Point of Purchase

Better Marketing at the Point of Purchase

Low Cost

Virginia Slims, targeted at women, and Benson & Hedges Deluxe

Ultra Lights, with a silver package designed to appeal to elitists
among both men and women.

While reaching 1,000 adults through a 30-second network

television commercial costs $4.05 to $7.75, the cost per thousand
for a store merchandiser or a sign with a one-year life is only 3
cents to 37 cents.4 These figures reflect the low production and
installation costs of POP materials and the fact that the same POP
materials are seen repeatedly by consumers and salespeople.

And the right packaging limits the potential for pilferage of small
items. The manufacturer of Fevertest, a plastic strip that, when
placed on the forehead, indicates the presence of fever, added size
and value to the product by enclosing the strip in a wallet,
packaging the wallet in a blister pack, and displaying the item on
pegboards at supermarket and drugstore checkout counters.

Consumer Focus
POP programs focus on the consumer but also provide a service to
the trade. Because they help move products off the shelves into
consumers hands, POP expenditures are often more productive
than off-invoice price reductions to the trade, which risk being
pocketed and therefore withheld from the consumer.

Consumer and trade expectations of product packaging should not

discourage marketers from innovation, though frequent changes in
package size and design breed trade resistance, especially when
existing shelf configurations cannot easily accommodate the new
packages. Reflecting the shift to self-service car maintenance,
Kendall and Arco recently began to sell oil in plastic containers
with built-in pouring spouts.

Precise Target Marketing

Making Shopping Fun

POP programs can be easily tailored to the needs of local markets

or classes of trade in response to marketers increasing emphasis
on region-by-region marketing programs and on account
management of key retail customers. In addition, particular
consumer segments can be precisely targeted. Revlons Polished
Ambers Dermanesse Skin programmer, a nonelectronic teaching
aid used at the point of purchase to suggest appropriate cosmetic
combinations to black women, exemplifies a targeted approach
that could not be undertaken efficiently via media advertising
alone.

Manufacturers are increasingly using consumer promotions to

make shopping exciting. These include premiums, coupons,
samples, and refund offers in or on product packages to help them
stand out and break through the visual clutter at the point of
purchase. Package-delivered promotions have the further
advantage of being inexpensive in comparison with consumer
promotions offered in magazine advertisements or direct mail
campaigns.

Easy Evaluation
Alternative POP programs can be inexpensively presented in split
samples of stores. Stores equipped with check-out scanner
systems can quickly provide the sales data needed to evaluate the
impact of POP programs for the benefit of both manufacturer and
retailer.
Changing Consumer Expectations
Many consumers wish to do their shopping quickly and
efficiently; yet, at the same time, the longer they are in a retail
store, the more likely they are to buy. Purchases planned least
often were, according to one survey, auto supplies (94%),
magazines and newspapers (91%), and candy and gum
(85%).5 Drugstore purchases, too, were largely unplanned
60% of them, including 78% of snack food and 69% of cosmetics
purchases.6 An average of 39% of department store purchases
were unplanned, ranging from 27% of womens lingerie purchases
to 62% of costume jewelry purchases.7 Effective POP programs
not only present useful information efficiently; they can also make
shopping entertaining and remove some of its
A Package Is More Than a Container
Packaging has many functions beyond acting as a container for a
product.
Appropriate packaging, of course, attracts attention at the point of
purchase. Manufacturers such as Nabisco and Kellogg use the
same package design for many items in their product lines to
present a highly visible billboard of packages to consumers at the
point of purchase. In 1979, Nabisco standardized the package
design of its chocolate-covered cookies; the market share for this
product rose from 24% to 34% by 1981.10
Standardized packaging also permits easy identification of brands,
types, and sizes. Private-label suppliers have imitated the color
codes used to identify various sizes of disposable diapers made by
the brand name manufacturers. Similarly, packaging
communicates product benefits and identifies target groups.
Contrast the packaging of Marlboro cigarettes, aimed at men,

Manufacturers are also becoming aware that retailers favor

manufacturers whose promotions bring consumers into the store.
For example, some sweepstakes promotions, such as Brown Shoe
Companys Footworks contest, encourage the consumer to match
symbols in an advertisement with those on a store display or
package in order to enter the contest. Retailers also like
promotions that tie into store merchandising themes and cross-sell
other products (promotions built around recipes or complete home
decorating services, for instance) and promotions that avoid the
use of special price packs that require retailers to replace existing
shelf stock and set up new Universal Product Code entries in store
computer systems.
In-Store Advertising Media
Manufacturers can extend to retailers a number of innovative
approaches for reinforcing brand awareness and delivering
advertising messages at the point of purchase. These include:
Commercials broadcast over in-store sound systems.
Moving message display units with changeable electronic
messages.
Customer-activated videotapes and video disks that show
merchandise such as furniture that is too bulky to be displayed on
the department floor; the videotapes can also be played in window
displays to present, for example, designer fashion shows.
Television sets installed over cash registers to show waiting
customers commercials for products that are usually available
nearby.
Advertisements on carts used in supermarkets and other selfservice outlets.
Danglers and mobile displays that use available air space rather
than limited floor space
Implementation Steps

