Backchannelmedia

Franchising World

By Lipson, James M

Mark Twain wrote, "Many a small thing has been made large with the right kind of advertising."

Four important words

Today, newspaper editors tell cub reporters to remember the basic keys to writing a story: who, what, where, when and why. These keys hold true for advertising as well. By developing a vision that factors in these elements, one can create a solid advertising plan.

Prior to writing a prize-winning story, a reporter must determine who will be the target audience and address this reader. This same focus on determining the target applies to advertising as well. A business owner must ask who it is he or she is trying to attract- new customers or existing loyal customers? Each of these important groups will require a different message to pique their interest. If looking to target both, the advertiser should still consider this a new customer promotion since these are the most difficult customers to attract and thus, will want to be as aggressive as possible.

Next a reporter must determine the focus of the story, and at the end of the process, make sure the goal of the focus is met. No one wants to read a story that does not come to an end and brings together all of the story lines. This holds true for advertising as well: no one wants to see an ad and then wonder what it was for.

In developing advertising, the planner must think of the message that is to be conveyed. Is it a promotion about a new service? Or is it a price and item ad? Each of these themes demands a different approach.

For a promotional ad, one needs to make sure the features and benefits of the company are made very clear since you want the customer to know, from the outset, why they should use your company when they need these types of products or services.

If it is a price and item ad, one needs to determine what price point is necessary to have a potential customer choose to purchase the product from you rather than a competitor, while maintaining an acceptable margin.

Where did the story take place? A reporter must try to give the best description of the area where the story occurred. This will paint a more accurate picture for the reader and allows more insight and point of reference into the story. The same is true with advertising: what area or geography is best aligned with your product or service? In reviewing sales history, try to determine where the company's best or most-frequent customers are traveling from (home or work?) for their product or service. This may be achieved by asking a customer fill out a questionnaire, or simply asking for their ZIP code.

ZIP code demographics

The ZIP code will provide information that is necessary to determine how far customers are traveling to use the company's service or buy their product, and will be critical in developing an accurate, meaningful profile of the customer base. Urban studies show that people who tend to be alike live in close proximity of one another. While a ZIP code-level demographic profile may seem to be a rather large footprint, it will at least give the business planner a general idea of where their customers currently come from, and because their neighbors likely have similar needs and interests, non- customer neighbors are likely to be a good pool of candidates to be future customers themselves. Most media providers should be able to provide ZIP code-level demographic information without cost.

After a representative sampling of customers has been profiled, it is time to determine where others like them live outside of the ZIP code that has already been identified as a prime area. Referring to demographic information supplied by the media outlet, identify areas that match a similar profile. Then determine which type of media will reach these people best and determine the cost for each of the media options. Weighing the benefits of the options with the cost should reveal which advertising vehicle will be the most cost- effective.

It's about timing

There is an adage that suggests that "timing is everything." This is true, both in reporting and advertising. A reporter must present a story in a timely manner. Similarly, the effectiveness of an ad will be significantly diminished if it reaches the customer after the perceived need. An advertiser must consider when the message should be placed in order to be most effective and have the greatest return. This will tie into many other decisions including: will there be enough staff to cover the increase in customer traffic? Will there be enough products for the customers? When should the offer expire? Are there other outside forces, such as weather, community functions or vacation seasons that may affect the return of the ad?

Once these decisions have been made it is time to determine the advertising schedule. Should it run early in the week, mid-week or over the weekend? Prime time or mid afternoon? Drive time or lunch time? Each of these slots has a different audience, in both scope and size, and therefore, cost.

In the newspaper industry, many consider the Sunday edition to be the best day during which to place an insert. For many reasons, Sunday is a great day to advertise; there is typically greater circulation and readership, therefore it has a higher cost.

Perhaps a weekday may be better if budget is a concern. Each day of the week, most newspapers have different themes or sections designed to attract different reader groups. For example, on Saturdays, most newspapers will publish a large home-and-garden section. This will give the advertiser a good sense of what interests and needs a typical reader on that day might have.

