Planting is about patience.
Every spring I find myself longing to break free of my winter routine and enjoy all the pleasures of a new season. I look forward to Fiesta, cookouts with friends, gardening and walking the dog. Everything is fresh and new…and often hard to resist.
Many companies are experiencing another type of spring fever this year: the itch to break free of their marketing plans and pluck up a few late-blooming opportunities. Media reps are calling daily with specials and heavy discounts on media inventory. It’s easy to understand why a company would want to jump on the opportunity for “cheap space.” But haste can lead to waste in your marketing efforts.
As any gardener knows, planting is about patience. The same can be said of your marketing efforts. Taking advantage of great prices on media placements that compliment your current marketing campaign is a great way to further penetrate your target audience, but often last-minute buys end up taking valuable resources and nutrients from your campaign and not yielding results. Ask yourself these questions when considering a media opportunity:
- How does this opportunity support my overall objectives?
- Does this work with or against my other tactics?
- How well does this medium penetrate my primary target audience?
- If I do this, do I have to cut something else?
- Will taking advantage of this deal cost me more money in the long term because additional creative or production is required?
These questions are nothing new, but they serve as a quick gut-check when you have five minutes to scoop up a great deal. Just make sure a lower price is really an opportunity and not just a weed in disguise.