Recognizing the significance of the point of purchase is not

enough. Consumer goods marketers must pay more attention to
developing effective POP programs and, even more important, to
ensuring that they are properly implemented at the store level.
Before developing a POP program, managers must have a clear
understanding of their marketing strategywhich products are
being delivered to which markets through which channels of
distribution. Given the marketing strategy, marketers should go on
to answer such questions as:
What must happen at the point of purchase to satisfy consumer
needs?
Which channel membersmanufacturers, retailers, consumers
are willing to perform which functions?
Which members can perform them most cost-effectively?
How should the functions be allocated?
How should the pricing structure for the product (and for the POP
program) reflect this allocation of functions?
Program Development
Once they answer these questions, marketers can work out the
specifics of the POP programobjectives, vehicles, and budgets.
Here are five principles that should guide this process:
1. Integrate all elements of the POP communications mix. The
package, for example, cannot be designed independently of the
display. All POP vehicles should communicate consistent and
mutually reinforcing messages to both the trade and the consumer.
2. Offer the trade a coordinated POP program for an entire
product line rather than a collection of POP materials for
particular items. To further impress the trade, make sure that the
POP program is easy to understand and financially realistic.
3. Link POP assistance to trade performance. High-quality
displays, for example, should not be given away to the trade
unless linked to a quantity purchase or paid for with cooperative
advertising dollars earned on previous purchases.
4. Assume that various POP programs will be necessary for
distribution channels. The traditional hardware store and the selfservice mass merchandiser, for example, differ both in store
environment and in type of customer; the ideal POP program for
each will not be the same.
5. Integrate POP communications with non-POP communications.
Television advertising should tell consumers in which stores and
departments they can find the advertised product and should
include shots of product packages and displays to facilitate
consumer recall and brand identification at the point of purchase.
Sometimes a POP display becomes the basis for a television
advertising campaign, as in the case of the Uniroyal POP unit,
which invited the consumer to drill a hole in a Royal Seal tire to
demonstrate that no air was lost if it was punctured.
Program Execution
Any POP program is only as effective as the quality of its
implementation at the store level. Effective implementation
requires that managers, first, recognize the execution challenge.
Many innovative approaches to managing the point of purchase
fail because responsibilities for such tasks as stocking and
maintaining displays are not clearly allocated or, once allocated,
are not properly performed. Under these circumstances,
cooperation between manufacturers and retailers can quickly turn
into recrimination.

Consumer goods marketers are often too eager to assume POP

responsibilities themselves. To increase their control over the
execution of their marketing programs, they might enhance
effectiveness and reduce expense to make the programs work by
appropriately compensating the retailers.
Two recent examples highlight the risks of ineffective execution
at the point of purchase:

General Entertainment Corporation failed in its 1982

attempt to market popular music cassette tapes from
floor-stand displays in supermarkets partly because its
field sales force could not maintain display inventories of
168 stockkeeping units, many of which changed every
few months.
Binney & Smith, manufacturer of Crayola crayons and
other arts materials, quickly placed 1,500 special
merchandising units called Crayola Fun Centers in a
variety of distribution outlets following their introduction
in 1980. But efficiently servicing the displays proved
difficult, and Binney terminated the contract of the
servicing firm handling this task.
In general, the greater the number of stockkeeping units in a
display and the greater the diversity of channel environments in
which the displays are placed, the more complex and challenging
effective execution becomes.
Next, managers must evaluate the execution alternatives.
Consumer goods marketers usually have three options for
carrying out POP programsto use their own salespeople, to
contract with brokers or service merchandisers, and to rely on the
retailer. The evaluation should center on comparative costs,
degree of marketers control over the execution, and the relative
importance of effective POP merchandising in leveraging a
products overall marketing program. The more important it is, the
more justification the marketer has for using a direct sales force.
One important reason for the success of Leggs was the
companys decision to have its own salespeople deliver the
product on consignment to stores and to assume total
responsibility for managing the point of purchase. Yet the ability
of the Leggs salespeople to stock product displays efficiently had
a negative twist; although it enabled Leggs to introduce
numerous line extensions, their addition complicated the product
selection process at the point of purchase and made it seem
inconvenient in the minds of many consumers.
To ensure the freshness and integrity of its snacks, Frito-Lays
9,000 van salespeople visit 300,000 outlets each week. Beyond
taking orders, they are trained to advise retailers about how to
allocate shelf space in the snack food section according to a sixpoint space management program. Yet, despite the clout of its
sales force, Frito-Lay could not persuade supermarkets to stock its
new line of Grandmas cookies at supermarket check-out
counters; they are now being displayed in the cookie sections.
These two examples deliver an important message. Even when a
company has the sales force to ensure the execution of a POP
program, it must never lose sight of the needs of consumers and
the trade.

Many consumer goods marketers cannot afford their own sales

forces and must rely on brokers or service merchandisers. Both
are often unfairly demeaned. A good broker is sometimes more
effective than a direct sales force in managing the point of
purchase, as many big companies, including H.J. Heinz and
Pillsbury, know well. Because they carry a number of
noncompeting product lines, brokers enjoy economies of scale
that enable them to visit retail stores more often than a
manufacturers sales force to check stocks, reset displays, and
offer planograms. Brokers can establish close relationships with
retailers in their local areas and organize blockbuster promotional
events for their principals. For frozen food manufacturers, brokers
are especially important to managing the point of purchase.
Frequent store visits are essential because freezer space is limited
on account of equipment and energy costs, and stores carry little,
if any, backroom inventory.

$1,000,000.
I will guess that you want something more realistic. For that, I
would suggest it's more effficient to buy time on national cable
networks than it is on national Networks (ABC, etc), so if you just
by cable TV, and even if you buy during cheap dayparts (daytime
and late night for instance), you can assume you'll have to spend
$5MM on TV alone per month. Radio network time can be bought
more efficiently, so let's say $1MM on radio, $300k on print,
$250,000 on cheap inventory online banner ads, $500,000 on paid
search engine marketing (assumes you have a website to point to).
Again, all of this is per month.
As for out of home places like bus shelters, buying nationally is
VERY cost prohibitive, I'd recommend you pass on that unless
you have maybe your top 5 markets identified and want to heavy
up your message there.

If your company uses brokers or service merchandisers, here are

four approaches to ensure that they effectively execute your POP
program:

If you want to include the costs for an agency and the production
of all your ads, add 20-25% to your media budget.

1. Check the size of the brokers sales force against the companys
product line commitments. Is the brokerage firm overextended?
How important is your business to the firm?

So, basically, you're looking at somewhere between $10-$20MM

for a minimal realistic nationally delivered ad message over a few
months, based on traditional approaches.

