We don’t dictate your media budget—you do. Your sales rep capacity is what determines your budget. How many leads do you need and what is a tolerable cost per lead? With those answers we determine your media budget.
Along the lines of ‘measure twice and cut once,’ we like to be very careful when it comes to media buying. We believe in testing conservatively and—when we see success—buying responsibly.
We also take the time to explain our client’s customer profile and product story to all of the media sales reps; when they have a clear understanding of the client they become more personally invested and can make better recommendations.
First, we focus on media sources that provide the time and space we need to differentiate our clients’ products or services. We also research the competition and identify the media sources that we can dominate. Depending on how quickly you need leads, we will prioritize the media sources. Over time, after testing and refining, we understand and build on your history of lead generation success.
When the leads dry up, we have three choices:
- We can rest the lead source. Sometimes a two-to-three month break can bring a lead source back to life. Although a one-month break seems more tolerable to many clients, our experience shows that the break has to be longer if you want to reawaken the lead source.
- We can retool the lead source and give the media something new to run. For one client, when our :60 second radio spots no longer converted to sales, we convinced the stations to format :90 second breaks and created a series of interview spots. These spots pre-sold the radio listeners, and they started buying again.
- We can also boost a lead source by running something additional and using different creative. As an example, as long as the rate is in line, Post-It notes in newspaper can lift response dramatically and transform a publication that has been underperforming.
For you to get your money’s worth, we have to watchdog the media. We love dogs, so this role comes naturally to us.
- Broadcast
So you don’t have the same audience seeing and hearing your spots over and over, your spots should not run too close together. We have a strict separation policy that we enforce with TV and radio stations. We also review all pre and post logs and perform daypart analysis to help us identify the shows and times that are generating the best response.
- Newspaper
We collect and review all e-tearsheets to ensure the creative, run date and placement were correct.
- Historical Analysis and Reporting
We never want to go back to a campaign that didn’t perform well, so all campaign and response information is maintained in a database.
- Performance Programs
The most successful performance programs have to work for both the client and the media. To be certain that nothing is overlooked, we listen to all short phone calls to determine lead qualification.