumer ads. Reviewing the plan soon.

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