2. Develop a POP program that is creative yet easy to implement.

As a result, your company may gain more attention from the
brokers sales people (and, therefore, the trade) than the brokers
other principals.
3. Compensate the broker appropriately for the POP tasks you
expect him or her to perform. Do you provide bonus incentives to
broker salespeople for additional display placements?
4. Evaluate POP performance. Do you buy display audits to
compare your share of display space with your market share? Do
you occasionally play the customer, visit stores, check displays,
and ask sales clerks for information?
These same principles are relevant whether the retailer, a broker,
or a direct sales force is responsible for executing the POP
program. The most important point for the consumer goods
marketer to recognize is that an effective POP program never runs
like clockwork. It needs constant attention and reevaluation.
Many consumer goods marketers are increasing their expenditures
on POP programs. In 1982, for example, Elizabeth Arden, Inc.
raised its POP budget by 40%.11 What these marketers recognize
is the old adage that the difference between success and failure
often depends on the last 5% of effort rather than on the 95% that
preceded it. In consumer marketing, that last 5% manifests itself
at the point of purchase just before consumers choose what to buy.
https://hbr.org/1983/11/better-marketing-at-the-point-ofpurchase

NATIONALADVERTISING
How much does it cost to run a national ad campaign?
I'm thinking of something along the lines of the pro-Fatherhood or
HIV awareness campaigns, with billboards, bus benches, internet
ads, a print run and radio/TV spots.
Bill Hewson, Part of the digital marketing hive mind
The answer truly is, "it depends." A lot. It depends on how long
you want this campaign to run, at what times of day, how often
the ads should appear, etc. Some quick for instances:
If you assume a 2-4 week one-time campaign and assume that you
are willing to buy the cheapest TV and Radio time available. (no
superbowl for you!) AND you assume that you already have paid
an agency to create ads and buy media time for you, you can
probably buy the media across all channels for less than

Or, you could create one amazing video on Youtube, it could go

viral, become a national sensation like those Evian dancing
babies, and the same amount of exposure as your national media
plan can be had for as little as the cost of a flip video camera.
See, It depends. :)

Bill Brady, Has been working in advertising since 1998. He Is a

partner in a food adverti...
There are many factors that contribute to this equation but the real
answer is where can you maximize your return on investment.
Assuming you have done all of your branding/positioning work
Bill's estimates are on target for what your asking.
The bigger questions are what are you trying to achieve with your
campaign and are there more targeted and cost effective ways to
achieve your goals?
The methods of advertising your asking about are not very
targeted nor are they cost effective. There are many more effective
ways to spend your ad dollars, reach your audience and drive
awareness.
Depending on your target market you may be able to leverage an
wider audience for much less money and even reach a wider
audience.
For example rather than generate just an ad campaign you can
create branded content in the form of videos that speak to your
product or service. If you schedule the content in the proper way
you can gain an audience of regular, vetted viewers that actually
want to hear your message. Huge difference than walking past a
subway ad and hoping that the hundreds of eyeballs happens to be
the prospect your message was intended.
For the cost of one high end broadcast comercial you can create a
years worth of branded content that will not only help sell your
product or service but generate vastly improved SEO for your
website. For the cost of an out of home print campaign you can
purchase targeted advertisement that will convert at much higher
numbers.
If your allocating a decent amount of your budget for SEO
anyway, you can amortize the SEO expense. You can then elect to
either save the money you would be spending on SEO and
advertising collectively or put more money into ad buys.
There are 2 parts to the puzzle however. If you only create video
content your audience won't just randomly find it. It's a given that

you have to create content that people are interested in or your

never going to gain any traction. In addition to creating good
programming you then have to purchase qualified views which
will lead to regular subscribers.
Once you gain traction and commit to turning out consistant
content your purchased views will become subscribers and then
you can sell them on your product or service.
By carefully constructing a good compelling programming your
paid views will become regular viewers then start to convert their
social media networks into viewers and new subscribers.
By getting ahead of your competition you can outperform them
while attracting more views and spending less money.

The advertising costs associated with TV are expensive, and

making a TV ad is a complicated process. While many people all
over the world watch TV each day, the costs of designing and
producing a commercial can really put a dent in your
companys budget. In addition to that, youll be paying between
thousands and millions of dollars for a 30-second advertisement,
making television an expensive media advertising cost right out of
the gate. While some TV ads can be very effective, you really
need to ask yourself if the cost of advertising on TV is going to be
worth it for your company. After all, nowadays you can film your
own YouTube commercial and distribute it through your social
media outlets online for a fraction of the time and advertising
costs it takes to make a TV ad.
National Magazine Advertising

Quora User, I work with seven ad agencies from the publisher

side of things. I've used Op...
Answering the internet ads part of the question: Ad networks like
BurstMedia, ValueClick, or 24/7 Real Media have a minimum ad
buy of $10,000 / mo. CPM rates are $2-7 for a 300x250 or 728x90
ad depending on how much targeting you do and how big your ad
spend is. If you pick several key websites and buy ad impressions
directly from them, CPM rates are $5 to $20 (depending on the
industry, website popularity, target market, etc).
http://www.quora.com/How-much-does-it-cost-to-run-anational-ad-campaign

Setup Process

Design

Setup Cost

$500 to $397,800

Cost of Media

Average of approx. $250,000 per ad

Cost to Continue

Cost of media + agency hourly rate

Demographic Served

Anyone reading the magazine

Definitive ROI Tracking?

Pros

No

Exposure

Cons
Expensive, wasted impressions on
unqualified customers
The Cost of Advertising Nationally Broken Down by Medium
At WebpageFX, were firm believers that the web is the best way
to advertise your business. But what is the cost of advertising? To
discover this, we compiled advertising cost data for a bunch of
different mediums and compared their costs with the costs of web
advertising. We used numbers from both national and local
sources to determine the cost of advertising for each channel. The
current national advertising cost data is below. And we were right:
the web is the most accountable, cheapest, and easiest way to
bring in new business.

Last updated on August 21, 2015. We are periodically updating

this post as we come across new data. Feel free to suggest any
additional resources or edits in the comments.