Purposeful advertising

Upon finishing an article, a report must remember why the story was written and make sure the information and ideas are accurately and clearly expressed. If the article does not cover the purpose of the topic or misinforms, then why write it at all?

An advertiser must remember that advertising is an investment in the business. It is not a sunken cost. When well planned and executed, advertising brings a return on investment that is not always measurable in a tangible way. Just getting a company's name out where people will see and remember it will have a great impact. Perhaps the person who sees the ad may not currently have a need for the product or service that the ad communicates, but they may develop a need in the future, and at that time the business owner wants to make sure they know where to go. The return on an ad does not simply mean how many coupons are redeemed.

Some time ago, a client ran advertising with us and when we contacted him the following month to see if he would like to advertise again, he stated, "No, he did not get a good return. When we probed a little, it turned out he only got four calls from the 10,000 freestanding inserts placed in the newspaper.

This indeed sounded like a poor response. We then asked how many calls turned into sales and what the dollar amount of these sales gained. It turned out he closed two of the four calls, totaling $10,000 dollars. "Wow;" we said. A $10,000 return on a $575 investment is very good, but he still believed that since he only got four calls, the advertising didn't produce a good return.

Another client got too many coupons back. He ran free-standing inserts with us, and when we called back to see if he wanted to repeat, he said, "No, I got too many coupons back." This is a lesson in making sure the pricing of the offers are at a point where it is financially sound. This franchisee continues to order every now and again, but we have worked with him to make sure pricing is at a level where he can earn a profit and manage the response level. Who would ever think someone would not want to advertise because it was too successful?

I would never have imagined that reporting and advertising would have so much in common. At a newspaper, editorial and advertising are kept separate, so as not to sway an article to favor anyone, and yet they are very similar. Editorial information in a newspaper is essentially the offer made to persuade a person to read the newspaper and look at the advertising in the newspaper. A business advertises to attract some one to use their services. For both news and advertising, the same key questions must be answered.

* Who is your target audience?

* What is the message you are trying to convey?

* Where are you going to run this message?

* When are you going to run this message?

* Why are you going to run this message?

The last question is the most important: why are you doing this? Many do not see advertising as an investment in their business; they see it purely as way to generate sales. But it goes beyond just the sales aspect to include the intangibles. Business recognition, or branding, is a priceless benefit of advertising. If you run a business and no one knows where you are or what you sell, how are you going to succeed? Sure, word-of-mouth may develop over time, but this only captures a segment of the buying population. What about those who are new to the community? How do they benefit from word- of-mouth?

The only ways to reach the masses are by advertising and placing the business' name out there to be seen. Whether by broadcast, newspaper, direct mail or the Internet, each has the ability to reach into the specific market to which you want to communicate. No\t one of these advertising vehicles can meet all of the needs for a franchise. Each has its limitations, strengths and weaknesses.

The best advertising plans contain a mixture of media vehicles, so that the best possible reach into a market is made in the most cost-efficient way.

Who? What? Where? How?

Business recognition, or branding, is a priceless benefit of advertising.

Remember that advertising is an investment in the business.

James M. Lipson is vice president of sales for the Gannett Retail Advertising Group, Gannett Co. Inc. and Franchise Xpress. He can be reached at jlipson@gannett.com or 312-321-7720.

James M. Lipson

James M. Lipson is vice president of sales for Franchise Xpress/ Gannett Retail Advertising Group based in Chicago. Franchise Xpress is part of The Gannett Co. one of the largest newspaper companies in the country with more than 100 papers plus USA Today, newspapers in the United Kingdom and many television stations. Prior to joining Franchise Xpress, Lipson spent many years at other Gannett properties in Detroit, Reno, and Salinas, Calif. His career in print advertising that has spanned more than 30 years.

Copyright International Franchise Association Dec 2005