Many contractors I meet understand the role advertising plays and the effect it has on their top line revenue if done properly. Many are even starting to buy into the social media aspect of marketing. Then there are others who fight me tooth and nail and say all advertising is evil. Now, I deal with many media outlets everyday and I have a pretty good idea as to what they look for in a client, so I thought I would write a post explaining this sometimes rocky relationship. For the most part media companies are looking to segment their clients. Client segmentation has really become a common practice and is used to organize and better meet the needs of you the client.
Long-term players
For example, at one end of the spectrum are long-term clients who are loyal to a brand and have remained with the product for an extended period. The Yellow Pages publishers fall into this category as well as radio and television advertising. If you’ve advertised with the Yellow Pages for any length of time you should know that you’re a highly valued client because you are part of a stable advertiser base that has already been sold on the value of the Yellow Pages. Maintaining and growing your relationship with these types of advertisers is important since both see the value you bring to each other in the marketplace.
New arrivals
Then there are newer advertising opportunities such as Google Adwords or Facebook advertising. Since you don’t have a history with these media outlets you tend to be less brand loyal and may not even fully comprehend the value of the products they offer. To these companies you represent an important group of customers that need to be shown value in order to develop a strong and lasting relationship.
They can only do this if they prove to you that their marketing delivers a better customer at a cheaper cost than what your current marketing is offering. In a down economy they realize that in order to turn you into a loyal customer requires them to give you a return on investment that is both trackable and manageable.
Bundled services for better pricing
Many media outlets are attempting to build value while reducing costs. For example, many will include creative development in the cost of your campaign. This provides you the client with more time to run your business by not having to come up with ad copy and it gives the media outlet creative control of the message hoping they will be able to produce ad copy that will convert higher than anything created internally which will increase their value to you the contractor.
At the end of the day, customer focused and value driven companies survive in up and down markets. It takes work to become an organization that commands customer loyalty. The payoff is that it enables you to achieve real growth instead of being forced to find ways to replace lost prospects each year.