Advertising through a national magazine costs less than

advertising through national TV, but without the dynamics and
level of narrative that an action-packed ad can deliver. On the plus
side, your ad will stick around for longer than 30 seconds, but are
the costs of magazine advertising really worth it? With the
potential to cost up to $397,800, you could run through your
whole marketing budget with one ad in one magazines special
edition. When you consider how inexpensive online advertising
is, magazine advertising costs way too much money to be
spending on ads that dont even have clickable links. By
comparison, the cost of national magazine advertising is pretty
high.
National Newspaper Advertising
Setup Process

Design

Setup Cost

$11 to $1.4 million

Cost of Media

Average of approx. $113,000 per ad

National TV Advertising

Cost to Continue

Cost of media + additional design in future

Setup Process

Design + Production

Demographic Served

Setup Cost

$63,000 to $8 million

Definitive ROI Tracking?

Cost of Media
ad

Average of approx. $342,000 per 30 second

Pros

Cost to Continue

Cost of media + agency hourly rate

Cons
Expensive, wasted impressions on
unqualified customers

Breaking Down Each Advertising Medium

Demographic Served

Anyone watching TV

Definitive ROI Tracking?

Pros

No

Exposure

Cons
Expensive, wasted impressions on
unqualified customers

Anyone reading the newspaper

No

Exposure

Newspaper advertising has the potential to be one of the most

affordable and expensive media on this list. However, one of the
big drawbacks to newspaper ads is that they get little notice
compared to TV, magazines, or online ads. Newspaper ads tend to
be less colorful and smaller than other kinds of printed ads, and it
costs extra if you want to add that extra life into your
advertisement. Plus, taking out a full-page insert in special
editions of nationwide newspapers can cost more than a whole

small business is worth. A lot of newspaper options may be

cheaper, but without the same engagement as the Internet, the cost
of newspaper ads is still comparatively high.

Demographic Served
company like yours

Direct Mail Marketing

Pros

Setup Process

Design

Setup Cost

$50 to $7,200

Cons
Continuous monitoring necessary to
maintain traffic stream

Cost of Media

Approx. $51.40 per order

Cost to Continue

Design, publishing + postage costs

Demographic Served

Direct mail companys mailing list

Definitive ROI Tracking?

Yes

Pros

Targeted

Cons
investment

Publishing and postage costs drive up initial

At first glance, direct mail marketing seems much more

reasonable than the other media on this list. However, when you
take publishing and postage costs into account, youre looking at
spending quite a bit more in advertising costs than initial
projections indicate. It all depends on how large your mailing list
is. Even if you are willing to pay the advertising costs for direct
mail marketing, who actually reads this kind of mail anyway?
Most people take the envelope right out of their mailboxes and
drop it straight into the trash. Do you really want to be spending
your valuable advertising resources on filling up someones
garbage can?

Definitive ROI Tracking?

Setup Process

Script Writing

Setup Cost

$1,000 to $5,200

Cost of Media

$7 $70 per hour or $35 $60 per lead

Cost to Continue

$20-$60/hour

Demographic Served People on your telemarketing companys

call list
Definitive ROI Tracking?

Yes

Pros

Targeted

Cons

Extremely annoying, hurts brand image

Telemarketing is a more direct and on-the-spot form of

advertising, making it a great way to engage potential clients. But
depending on how many outbound calls your company is making,
you could end up paying a substantial fee for your advertising
costs. Not to mention, youll only drive your customers and
potential customers crazy with this kind of advertising ploy,
which is another cost for advertising that you may not expect.
Few people will tolerate telemarketing calls, and no one enjoys
them. Save your money for advertising campaigns your
customers will actually like and find intriguing.
National Search Engine Optimization
Setup Process

Website Configuration

Setup Cost

$4,000-$10,0000

Cost of Media

Free

Cost to Continue

~$500/month to internet marketer

Yes

Free stream of qualified traffic

Configuring your website for national SEO is a bit more

expensive than the initial costs of telemarketing, but its even
cheaper than direct mail marketing and none of your customers
will throw your ads in the trash or hang up on you. Also, unlike
magazine and newspaper ads, SEO allows you to create
interesting content that advertises for your business and is
sharable on social networking sites. When you implement good
SEO strategies, potential customers can search for your
companys website or social pages on Google and interact with
your brand online. You can even create commercials for
websites like YouTube and Hulu for only a fraction of the cost of
advertising on TV. In general, SEO combines some of the lowest
national advertising costs with some of the highest ROI.
National Pay Per Click Marketing
Setup Process

Website Configuration

Setup Cost

$4,000-$10,0000

Cost of Media

5-$3 per qualified visitor

Cost to Continue Cost of clicks + ~$500/month to internet

marketer
Demographic Served
company like yours

Telemarketing

People actively searching for a

People actively searching for a

Definitive ROI Tracking?

Yes

Pros

Free stream of qualified traffic

Cons
and waste money

Easy for amateurs to mismanage a campaign

National Email Marketing

Setup Process

Email Template Design

Setup Cost

$4,000-$10,0000

Cost of Media

5-$3 per qualified visitor

Cost to Continue

~$500/month to internet marketer

Demographic Served

Your email database

Definitive ROI Tracking?

Yes

Pros

Previous customers

Cons

Inboxes are cluttered

The costs of advertising through email marketing are pretty

similar to the costs of a PPC campaign or SEO. That is its
inexpensive. Unlike telemarketing or direct mail marketing
though, email marketing allows customers to interact with your
ads in a way that wont annoy them to death. You can offer
customers limited time sales or store credits directly through
email, and they can immediately click on the link to go to your
website and redeem those offers. Better yet, they can view your
email at a time that is convenient for them something that many
telemarking campaigns fail to consider.
Web Content Marketing Campaign

Setup Process
graphical elements

Development of web content assets and

Setup Cost

$6,000-$12,000

Cost of Media

Free

Cost to Continue
topics)

$0 (If content is written around evergreen

Demographic Served

Newspapers use rate cards which will tell you exactly how much
newspaper advertising costs. Here is another great article from
design your ad which shows you How To Read A Rate Card.
The basic math involves the following components: the average
circulation of the paper, the size of the newspaper advertisement,
and the cost per thousand people reading your ad (really,
receiving a paper that contains your ads).

All Web searches

Definitive ROI Tracking?

