Re: Ad Rates Gone South But Attitudes Still in the North Pole

From: Ryan Gibson <ryan_at_kbitraining.com>
Date: Wed 27 Aug 2003 09:19:52 -0500

I have to agree with you on this one Ariel, but that is because you are
buying from Ad Reps and not agencies. There is a difference. Now I say
this, but be careful, because a lot of people claim to be agents, and
they are actually middle men between you and the ad rep which in some
ways is worse.

I remember buying ad space in Flycast and Engage B2B once, it was a
$25,000 USD purchase. The policies said that the banner is at the top of
every page, no double banners, and exclusive real estate. And I was
supposed to have it targetted to the US and Canada only. Limited to a
frequency of 3 via adknowledge. The sites where within a B2B vertical,
and had to be business oriented, NOT ENTERTAINMENT!

What I am trying to say is even the big boys run with your money...they
did.

I went through the stats and checked over 700 websites manually that I
ran across. People had 3 and 4 banners on a page, the banners where at
the bottom, at the top, at the thank you page with 4 other banners, on
websites that where for toddlers. It was a disgrace. The thing is, if
you buy from the reps they "aren't supposed to know what is best for
you, it's not their fault" in their opinion. This is their moral
attitude for taking your money. There are no guarantees, partially
because you are not paying them to tell you your ad copy is going to
bomb! They are not advertising agents, they are not copy writers, they
have no opinion, they are sales people. Trust me, I was one of them,
until I began doing large flight campaigns and working with agencies,
and realised that "client focussed" is a much nicer way to treat my
clients and that giving value is better than selling air.

But at the end of the day, they have to pay bills, and if selling the
odd person "their worst advertising experience in the world" for $10,000
keeps their doors open, they will do it under the auspice that they
probably didn't think the client would come back anyways.

There are a few awesome optimizers of online advertising out there, and
they fight for you as their client. If you find them, keep them, and let
the rest of us know what they did, because I am sure we all want to hear
success stories- no matter what the vertical market is.

On a personal note, test buys...generally giving away something for free
is not good for anyone. If it is a test buy for under $10,000 great. I
generally like to pay first and then ask for cost per acquisition
later...if the advertising really performs, then it is in your interest
to buy it rather than giving them a commission. That is my experience
buying directly from sites. I hate it when people ask for something for
free, it generally means they will make you pay later... Build
relationships, find optimizers, and be smart. If you can't afford
advertising, give some $$$ and some commission to the publisher. There
are creative solutions.

Sincerely,

Ryan A Gibson
Sales and Marketing
Ryan_at_kbitraining.com

Author of The Internet Marketing Certificate Program
http://www.langara.bc.ca/cs/programs/IMCP.html
Vancouver BC Canada




Received on Wed Aug 27 2003 - 09:19:52 CDT