Prime Real Estate-Don’t Waste It

I was very appreciative of an email I received this week from an agency we aren’t currently working with, asking our opinion on an urgent opportunity.

They had the chance to advertise in a particular section of their regional business journal, a prime full-page spot that a competitor had held for a decade. Given the readership statistics she was aware of and her agency’s need to expand, she felt, intuitively, it was the right move but wanted our opinion.

Let’s say for sake of argument and with the very little detail I’ve laid out, that this is the right move to make. In a situation like this, you can’t just stop with the prime ad placement. Sure, you’ll get some calls (arguably perhaps many calls) but you can’t depend on an ad to do the work for you. Here’s an example of one possible, effective next step:

Make a copy of the ad and send it, along with a personalized letter to targeted prospects within the area. (Could be snail mail, a PDF via email or a digital/social media outreach, depending on the agency and prospect sectors). Tell a brief story about the agency’s experience and (in this case) the desire to support local manufacturers. (We’ve found using the local approach, along with the requisite experience, can be a plus.) Follow that with respectful but consistent follow-up every 2-3 weeks or more, depending on the situation.

Again, just one example of how to capitalize on the ad in this example, certainly there are others. Point is, whether it’s an ad, a direct mail piece you’ve created or a personalized URL, where so many agencies fall short is not consistently activating (as we like to say) or following up on that initial point of contact or opportunity. Then they just become wasted opportunities.