Ask Me About Advertising

[scrilla]

James,

If you were able to pick any type of business anywhere in the world to direct mail market too which would it be?

You are selling a purely online advertising product that is in the range of $7-25 a month. So your hook is that by buying your produce these business will get more business...

Let me know if you need any more information to be able to make the most informed answer.

Thanks for the thread...but seriously...we need to stop comparing this forum to OOT! [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]
Scrilla

[Apoc]

Do you know anything about how songs get chosen for particular television commercials? My girlfriend is convinced that this is her dream job -- to find the right music to capture the essence of the commercial. I imagine the ad agency does that, but is there a particular role in the agency responsible for that?

Thanks!
Apoc

[James Boston]

scrilla,

Sorry but I don't really understand. Is the second paragraph a seperate question, or a further explanation of the first question?

As for direct mail, I really don't like it for most things. Rather than write a thesis on why I don't, I could better explain it's benefits and shortcomings as they relate to specific situations.

[James Boston]

apoc,

Really it's determined by the creative forces at ad agencies. There's focus group testing and stuff like that done. It's most often contracted out, if you're talking about original music. If you mean using a piece of popular music, the agency just makes that part of the creative pitch, and the client pays the licensing fee to use the song.

[scrilla]

James,

The second paragraph is just further explanation to help you pick your demographic etc.

This is all just a hypothetical question...I basically just want to know what would be the best demographic to sell this type of a product too.

I know direct mail isnt the best method but for this situation I would like to mass market to hundreds of business.

Thanks,
Scrilla

[James Boston]

scrilla-

Your selling a product that, at most, costs $25 a month. You want to market to "hundreds" of businesses, I'll just take a stab at that and say it's 500. If that's the case, you're looking at a maximum $12,500 monthly revenue. I would never advise spending more than 10% of your anticipated revenue on advertising, and generally less than that. So, your in a situation where you really shouldn't spend more than about $1000 a month, and that needs to bring you some kind of positive return.

What kind of geographical territory are you marketing to? How many businesses, that might use your product, are out there? What is the margin on your product/service? Once that is established, you determine the most cost effective way to efficiently get their attention, and see if $1000 a month will accomplish that.

[scrilla]

James,

OK assuming all of the numbers you gave...what would be the demographic you would chose?

You could choose dentists, restuarants, golf courses whatever you would like to market too. Which would you think would give you the highest response rate all other things being equal?

Thanks for your detailed responses...
Scrilla

[scrilla]

James,

Oh also geographic location is not a problem since you are probable using direct mail.

So you could chose Lawyers in california, or Golf courses in Myrtle beach etc.

Thanks again,
Scrilla

[James Boston]

scrilla-

There are a few problems with your questions. I'm not trying to pick on you, just pointing some things out.

1) "Golf Course" is not a demographic. It's a type of business. Demograhpy is the study of human populations.

2) I don't know of any reason that a specific business sector would have a higher repsonse rate than another. This question kind of exists in a vacuum. It ignores the product - a crucial part of the equation.

Here's the thing...

Think of traditional advertising as an invitation the check something out, not a means to gain a customer. If a car dealer has more foot traffic than any other dealership around, but the lowest sales, does that mean his advertising is ineffective? No. People are checking the product out. They just have a problem closing the deal.

Your hypothetical question seems to be, "I want to sell internet advertising, and attract customers via direct mail. What business sector is the most likely to respond?" There is no good answer. Market demand needs to come before the product, in most all cases. You've got to find a parade, and get in front. Don't walk down the street hoping a parade forms behind you.