Circulation Of Paper in Thousands x Size Of Ad x CPM = Cost

Per Running On Advertisement

Yes

Pros
for many years

Content marketing can deliver traffic/leads

Cons

Results can be more hit or miss

Web content marketing can cost even less than other forms of
online advertising. When you take into account the continuing
costs of the previously mentioned ad types, you can actually
create very effective web content that costs less than other forms
of online marketing. Better yet, this kind of content can continue
to generate interest in your website years after it was originally
created. Infographics, blog posts and content made specifically for
social media sites are all examples of online content marketing
that can go viral and drive traffic to your site for years.

Circulation of Paper: Newspapers should provided you

audited circulation numbers from The Alliance of Audited Media.
Dont be fooled by readership numbers provided by the paper.
Some newspapers claim that their paper is read by several people
per each physical copy distributed. While it may be true,
advertisers pay based on circulation.

Size Of Ad: A full page ad equals 1, a half page 0.5, an

eighth page 0.125 etc.

Cost Per Thousand: For a full page advertisement, the

newspaper advertising costs per thousand typically ranges from
$80 to $130 for a full page advertisement. For a simple estimate,
$100 is good estimate.
Lets use these numbers to estimate how much running a page
ad in the largest circulation paper in Vermont, The Burlington
Free Press, would cost. The paper has a circulation of 31,000. 31
x 0.25 x $100 = $775

Whats the Most Cost-Effective Way to Advertise

Nationally?
Based on these results, we feel that national SEO, PPC
advertising, email marketing, and content marketing are the
best and most cost-effective ways that you can reach a national
audience. Over time, those are the media advertising costs that
will give you the best returns on your dollar. Although the setup
costs may be comparable to other national methods, in the long
run, these four methods have two distinct advantages:
1.

They cost far less in the long run, and

2.

They are far more precisely targeted than other

advertising methods.

Please note that the paper is not going to reveal their CPM rate.
Instead, they will list the cost to buy a certain amount of space.
Reach Customers With Local Radio Advertising, Starting At
Only $2,000
Newspaper Advertising Costs: Discounts & Extras
Newspapers often have introductory rates for new advertisers. If
you are going to be a regular advertiser or think you might be,
newspapers advertising costs can be reduced with volume
discounts (ie, if you run the equivalent of 10 full pages of ad
space over a year); you might be able to get a discount ranging
from 10 to 30%. With these volume deals, if you dont complete
the full volume commitment, the newspaper will bill you for the
advertising that you run at a higher price based on the rate card.

If your company or brand is looking to save money on advertising

while reaching its target audience more effectively, you should
consider implementing a full inbound marketing strategy. Unlike
traditional forms of national advertising, which have come to be
viewed as intrusive or interruptive and have a higher cost of
advertising, inbound marketing serves potential customers who
have already reached your website through search or social media.
There are distinct advantages to inbound marketing. Perhaps the
biggest advantage is the ability to track your users and learn from
their behaviors and responses to your website and content (via an
analytics tool like Google Analytics). This kind of feedback and
data can help you adjust your marketing on an ongoing basis,
enabling you to better reach visitors and drive them to take action.
To learn more about inbound marketing and how it can save
money for your business while reaching more leads, check out
our Beginners Guide to Inbound Marketing. Have any
additional resources or data updates for this post? Feel free to
leave a comment and well update our information accordingly.

Newspapers will try to charge you for all the preferred positions:
choosing the section and the placement on the page. The
newspaper advertising costs for this will vary from paper to paper,
however, 25% extra would not be surprising.
Everything Else That You Need To Know About Newspaper
Advertising
If you talk to a sales representative from a radio station or TV
channel, they will tell you that print newspaper ads are dead.
While print is down and some newspapers have ended or limited
their print editions, tens of millions of people still read
newspapers every day, and even more so on Sunday. Leaving
aside the national papers, there are many local papers which are
read by several hundred thousand people each day.

http://www.webpagefx.com/blog/business-advice/the-cost-ofadvertising-nationally-broken-down-by-medium/

Average Daily Circulation (M-F) Of Major Daily Local

Newspapers (Alliance For Audited Media)

local advertising
How Much Does Newspaper Advertising Cost?

Denver Post 213,800

Houston Chronicle 231,200

San Diego Union-Tribune 192,800

Philadelphia Inquirer 184,800

You will have several choices when you buy newspaper ads. You
can buy run of paper, which is the cheapest option, or specific
sections. The most read section in a paper is the main news
section (80% of readers look at this section) followed by the local
news section (at 75% readership). After these two sections, there
is a sharp decline in readership with sports coming in at 55%.

While your local newspaper might not be as popular as the papers

listed above, the paper is probably read by tens of thousands of
people a day.

If your product or service has broad appeal, I would generally

suggest that you advertise in the local section. While the main
section gets a few more readers, you risk your advertisement
being next to an article about a horrible human catastrophe. By
placing the ad in the local section, you emphasize that youre part
of the community. There are exceptions to this idea. For example,
a paper may have a health section which might be good section
for a medical practice to advertise.

Who should use newspaper advertising?

Is your audience middle aged or seniors? Print newspapers do
tend to be read by those over 35 years of age. According,
the Newspaper Association of America 66% of adults over 35
have read a print newspaper during the last week. This compares
to 49% of adults between the ages of 18-34.

Where do you want your ad to appear?

1.

Does a large portion of your traffic come from mega-sales? A

newspaper can get the message out to a large number of potential
customer in a small amount of time.
Is couponing an important component of your
business? Newspapers are the perfect medium for the distribution
of coupons. The physical act of tearing out a coupon creates a
strong level of engagement with your message, increasing the
probability of them coming into your store.

2.

3.

Full Page 42%

Three Quarter Page 38%

Half Page 34%

Quarter Page 26%

One Eighth Page 23%

Newspaper advertising costs are directly proportional to the ad
space bought; an eighth of a page is a big bargain compared to a
full page ad; page gives you 55% of the attention of a full page
ad for 12.5% of the cost. Plus, th of the page provides enough
space for the ad to have big headline, a couple sentences of text,
and a coupon or photo. Going smaller than page in my opinion
impacts your ability to communicate your message.

Next to an article; not surrounded by other ads.

Which day of the week should your ad appear?

