What Should I Know About Media Rates Before I Book My Ad?
Mar 14, 2019 | NewspaperSmart media buying helps you get more for your advertising spend. But you need to know if you are getting the best value for the lowest price. Advertising and marketing money is usually a substantial and necessary part of the budget of your business. So you need to understand what to look for when buying TV, newspaper, magazine or other mass media. Most companies and even agencies do not know how to effectively buy media. They usually end up paying the price displayed on a media rate card.
Understanding a Media Rate Card
A media rate card is a document featuring the rates for advertising of a media organization. It may also include details like deadlines, demographics, policies, additional fees, and artwork requirements. It may have its rates broken down by classified, retail and even national ads. A rate card helps you understand what types of ad sizes, discounts, and other advertising the media organization have on offer. When choosing media, a rate card is used so that you can compare ad rates before buying advertising space.
Make sure you understand the terms and conditions of advertising with the media organization before placing your ad. If there is a conflict between the insertion order and the media rate card, the latter will be the deciding factor. This does not mean that prices on the rate card are fixed. First-time ad bookers are offered special rates and other discounts.
How and Why Media Rates are Negotiable
We do not display the card rates on the Bookadsnow website. This is because media rates are negotiable and we can guarantee you the lowest rates in the market. Our media experts negotiate on your behalf and help you get the maximum ROI on your media spends. Here we aim to explain how and why media rates are negotiable.
- It is all about demand and supply- Stronger the demand in the market for a media outlet, harder to negotiate the pricing. If more advertising is being bought, it may be more difficult to negotiate. But there are always outlets that have available inventory, which equals greater discounts.
- Time of the Year- Advertising rates differ according to the time of the year. Push for a better deal when it is not a busy season for media buying because a sales representative will have more flexibility regarding media rates during that time of the year. Advertising space is in demand during the sale or the festive season and so the prices may be high during such periods. Similarly, the prices go down when advertising space is comparatively less in demand.
- Open Rates and Bulk Space Contract – Bulk deal bookings get you better rates than one-time negotiations. When booking a bulk deal, you sign a bulk space contract which comes with a discount for an advertising commitment to a certain number of ads within a specified time period. Open rate or non-contract rate, on the other hand, is a rate for running a simple, one-time advertisement.
- Frequency Discounts– Frequency discounts are contract rates offering the best discounts for display ads. The best commitment is to usually run a minimum size ad every week for a 52-week period. Some newspapers have shorter contracts of 13 or 26-week periods.
Guidelines to Help You Get the Best Deal for Your Ad
Everything related to media buying is negotiable. This is because media is never sold out and media outlets always have some available inventory. Thus you can always negotiate better rates, schedules and times. Here are some guidelines to help you better negotiate for your media buying.
- Let the sales representative from the media organization know that you intend to do business with him. If he knows he will get definite business from you, you will get a lot more of his effort than if he believes you are just as likely to buy an ad from any of the competitors of the organization he works with.
- Avoid advertising until your ad size or frequency is enough to reach your target audience. Small media buys are also called black hole buys because it is very unlikely that your target audience would notice ads with less frequency or size when they are already being bombarded by numerous advertisements per day.
- Learn the difference between readership and circulation - On most media rate cards, the media organization displays its coverage area, demographics, and circulation. In the case of print media, circulation is the number of newspapers or magazines printed and distributed each day. Readership is the actual number of people who read those. The trick is to look at both. The readership rate should be close to circulation. It is no good to advertise with a newspaper with more circulation and not even half the readership.
- Be sure to ask for promotions and other deals. Ask what the media organization can do for you to help you achieve your objective, in addition to the advertising schedule you have negotiated.
- Avoid trying to buy too much. Choose one to three options and buy those programs as much as you can. Try to reach some potential customers effectively instead of reaching lots of viewers ineffectively.
Advertising agencies help you get the best rates for your ads. The seasoned media planners work with you to bring out the best media plans according to your budget and requirements. Bookadsnow is an online media planning portal with tailor-made media planning and booking services. Television advertising, newspaper advertising, and magazine advertisements are our forte and we aim to provide quality media planning, buying, and evaluation solutions across all advertising mediums. Book your ads online and hassle-free with Bookadsnow.
Browse other media: Newspaper Magazine Television