Professional Advertising
Seriously Effective Print Advertising
Professional Advertising
Seriously Effective Print Advertising
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The Advertising Calendar An advertising calendar is exactly that - a
calendar. It tracks your ads and promotions on a weekly, monthly,
seasonal, and annual basis. It will help you to actually see how you are
covering your market, and where there are gaps in your advertising
schedule. Your calendar will help you to plan for success.
As you learn the response and return rates of your clients to your
advertising, you can plan how you will provide service. The calendar
will help you to visualize how and when your different marketing efforts
will turn into customers walking in the front door – and you will be
ready for them. Your calendar will also save you money by
helping you to plan the frequency at which your ads appear. For example,
you may be able to skip every fourth week that an ad runs - and save 25%
of the media budget. You may also be able to stop advertising for
short, seasonal periods, without any negative effects. You could buy
discounted future ad space, or really cheap last minute space. Or you
can use promotions and advertisements in coordination with each other.
But you can’t do any of these things well if you don’t keep a
calendar. Your advertising calendar will keep you on
track. If your customers think you are inconsistent with your
advertising, they won’t trust you. If they think you have disappeared,
they will look for a replacement. And if they forget you, you have to
start all over again. Remember, you will waste more money by running too
few ads instead of running too many ads. Your
calendar will also help you to measure one ad against another ad,
previous marketing costs versus sales, and media versus media. It tracks
when your ads run, where they run, and how much
they cost. When you combine this information with your monthly sales
receipts, you will know for a fact what your advertising investment did
for your company, and that is what Professional
Advertising is all about.
Sample
Advertising Calendar
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Yellow
Page Ads are placed in two local additions ($150 per month each) and in
the regional core book ($500 per month). ·
Special,
seasonal, and other stand-alone marketing programs would be included in
your advertising calendar when they take effect. ·
All
other marketing materials, like letterhead, brochures, and promotional
materials, would be reflected elsewhere in your advertising budget. This sample calendar uses several different
advertising methods in conjunction with each other. All of the marketing
is done locally. Advertisements in the local [fictional] Journal and
Times newspapers are placed regularly, with 1 out of 4 weeks being
skipped. The small community newsletters create a neighborhood presence.
Yellow page advertisements give clients a permanent point of reference. Thursdays and Fridays are used to stay in
personal contact with existing and potential clients. Direct mail flyers
supplement the other advertising efforts. Your advertising calendar will help to keep your
advertising schedule and your budget on track.
Remember, the key to advertising is consistently staying in front
of your customers.
Ask
For Help As always, we
strongly recommend that you hire a quality designer for your
advertisements, and ask a marketing professional to help plan and review the work.
Discuss your advertising planning and scheduling with a pro. They will
help you to effectively reach your clients, and will save you money at
the same time. It’s a very small investment for creating ads that
really bring in the customers. Please contact
Professional Advertising for these
services and additional information.
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