Wednesday, September 11, 2013

How we closed some major advertising in six steps

Imagine an advertiser who hates print and has no money. Now imagine that advertiser taking out a loan to pay for an entirely new campaign. That's exactly what happened when an ad rep from the Ithaca Times took me up on my offer to make the final presentation for him over the Web. 

All members of my Presentation Packs service have this option. I can step in at any point, especially the critical final sale and help sell the ad. In fact, I recently did two presentations for an ad rep at the Ithaca Times, one for a dentist and one for a chiropractor. Going in, neither were interested in running, having received no response from print in the past (including in their own newspaper).

Both ended up buying. The dentist bought digital only, and the chiropractor bought 6 half-page ads in print, plus he's considering bumping that up to a 15-week contract. In fact, the chiropractor was so excited afterward that he was willing to take a loan out to run the ad.

This week I want to show you exactly how we did this and how I can easily do the same for you. These are the steps we followed with both prospects, but really, at the heart of it, what follows is the chiropractor's story: 
  1. The ad rep stopped in and introduced himself. He listened to the upfront stalls and objections, agreed with them, and explained his newspaper's philosophy of helping with overall response (here's the piece he followed).
  2. The ad rep told the prospect that he's working with an advertising guru (that's me) who has helped many advertisers like him get a dramatic response. He explained that I even had experience helping chiropractors. While talking, he showed the prospect my website set up specifically to show during a conversation like this. He started playing the video about the service on his iPhone (again, produced with the prospect in mind). 
  3. The ad rep then offered my services: I would take a look at some information about the chiropractor's business, create a new strategy, design the ad and even jump into a Web meeting with the chiropractor to discuss it. There would be no pressure to run the ad. The chiropractor had nothing to lose. In fact, if nothing else, he'd gain the new perspective of having a fresh set of eyes on his advertising efforts.
  4. They set up an appointment. Then the ad rep and I worked on customizing the chiropractor ad so it was more specific to his practice (and resized to a half-page tabloid in the process). You can see the final spec ad at right.
  5. We had a short, 30-40 minute Web meeting at the chiropractor's office where I taught the chiropractor our approach to getting a response, drawing both the approach and the ad out of him (just like in my video), and then took him through the logic of the ad. I also talked about why he needed and could run the right size and frequency and he agreed. I then handed the meeting back to the ad rep who went over the rates and other details.
  6. The chiropractor was blown away, very excited and, after consulting with his wife (who in retrospect should have been there), agreed to a 6-time contract at $834 per week (though they still might upgrade that to a 15-time contract for $750 per week). Although money was very tight, they were so eager to run they agreed to take out a loan to pay for it. That's when you know you're doing things right!
These one-on-one Web sessions go wonderfully, are surprisingly easy to set up, and are an extremely effective selling tool. Your prospective advertisers will see that your ad reps have some phenomenal resources to help their local businesses. Get in touch with me and let's set some up for you today.

To find out more about our affordable Presentation Packs service, click on the link or give me a call at 631-477-2505 and we'll hit the ground running today.