Mike saw this while Christmas shopping and mentioned it to me during a discussion about BNET’s 10 Worst Brand Blunders of 2009. User friendly? Maybe it’s just late in the day but I couldn’t stop laughing. Clearly they didn’t call us before making this packaging choice.
Answering a question from Eagle Resourcing Networks Group, Greensboro, NC
Most business owners know that a percentage of their past and projected sales should be secured for advertising. But in a 2009 economy which seemed to offer a new, not-always-so-happy financial surprise each month, it is important to look at several aspects of a company’s sales and profitability.
Many in my Eagle Resourcing Networks Group asked the questioned ad budgeting at our last meeting and I want to address it here. I tell my clients to look at their profits from the past two quarters of 2009 to determine their first quarter of 2010. I advise clients to budget as much as they feel good about budgeting. Meaning, “do not shrink back to the point you know full well you aren’t advertising enough- but do not rack up mammoth debt just to up your media spending either.”
Few businesses remember to calculate the correct amount of weight to give their Creative delivery as well. I’ve learned from client’s merely passable ads of the past, that you can say the wrong thing a MILLION times a month – even to the right people- they still won’t do business with you. So often a client will tell me that TV, or radio, or print, or internet simply will not work for them. However, when they admit that they have given this medium 6 weeks to deliver, and they show me an ad that has no call-to-action and no reason to truly remember anything about their product or service or location… We together realize the medium has not been tested in a way that really proves anything.
So let’s review: given the right target audience, message, creative delivery, medium, reach and frequency- advertising works. So in this upcoming year, do as much of it as you can. To figure out your actual budget numbers, here is a helpful tool from one of my favorite enterprises, The Wizards of Ad:
http://adbudgetcalculator.com
I wish you an amazingly merry Christmas! May 2010 be a very happy new year full of peace & love & health, fun & creativity… caring & sharing with all those around you…
