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When I was selling advertising in the media, the most
valuable tchatchke I received was a year calendar on an
1.5" X 12" ruler. I often worked on 100%
commission and was constrained by
deadlines; my mind was always focused
60-120 days out. That calendar kept me
focused. I knew if I didn't have 60% of
my goal booked by the first of the
month, 90% of the time I would not make
that month's goal and I'd forego a
substantial amount of my commissions. My objective therefore focused on
strategies that would allow me to minimize the times
that I missed my goal and maximize the number of times I
made it and the bonuses I could achieve. |
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Laura Dawn
Lewis,
Creator of the Calendar, Publisher &
former Advertising Sales Professional |
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STANDING OUT
WITH CLIENTS
Vendor marketing,
the direct selling of promotional opportunities through
non-traditional channels with non-traditional
promotional funds became my trademark and mini-cash cow.
Rather than stick strictly with agencies and small
business owners, I began approaching regional managers,
district managers, franchise owners, brand managers,
store owners, department heads and even sales managers
of large corporations with ideas. Sometimes we created
dealer-groups to access co-op funds or generate funds
for a regional promotion as a test market for a later
national promotion. Sometimes I played matchmaker with
non-competing industries bringing them together for
promotions that would drive traffic to all of their
locations from each other. At other times we invented
new products, markets or created events to assist in
promoting my clients. It was through these experiences
that I began heavily using a crude version of this
promotional calendar and thus actualized its power.
Talk about the
goose that laid the golden egg! The better I was
at keeping my clients informed about what was going on, the
more referrals and money I made; if I was bound by
territory, my coworkers also benefited from my
referrals. By piggy-backing on a national
promotion, my clients quickly figured out they could
usually double the impact of their marketing for the
same cost. Timing is everything and information is the
most valuable commodity available.
CREATING A USP (Unique Selling
Position)
YOUR COMPETITORS CANNOT TOUCH
Whether you are a sales manager or
publisher, consider if you were the only media in your
category within your DMA that could provide your
advertisers with something that would allow each to get
a jump on his competition and maximize the impact of his
advertising dollars. And consider the impact on
your competitors if you could do this, but due to
category exclusivity and first right of refusal, they
could not. Take it a step further and consider how
valuable this book would be to your clients and
potential new clients if your media's editorial calendar
and your city's local events were also included in this
book.
The fact is, if you're competing
for advertising dollars and you're a broadcaster or
publication, you're not just competing with the other
broadcasters and publications in your market. You're
competing with everything vying for that advertising
budget. How do you stand out? How do you make sure
your sales team gets that first call when an advertiser
is ready to advertise? How do you stay top of mind with
media planners, business owners and agencies?
Simple. You provide current and
potential advertisers something they will use, seek out,
value and provides a constant reminder of your company.
GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT
If you work for a news
organization, what's the number one question you get
from potential advertisers? What I heard the most was:
"Do you have an editorial calendar?" followed by "Who do
I contact about doing a story about us?"
The following satisfies both.
The Event, Editorial and
Promotional Calendar is like an editorial calendar on
steroids. Imagine the impact it will have on your
clients if it also included your editorial calendar, ad
specs and deadlines, reporter beats and press release
submission guidelines, plus your city's event
calendar. Talk about a useful tool! As a business
owner or professional marketer what would you rather
get: a t-shirt, pen, coffee cup or stress ball? OR would
you rather get a book that helps your business and
can increase your profits? I don't know about you
but I have far too many coffee cups and stress balls
gathering dust in cabinets and drawers. What I can never
get enough of as a publisher and business owner is
market intelligence, saved time and lower costs.
That's what this book does. It provides market
intelligence, saves time and lowers the cost of
marketing.
HOW YOUR ORGANIZATION CAN
CRIPPLE YOUR COMPETITION
By allowing us to
work with you to customize this book for use by your
sales and editorial staffs, you gain a unique selling
position. Use the book to thank high profile people your
editorial team lands; reward your clients for their
business and entice new advertisers to work with you.
All this requires is we license this book to your
organization and customize it with your local
information.
Licenses are based upon DMA and
media category, not corporation. Therefore only one
print media, (mainstream press such as newspaper or
weekly tabloid), one television broadcaster and one
radio station per DMA can secure the license for this
calendar each year. There are a total of 210 DMA's in
the United States, which means a maximum of 630 custom
versions of this book can be produced on a regional
level. Licensing fees are based upon market size,
quantity of books required over the course of the year
and the number of additional pages/research we must
conduct to complete your custom book.
Customization
includes:
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Adding chronological and
alphabetical listings of your market’s local
events and your media’s scheduled events
and/or editorial calendar to the books contents
for your DMA.
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Adding pages with your
company’s advertising guidelines, rate cards,
contact info and other information you would like
included.
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Title Sponsorship: where
‘Laura Dawn Lewis’ is on the Logo it reads ‘’XYZ
Corporation’s” and your logo on cover.
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Category Exclusivity: This
calendar is a unique selling position that enables
your sales team to get appointments with new
business by offering something nobody else in your
market category can.
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First Right of Refusal:
First in with the calendar maintains first right of
refusal for the next year’s calendar. Reservations
for the next year’s calendar must be reconfirmed in
writing with deposit (50% upon reservation, 50% upon
delivery) by August 31 of each year. All
non-confirmed markets by that date become available
to any competitor in the market.
We use print-on-demand to generate
the books so your organization only needs to purchase
those you'll use. It's a fabulous method for minimizing
inventory costs and overhead. It also allows for
the changing of information within the book throughout
the year if for example you have a rate increase or
switch to different ad specifications.
HOW DMA/EXCLUSIVITY WORKS: For
national publications and broadcasters, the option to
license is granted by trade category. For example in the
business news category, if Crain Business Publications
acquires the license, the National Network of City
Business Journals, Forbes, Fortune, Wall Street Journal,
Bloomberg, New York Times and Financial Times
cannot. However, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg
and Financial Times would be eligible to lock out
the financial news category. In the event that a
publication competes on a local level, the National
office has the option to buy the license for that media
in each specific market.
For example, the National Network
of City Business Journals could choose to lock out
the major newspapers in key markets by licensing the
print media slot for that DMA. If say the Los Angeles
Times secures the Greater Los Angeles DMA before the
National Network of City Business Journals, The Los
Angeles Business Journal would not be able to use
this calendar and the National Network would
forgo this DMA. If the National Network of City
Business Journals secured first but chooses not to
license the Los Angeles DMA for the Los Angeles
Business Journal and the Los Angeles Times
wants the DMA, the National Network will be given
first right of refusal to license Los Angeles. If
they choose not to, the Los Angeles Times can
take it away. These guidelines are necessary to insure
the licensing media maintain a competitive advantage
within their DMA or market. Each license is looked at
individually.
Ready to explore this option for your
company?
Give us a call at 310-594-3728
Let us put together an executive
summary that will allow you to present this to your
stakeholders and give your media a defensible USP!
Happy New Year
We look forward to working with you!
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