Depends on the type of service that you offer and how attention
catching your ad is.

How frequently should you run and what size newspaper ads
should you use?

On the right hand page, right hand side of that page is

even better.

Points 1 and 2 will help your ad be seen by readers flipping

through the paper. While point 3 will keep reader eyes near your
ad for longer periods of time.

If any of these apply to your business, n

The larger your newspaper advertisement the more likely people

will notice it. Starch Research does studies on how many
newspapers remember seeing your advertisement. Here are the
numbers based on the size of the ad:

Above the fold (the top half of the page)

Monday & Tuesday: There are less ads during these

days. Your ads may get more notice during these days, however,
circulation (the number of people receiving the paper) can be low
on these days.

Wednesday & Thursday: Grocery stores tend to like to

advertise on these days, as this is when many people plan
shopping trips.

Friday & Saturday: A good day for restaurants and

providers of entertainment.

Sunday: The day with the highest circulation and most

the ads. The paper is full of coupons.
Creating The Newspaper Ad
Want a pro to design your newspaper ad for just $5? Go here.
There are three basic parts to creating a newspaper advertisement:
1) Writing the copy. 2) Producing the ad. 3) Approving The Proof.
1. Writing The Copy:

For certain businesses, there is an argument for larger size ads. If

your customers are not necessarily frequent shoppers and are
buying big ticket items, having more potential customers notice
your advertisement may be more important than the efficiency of
the spend. This point of view is well articulated in this article
How big do you need to run?.
All else being equal, a smaller ad size will enable you to stretch
your budget farther and run with greater frequency. When running
in a newspaper, you should run your ads at least once per week.
Newspaper Advertising Location, Placement, & Timing

The most important element of your ad is the headline! If those 3

to 8 words dont interest the reader, the advertisement will fail.
Here are a few resources that we like for writing newspaper ads:
How To Succeed In Newspaper Advertising from
ProfessionalAdvertising.com
Effective Newspaper Ads from TheStar.ca
When writing your ads you should do the following:

1.
2.

3.

Look at ads from competitors.

Get suggestions from your newspaper account executive.
They will often come up with sample ads when trying to initially
get your business.
Brainstorm ideas with your employees and customers.
2. Producing your ad
Newspapers will have ad builder programs which can create a
professional looking ad based on detailed instructions. However,
you are going to have to be very clear for the ad to look the way
you want. To learn how to communicate with the production
department of a newspaper, click here
You dont need to use the production department of a newspaper
to create the ad. However, you will need to find out their technical
specifications to provide a designer. Working with a professional
designer will enable you to give feedback and make changes to
the ad. Creating a good looking newspaper advertisement should
cost around $150 to $500.
3. Requesting and approving the proof
You should always request the proof for a newspaper or magazine
advertisement. A proof will show you exactly how the ad will
look in the publication. For a variety of reasons, something can go
wrong when you give creative direction to a newspaper or hand
over files from a graphic designer. A proof gives you an
opportunity to check something did not go wrong before the ad is
published.
http://fitsmallbusiness.com/newspaper-advertisingcosts/#sthash.Pqdrl7ya.dpuf

Direct Mail Campaign Cost

How much does a Direct Mail Campaign Cost?
Cathy Crone, Jun 21, 2013
Question of the day- How much does a Direct Mail Campaign
Cost? We get this a lot and a lot of people just want a quick
answer. But quick answers are not possible when there are
multiple variables to consider. Consider asking someone how
much does a house cost? So many options and choices that play
into the cost of a home, its not a quick answer. But lets break
down some of the basics in Direct Mail 101 below:
Whats the goal of your campaign? Leads? Inquiries?
Appointments? Sales? Customer Engagement? This question
needs to be answered first and hopefully you already know the
answer if youre considering a direct mail campaign.

The type of mail piece you select should fit your offer, but more
importantly, engage your target audience. Postcards can be an
effective attention getter as there is no envelope to open and your
message is easy to read. More personalized and secure financial or
insurance offers may be more noticeable in an envelope package
because they may contain sensitive information. Do you have a
large brochure to sell your product or service? A 9x12 envelope
package may be what you need. Now again, all of these variables
go into adding up the total costs of your campaign. Postcards can
be an inexpensive option and creative sizes like 6x9 or 6x11 can
be attractive for the right product offer. Postcard printing can start
as low as .15-.32/piece (depending on size & quantity, and the
more you print the lower it goes!) and full letter packages can
run as low as .18-.50 (based on larger quantity print and mail
runs). So again, its difficult to just quote pricing when there are
so many choices along the way. How many pieces? Who are you
mailing to? What package best fits your needs? Lots of questions
to answer to quote a job.
Who will design your mail piece? Again, this has such a varying
scale based on large scale agencies to the small freelancers, the
complexity of your mail piece and the details of your offer will
affect the pricing of design charges. Its too hard to even ballpark
an answer for this one, it just requires reaching out to some folks
for estimates.
Postageahhhh, the USPS and its inherent challenges! What
package and size of package you choose will most likely be
determined on your overall budget. Postage can be less expensive
for a postcard, where full letter packages cost more, and certainly
a 9x12 envelope would be the most expensive option. Postage
costs can start as low as .28/piece and run up to over $1.00-2.00.
Again variables like first class, standard, presorting, etc. will
make this quick question require a long drawn out answer!
So as you can see above, I wish I could tell you your mailing will
cost you $2,000. But the answer is, its just not that easy! There
are many options that will increase or reduce costs based on the
number of inserts, color applications, personalization, etc.
Remember, variables like volume, presorting, size for postage
savings, address hygiene, mail tracking and working with a
provider that can provide discounts based on numerous mailings
all impact how much a mailing costs.
At the end of the day, its not the cost of the mailing but the return
or ROI you may get. The mailing costs are irrelevant if you sell
your product or service to the right number of customers, because
it then pays for itself and then some! Consider the chart below.
Cost-per-lead comparison

Who comprises your target market? Do you have a list of your

prospects or customers? If not, there is a multitude of ways to get
there. You can utilize a list vendor with simple geographic pulls or
tap into a more targeted universe by utilizing demographics that
will match your ideal customer base. If your product sales cycle is
a bit longer or you have a high valued product offering, you may
consider asking someone to build a prospecting model which will
take the guess work out of the equation and allow you to zoom in
on the best prospects with the highest probability to convert.
Based on these variables, lists can cost anywhere from .03-.05 all
the way up to $1.00/name. It depends on the level of detail
involved in the selection as everything comes with a price tag!

