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(Article first published in Apr '09. It has been modified slightly to suit its publication on our site)
When you think of advertising agencies, your mind immediately jumps to names like Coca Cola and other big corporate companies spending millions of advertising campaigns. Small business owners naturally think that they are therefore forced to deal with handling the media buying for their adverts themselves and more onerously, they have to deal with the many phone calls from the media sales people too.
So what if you were told that there are companies out there, geared up specifically to handle the media buying needs for small to medium businesses? Furthermore, what if I told you that this company wouldn't even charge you a penny for their services? It sounds incredible, but these companies exist and if you advertise your business in print anywhere, then you need to think about using them.
Advertising Agencies vs. Media Buying Agencies:
Ad agencies will help you create the ad campaign and are indeed typically focused on the advertising needs of larger organisations. Media Buying agencies typically, but not always, focus on the buying of the advertising space in the magazines and newspapers and many of them will handle any size of campaign.
The Advantages Of A Media Buying Agency:
As a design company, we know how to design an advert for best performance, but many times we are asked whether magazine A or B is better and that's where our knowledge in design cannot help. A specialist media buyer will know of every magazine on the market and the pros and cons of each. They will know the demographics (statistics) of each magazine's readership and can therefore advise on the best choice to match your targeted customer.
They typically have knowledge of all forms of advertising mediums, from traditional print (newspapers and magazines) to outside advertising (billboards, bus stops), broadcast (TV, Radio and Cinema) and digital media (web banners, etc). So if you want something different or a combination of mediums, they can deliver it and if you have a campaign in mind, they can create it on your behalf to meet your advertising budget.
Not only do you get the benefit of their knowledge and advice, but they can save you money on your advertising as they know how to negotiate with the publications.
How Media Buying Agencies Work:
Media Buyers are not paid by you, but instead by the newspaper, magazine, etc and are essentially paid a "finder's fee" for bringing in the sale. However, because the choice is so broad and the fees they are paid are essentially standardised, you can rely on their impartiality.
Why Should You Work With A Media Buying Agency?
If you purchase advertising space on a regular basis and especially if you run "campaigns", i.e. ads that run across multiple publications/locations at the same time, then you should most definitely be thinking about using one of these companies.
You will save money on advertising costs. You will stop wasting money advertising in the wrong publications/places and they will act as a barrier for you as you can simply inform advertising sales people to "talk to my agency about that."
Anyone wishing to find a media buying agency should contact me and I can pass on some useful names and numbers.
Franco De Bonis has worked in the field of sales and marketing promotion since 1990 and was most recently the global marketing manager for a major international technology company before setting up DG Group in January 2007.
DG Group is dedicated to delivering all the marketing solutions any company may require. Whether it's a website or leaflets and brochures, or even some product packaging; DG Group will manage the whole project and even provide guidance along the way.
The content in this section is the original creation of DG Group and is protected by copyright. You may use this content on your site or in other materials providing you acknowledge DG Group as the author and include a link our site.
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