Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

I usually used Hoovers (https://www.hoovers.com) for such situations. Call the executive assistant of the best suited executive by title (VP of Advertising or VP Corp. Communications or ??). Be ready to shoot a fax or email asap to confirm and summarize your offering for any consideration, however extremely remote.

March 2013 is gone, so April 2013 seems unlikely now, but perhaps for next year.

Who is it in the business that makes the decision to advertise with people like you? You have some of the answers already because they have signed up. Who are they, what are they doing and how can you save them time/money/energy? Are they satisfied with their current suppliers? If not, why not; if they are, how can you convince them that you're better?

I'm pretty sure that for the price, a national company would advertise locally. It makes a lot of sense, after all.

Many large companies have a franchising system - that means you should get in touch with the local business owner who is the franchise owner.

Does this help any?

It's probably a little different for each [prospective] advertiser, but I've worked for, or consulted with, at least a dozen of the Fortune top 100, and they rarely make local advertising decisions at headquarters.

Either they have (a) a budget that's managed by the local sales manager, (b) a co-operative advertising program with major retailers (who have their own local advertising programs), and/or (c) a focused heavy-up program for a problem/opportunity market with its own budget determined at least 6-12 months in advance.

Your best bet would be to find local franchisees or retailers who have some degree of freedom to include the large company brand names/logos in their [local] advertising. The large companies probably won't entertain an unsolicited advertising proposal for a local market. If they did, they'd be inundated with proposals from hundreds, or even thousands, of folks just like you.

Approach people one on one, either by phone, in person, or in writing.

Use a script or a well written format that clearly spells out the benefits to major players in terms of the audience their ad with you will reach. Include the lifespan or longevity of the ad or listing, offer premium placement options, and discounts for early submissions of artwork or contract sign-ups.

In this approach, consider including demographic information that matches potential ad viewers with the ideal client's audience or customer. If I'm running marketing for a Fortune 500 company and I need to attract people who buy gold and silver, I need to know that X percentage of your readers REGULARLY buy, or read, or are interested in gold and silver related material Y number of times per year, and that they potentially spend Z amount of time or money doing so.

Align the benefits of my ads in your publication with the self interests and compulsions of your potential readers and I'll be more inclined to place more of my annual ad dollars with you. Show me you'll bring me more business and I'll come back NEXT time.

I think that most of you missed the point of my question.

I appreciate all of the advice; but my question was not about how to approach someone with an advertising opportunity.

My question was moreso about WHEN to approach a fortune 500 company. I understand that many of these larger companies have their budgets already planned out.

So, say I'm doing a directory in April. Well, if they plan their budget out at the beginning of the fiscal year - then is that when I should approach them?

I hope this makes sense.

Also, as I said, I appreciate all of the advice as many of you brought up very good points.

Phil: The companies that I'm talking about are local companies. Just to give an example, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc etc.

Gary: Could you elaborate on what you mean by "premium placement options"? Thank you.

Mgoodman: I appreciate all of the info, but I'm mainly trying to figure out HOW to do this; not reasons why it can't work. I was able to get a few of these fortune 500 companies, so I know it's possible. I'm just trying to figure out how to fine-tune my approach and have a greater degree of success with this the next go-around. As you mentioned in your post about some companies having a "a focused heavy-up program for a problem/opportunity market with its own budget determined at least 6-12 months in advance." THAT'S where I'm trying to break into. I want to know how to be included in those kinds of talks, so that my publication will be considered a major player in an opportunity market (which is what my market is).

Steve and Jay, thank you for that information. That's what I needed to know.