Email marketing became the direct marketing channel of choice in

recent years due to the ease of use, cost efficiencies, and ability to
have variable messaging in an inexpensive format. But fact is, it
doesnt convert the way other channels do. I know I get far too
many email ads daily and they all begin to blur to the point where
I take a chunk of them & DELETE! The DMA reports that the
cost per lead of direct mail is about the same as print and pay-perclick, and considerably less than telemarketing (as referenced in
the table above). Direct mail production costs are a bit more than
email, but not substantial enough to make email the "be all and
end all" of direct marketing.

Do you know what type of mailing you want to send? Postcard?

Size of Postcard? Letter Package? 9x12 Large Envelope package?

Best way to go call a professional to help you navigate through

all the decisions of planning your direct mail campaign. While

still an expensive marketing channel, it remains the single-most

effective channel at converting prospects into customers. Happy
Mailing!
http://www.sourcelink.com/blog/cathy-crone/2013/06/21/howmuch-does-a-direct-mail-campaign-costTry Postcards
Direct mail doesnt have to be large and expensive to be effective.
The U.S. Postal Service found that postcards are the mail format
most likely to be read or scanned.
It may be that postcards dont take much time to read. This means
that to be effective, the prospect needs to understand your offer
within seconds of glancing at it. Some of the same rules apply to
postcards as to emails in terms of how much information can be
effectively communicated.
Test postcard performance by using your best-performing
promotional email as the starting point. Put the image and header
on one side and the body copy on the other. Oversized postcards
tend to get more attention, so try a large-format card size. Then
see how your postcard test performs against email.
Remember, postcards are a great deal less expensive to print and
mail than most forms of direct mail.
Direct Mail Lists Are Better Quality
Direct mail list vendors have been working on their databases for
decades. Email lists are improving, but they are still not at the
same level of quality. This means that your direct mail list from a
good vendor will be more tightly targeted on your desired
customer. Dont forget to use your house list as well; house lists
tend to outperform rented lists by orders of magnitude.
If you havent started a house list, now is the time. Include
customers who have responded or bought previously as well as
former customers (you might be able to woo them back with the
right offer). Your time and attention to this mundane but critical
task will be repaid many times over.
Break Out of the Mailbox
If you are using envelopes, you already know that the only
purpose of the outer is to make sure the envelope gets opened
and the contents read. Take the time to test the messaging on the
outers. Tweak the wording or rephrase altogether to see if one
version pulls better than another. And test blind outers as well;
they often pull better than teasers because they dont notify
recipients that they are opening direct mail.
Use the Right Direct Mail Format
How well does your direct mail format correlate with what you
are selling? Fun, glitzy pieces that work well for cosmetics or
fashion will not fly if you are selling financial services; a somber
No. 10 envelope would be more credible because thats what
people expect from financial services. Start collecting direct mail
pieces as a reference library. Focus on direct mail aimed at your
audience and analyze what the senders intentions were, the calls
to action, graphics, etc.
Get Personal

Personalized communications continue to out-do generic pitches

in all categories.
But using a persons name is just the beginningthe content
needs to be personalized as well. For example, if you are
marketing high tech products that run on different platforms, users
will have different hot buttons. A generic message that focuses on
only one platform will not be relevant to other customers.
Wording that tries to cover issues for all platforms will be
cumbersome and uninteresting to most recipients. Its worth the
extra time and small expense to assure that your piece says the
right thing to the right people.
Timing Is Everything
Direct mail campaigns used to take weeks to execute because of
the time it took to develop concepts, print, etc. That can still be
true of large and elaborate campaigns, but now marketers can take
advantage of digital print-on-demand.
This allows you to be far more flexible in how you use direct
mail. For example, American Signature Furniture once conducted
a test, sending a self-mailer to people who visited a showroom but
did not buy. The mailer included the customers names and the
name and contact information for the sales rep who served them,
as well as the date and time of the visit. Photos displayed the
styles they considered during their visit to the store.
Results were impressive. People who receive the mailer and
return to purchase spend about 40% more than those who did not
receive the mailer. The reminder also boosted return visits to the
store by 10%.
Use direct mail as an adjunct to other sales and promotion efforts.
Salespeople who complete a sales call can drop a postcard in the
mail on the same day, thanking the customer and perhaps offering
a special discount. Direct mail can support an email campaign as
well.
Of course, seasonality is important. If your swimming poolsupply business peaks during the warm months, be sure to send
direct mail in March reminding pool owners of the delights of the
summer to comeand the importance of having a clean,
sparkling pool to enjoy.
Go Dimensional
3-D or dimensional mailings, whether they take the form of a box
with a teaser on the outside or a tube, outperform standard formats
by 250%, according to the DMA, but increase the cost per lead by
only 50%.
Use dimensional mailers with high-value prospects, and make an
even higher impact by following up with a telemarketing call.
Ive seen a combination of email, direct mail, and telemarking
consistently yield a 13% to 15% response, and once you have
them engaged on the phone you can qualify them for lead quality
and pass the A leads immediately onto the sales department.
Test Everything
Amid a plethora of promotional techniques that are extremely
hard to quantify (such as social media marketing), direct mail
remains refreshingly measurable. Every lead or order can be
traced back using source codes or other techniques. This allows
you to experiment with different approaches to determine which

ones are the most successful. It also allows you to quantify your
ROI and justify costs.
http://www.onlinemarketinginstitute.org/blog/2013/06/whydirect-mail-still-yields-the-lowest-cost-per-lead-and-highestconversion-rate/#sthash.YoCGGfPh.dpuf
Manufacturer dealer advertising
Invoice Price (or "Dealer Cost")
How to find invoice pricing

