Tip for y’all: if you’re considering taking out an ad in a print publication, find out when their ad deadline is, and wait until the week before to contact them. This is the week when they are scrambling to meet their ad quotas, and they might be willing to let you run an ad at significant savings, especially if they have empty space on a page that needs filling.
I did this by accident last week. A couple of months ago I contacted a publication with a press release, thinking they might want to run a blurb about me. Instead (surprise), they said I should advertise with them. Print ads are expensive, though, and they don’t give you such great bang for your buck. The ad prices at this particular publication were way out of my league.
When they followed up about the ad, I explained my financial situation. Good news, they said, we offer 15% off to all new advertisers. Still too expensive, I told them. I just can’t afford something like that. Then they came down to 20% off. Sorry, I said. I appreciate the special rate, but I just paid off all my inventory and literally don’t have the funds in the bank. 40% off? Wow, I said. You guys are really being nice about trying to meet me halfway on this, but here’s the bottom line. The absolute most I can pay is 65% off and I can send you a set of my new products.
Done.
Holy crap. I probably could have quoted even less. After all, 65% off the ad price is still better than no money at all, especially if you have to pay for that page to be printed anyway. They had nothing to lose by accepting my offer, no matter how low. I had nothing to lose by presenting my offer. It’s these win-win situations (which only happen right before the ad deadline) that can net you a STOOPID bargain in advertising. My only advice? Make your bottom line lower than mine, because there was clearly still some room before the floor.
Biz Miss 