Let’s recognize several facts first.
1.
Every product has a life cycle. Depending on
where your product is in its life cycle will be an important factor in how you will
spend to promote it
2.
Will your product or program be modified, changed,
renamed this budget year or will it be pretty much the same?
3.
What did you spend last year to support it and
did you get any sales lift when you did that?
a. Is
the sales trend for the product down over the last two years
b. What
specifically did you do and how much did you spend relative to the sales of the
program
c. Did
you do the same thing the year before last?
4.
If you’re including a flier as part of your advertising
expenditure, please don’t. I am talking
about direct mail, electronic media and any digital media that you actually
PAID for.
Let’s examine a
typical scenario for Cosmic bowling. Many
centers are reporting that their Comic Bowl has been off for several years.
No
surprise, considering that the 23 yr old person you are trying to attract has
seen the same product for 10 years and it just doesn't give him the same sense
of excitement it once did.
So now, you want
to jazz up your product, maybe add a band every other week or once a month,
create theme nights and get a Master of Ceremonies that rocks the crowd.
Let’s say you have done all that and it’s
time to promote the product. Outside of
Internet (emails and Face book) you might want to consider electronic media as
well as direct mail.
Over the last
three years, your cosmic bowl has done $75,000, $65,000 and now it’s trending
at $55,000. So you have lost $20,000 in
top line revenue which should translate into 75% to 80% of net (especially if
you are past your break-even point).
What
would you spend to get back to that $75,000 or more plateau?
Me? I would spend at least $5,000 over the course
of the year, during key time periods to get that number moving in the right
direction. Why $5,000?
Because if I do it right and actually hit that $75,000, I
will have added $20,000; spent $5,000 and have $15,000 left…approximately three
to one ROI. And that’s what I shoot for when I budget clients’ marketing
programs.
Now if your
product isn't being changed and you just want to get the message out, then
spend enough to buy you at least three two week flights (either on Cable or
radio) in November, January and March to achieve a FOUR frequency every
campaign.
This should give your sales a
lift during peak times of the year.
(Remember to "Fish where the fish are.")
Bottom line: Support your winning programs with enough advertising to create and reinforce top of mind awareness as well as a strong call to action - think promotional offer- for the program among existing customers and prospects.
Further, modify you losing programs, but
support them more to a greater degree because you have new BENEFITS of the
program you MUST communicate to get the customer and prospect to take action. Need a strong call to action here as well.
If you follow some of these guidelines, I believe you will see a sales lift.
Then again, you
can choose to stick with just Internet marketing…and pray for rain on the
weekends.J