Also, regional pricing differences can be the cause of a

discrepancy. For example, in the South and Southeast, large
independent distributors control the pricing of Toyota vehicles,
and they may set prices at different levels than those established
by Toyota for the rest of the country. Similarly, in the Northeast,
an independent company distributes Subaru vehicles and can
influence pricing in that region.
https://help.edmunds.com/hc/en-us/articles/206102377Invoice-Price-or-Dealer-CostOutdoor Advertising Rates

Use the Make/Model/Year tabs at the top of Edmunds.com. This

will bring you to that car's overview page. On this page, you will
see tabs for Pricing, Photos, Reviews, Features/Specs, Inventory,
and More. Click on "More" and select "Build and Price/TMV."
This tool will let you build and price a vehicle with the desired
trim level, options, and packages you want and will show you the
Invoice, as well as the True Market Value (average price people
are paying) and the MSRP.
What is Invoice Pricing?
Invoice price (sometimes referred to as "dealer cost") is the price
that appears on the invoice that the manufacturer sends to the
dealer when the dealer receives a car from the factory.
Please note, however, that this price is almost always higher than
the amount the dealer actually ends up paying to the manufacturer.
This results from a variety of discounts offered to the dealer that
do not appear on the invoice. The two most common discounts
are Dealer Holdback and Dealer Cash Incentives, and there are
others that may be based on factors such as a dealer's sales
volume for a particular month.
Also note that the invoice price does not reflect any manufacturerto-consumer rebates, the destination charge or the tax, title,
license, advertising or registration fees. For more on such fees,
please see What Fees Should You Pay?
Sometimes the amount quoted as the invoice price includes the
destination charge and sometimes it does not, so look closely. On
Edmunds.com, we always make that clear.
In the end, determining a dealer's actual net cost is difficult even
for seasoned automotive insiders. This is why we developed
the True Market Value pricing system, which is our determination
of what other consumers are actually paying for a vehicle. TMV
accounts for the effect of all of the manufacturer's extra charges as
well as the dealer's hidden subsidies, and we believe it is the most
important price to know when negotiating your purchase.
Invoice Price Discrepancies
Invoice prices on our site always match the price listed in a
booklet prepared by the vehicle manufacturer and distributed to its
dealers commonly known as the "dealer order guide"; however, an
individual dealer may add additional items such as advertising
fees. (For more on dealer fees, see What Fees Should You Pay?)
Please note when comparing invoice prices that it's important to
ensure the vehicles' styles and options are an exact match. For
example, the invoice price of a Ford Fusion SPORT FWD (frontwheel drive) will be slightly less than the Ford Fusion SPORT
AWD (all-wheel drive).

Outdoor advertising rates are as varied as the long list of

choices available to advertisers within the out of home
media industry. Such factors as the type and size of outdoor
advertising medium used, the breadth and reach of the campaign,
and most importantly, the physical location of the outdoor
advertising signs will come into play. Billboard advertisingrates
will especially take into consideration demographics, and the
DEC (Daily Effective Circulation) rates for the location, which is
a measurement of the average traffic experienced where the
billboard or sign will be viewed.
If youd like immediate personal assistance from one of our
friendly and experiencedOutdoor Advertising Costs Specialists,
please call us at (202) 337-1839, or click on the button (to the
right) to be connected. It would be our pleasure to assist you with
understanding outdoor advertising rates and discuss the various
types of outdoor advertising mediums which are currently
available.
So, How Much is Billboard Advertising?
If you are asking yourself, How much is billboard
advertising, were ready to qualify your question by describing
the many options available and provide the answer which best
satisfies the requirements of your marketing campaign as it
pertains to billboard advertising rates.
The possibilities are endless and go well beyond
just billboards and wallscapes. Technology has moved the
industry forward with splashy electronic animated billboards
which always make a strong impression, and they can be
surprisingly affordable since individual advertisers share the
overall media cost by purchasing measured blocks of time during
which ads rotate on a cycle throughout the day. If you are
thinking, bigger is better, mesh or vinyl wallscapes the size of a
football field are available. Transit advertising options can vary
from modest bus shelter ads to digital displays on the bus to photo
quality decals which can be applied to the exterior of the bus; or
the ultimate marketing statement of a full bus wrap. 8 sheet
posters are a more affordable option for marketing campaigns
which benefit from ad placement in multiple locations in carefully
targeted demographic areas. The more modest options of banners,
streamers and lighted boxes round out the bigger picture.
Weve established that outdoor advertising options are so varied
that coming up with standardized answer to the question can be a
difficult proposition in terms of pricing. Capitol Outdoor can
expertly guide you through the process of finding the right
medium and amount of outdoor advertising that best utilizes your
financial investment in outdoor advertising.
How Much is Billboard Advertising ROI?

The most common misconception about outdoor advertising is

that the results are more difficult to quantify than with competing
advertising media methods such as television, radio or print. And
even though its the oldest and original form of advertising, some
describe it as alternative media. Technology has paved the way
in making outdoor advertising media results just as measurable as
with other advertising media types.
Companies which offer outdoor advertising services have at their
disposal detailed information about the demographics, eyes-on
exposure levels, road and foot traffic counts for any given outdoor
media location which can even be broken down by time of day.
The technology advances which have made it possible to collect
and analyze this data have put outdoor advertising on an equal
footing with other modern advertising methods and have
solidified its place again at the forefront in marketing and
advertising campaigns.
Billboard Advertising Costs Are Worth It!
Your advertising firm can provide data about the estimated
number of eyes on impressions your outdoor advertising receives
during the period of time its on display. The feedback can be
fairly immediate and quantified with the results your marketing
campaign has realized. This will help you evaluate the benefit
youve experienced from outdoor advertising and assist with
planning future campaigns.
Outdoor advertising in its many forms remains one of the most
valuable tools at the disposal of advertisers in establishing and
reinforcing their brand or products in the minds of the consumer,
and is proven effective in retaining customer loyalty. Certainly no
other advertising method can deliver the level of recall by
consumers as with affordable and flexible outdoor advertising. It
leaves a lasting impression which is invaluable to the advertisers
that make it a priority in their marketing campaigns.
http://www.capitoloutdoor.com/rates