Fayetteville Co-Op Advertising is new and an easy way for premium exposure.
Cooperative advertising is a cost-effective way for manufacturers, retailers or distributors to reach their target markets. Although co-op advertising policies differ from manufacturer to manufacturer, most will pay a portion of the advertising costs and supply the retailer with photos or graphics to use in the ad (or sometimes the entire ad itself), whether for print, radio or television. A manufacturer’s contribution to a cooperative advertising campaign can range from a large amount of money to promotional gimmicks and point-of-purchase displays.
Using co-op advertising cuts down not only on your media costs but also on your ad production and creative expenses as well. A smart advertiser will factor co-op advertising, if available, into his or her budget. The major drawback to co-op advertising is that some manufacturers have more restrictive programs than others.
Another form of cooperative advertising is sponsored by shopping districts or centers, which feature an advertisement from each retailer in the shopping center. These promotions are often found in local newspapers for back-to-school specials, St. Valentine’s Day, Fourth of July, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and so on.
Be careful to coordinate any co-op advertising you do within your overall marketing scheme. Only use co-op advertising if it meets your needs. If you’ve chosen a different approach in your advertising campaign, don’t switch in midstream just to take advantage of free advertising dollars.
Here are some tips to help you get the most out of co-op advertising:
Keep careful records of how much you’ve purchased from each supplier.
If you try something unusual, such as a sales video or catalog, get prior approval from each vendor before proceeding.
If you’re preparing your own ads, work with an advertising professional to prepare an ad you think will appeal to the manufacturer. Keep in mind the image the manufacturer presents in its own ads.
Make sure your company’s name stands out in the ad. Your goal is not so much to sell the supplier’s product but to get customers into your store.
If a manufacturer has no established co-op program in place, pitch your ad campaign to the vendor anyway.
Expect vendors to help out; after all, you’re bringing them business. If your vendor doesn’t offer co-op advertising money, you should look for another vendor who does.
Be sure to follow up. Money goes only to those who submit claims.
Choosing the Right Advertisement For Your Business
Create an ad that does your business justice with this advice from our advertising expert.
Ready to kick off a new advertising campaign but don’t know where to start? The first thing you need to do is determine what type of ad will generate the most interest for your particular product or service. Remember, not all ads are created equal. Just because a certain pitch worked for one business, doesn’t mean it’ll work for yours.
The key to choosing a good advertisement begins with deciding what you want your ad to highlight. Are you trying to sell a specific product or are you trying to sell your business as a whole through your brand image? To answer that, you need to understand what the four main types of advertisements are:
Category-specific ads are written broadly enough to fit every advertiser in a category. A transparent fabric of smoothly woven clich?s, a category-specific ad is a generalized template into which one merely inserts a store name and address. All you have to do is fill in the blanks. But remember: Ads that fit everyone don’t work very well for anyone. These were once called institutional ads. I don’t recommend them.
Franchise ads build the master brand. The hope of every franchisee is that the ads provided by the franchisor will generate enough brand attraction to pull customers into their store. Due to the fact that a franchisor can afford to create a higher quality of ad campaign than the typical local merchant, this strategy often succeeds.
Product-specific ads benefit every retailer who sells the product, but they aren’t really about the retailer at all; they’re only about the product. Product-specific ads almost always make good advertisements. The only problem small business owners run into is when they’re selling another manufacturer’s product and are offered co-op advertising. Manufacturers can offer to pay for half the advertising cost of their product, which may seem like a good idea for money-strapped business owners, but independent retailers should question whether or not to take the manufacturer’s half-dollar to run their product-specific ads. Are they really paying for half of your advertising, or are you paying for half of theirs? Only when the co-op requirements are extremely flexible do I recommend that independent retailers accept the so-called “free money” of co-op advertising. If you’re paying half the cost, be sure at least half the message is about you.
Fayetteville Advertising
Roy Williams is the founder and president of international ad agency Wizard of Ads. Roy is also the author of numerous books on improving your advertising efforts, including The Wizard of Ads and Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads. Brought to you by Fayetteville Advertising
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