Advertising 101

1. Advertising 101 “News stories exist to inform readers. Ads exist to make money for the publishers. Can you guess which is more important? Right. Ads.” ~Tim Harrower

2. Funding • How do we get out funding? • Ads? • Sponsors? • School? • What are the benefits to raising our own funds? • What are the negatives?

3. The Budget PHS provides The Precedent with 3k to publish We publish eight issues per school year AVG cost for 12-page b/w issue is approx $500 AVG cost for 12-page issue with four pages of 4-color is approx $800 AVG cost for 12-page all 4-color issue approx $1600

4. Harrower has a point, doesn’t he?

5. Our ad rates • Insert = $145 • Full Page = $170 • Half Page = $110 • Quarter Page = $80 • Business Card = $40 • How many ads do we have to sell to break even?

6. Advertising Contract • This is a legal document • Signed by the advertiser and the salesperson (can add the adviser’s signature, too!) • The contract should show the publication’s name, school name, address and phone number. • It also should list your ad rates along with the ad sizes you will accept and discounts you provide. • The contract must have space for the advertiser’s name, address and phone number. • It needs to include the size of the ad purchase, the dates the ad is to run, the price agreed upon and specific information about the ad.

7. Your School,Your Newspaper • Answers you should have about your newspaper • What is the circulation? • Does it go home to parents or into the community? • Do people subscribe to it? • How frequently is it published? • Has it won any awards? • Can you design ads for customers? Is there an extra cost? • How many ads do you usually run in a year?

8. How This Helps… • If you can say that 400 couples attend the prom, the staff can go with confidence to tux shops, flower shops, dress shops and limo rental service. • If you can say that 1,000 students eat lunch off campus daily or that 90% buy fast food twice a week, you can approach fast food restaurants with a good reason to put coupons in your paper. If you can show that the average student spends $20 a month on videos and movies, you can approach the movie theaters and video stores with convention.

9. How This Helps… • If your survey shows girls spend about $500 a year on clothes and there are 1,000 girls, the sum of clothing dollars available to local merchants is half a million dollars. And that’s only clothes! • You’ll want to consider teen input to parents’ buying decisions too—choice of cars, food, leisure time activities, etc. • Studies show where teen dollars go and why. There’s no doubt that teens have big money and spend it!

10. Why should your company advertise with us? • According to the National Retail Federation, teens spend an average of $40 per week • Figure includes parent contributions • PHS has over 2,100 students • That’s $84,000 per week • That’s $336,000 per month • That’s $4,032,000 per year from PHS families

11. Things to remember This is a business. Our paper is a business which can help them increase their sales. Preparation is key. Know the ad packet. Maintain proper body language: eye contact, firm handshake, businesslike stance (and dress)! Treat the advertiser with respect. Leave cordially.

12. Making the Sale • Ask to see the manager or the employee who is responsible for placing ads. It is a waste of time to talk to anyone else. Record this person’s name and the times he is available in case it is necessary to contact him at a later date • Don’t begin your pitch to the prospect with the words, “Do you want to buy and ad?” • Introduce yourself and the purpose of your call. Say, “Hello. My name is Robby Smith and I am on the staff of The Precedent, the Perry High School newspaper. And you are? Good afternoon Mr._________. What a wonderful store you have! Our newspaper offers merchants like you an opportunity to sell students products and services. Our students spend more than $80,000 a week in this area---and a lot of it goes for things you sell. • If he is ready to sign, get his signature on a contract. Don’t keep talking.

13. Why should your company advertise with us? • It is our job to convince businesses that they have to advertise with our newspaper. • Do they have a connection to our school? • Do students shop there? • Do parents, teachers and other adults who see our paper shop there?

14. Remember! Make sure they know your name at the introduction. If you, or your school have a connection with the company, make sure they know it!

15. What to do when theysay “no”

16. Making the Sale • If the advertiser says “No” • Keep talking even if the buyer says “No.” Ignore his first objection. Listen for the reason he refuses to buy and answer that objection with the facts you’ve learned about your students and their buying habits. • Stress the benefits advertising could bring him. Use facts which will convince him to buy your advertising space—dates of upcoming events that could stimulate his sales, facts about the kinds and amounts of products students buy, facts about student preferences and reading and listening.

17. Responses to No… • If he says “We don’t advertise in school publications” • Ask him “Why not?” Doesn’t he want some of the business that teenagers bring to the community? Tell him how much how much students at your school spend and point out that perhaps he is missing out on his share.

18. Responses to No… • If he says “All of our advertising budget is used up” • Ask, “When do you begin your new budget or start your fiscal year? Make a note of this for your newspaper’s files so that the staff can approach him at the right time the following year.

19. Responses to No… • If he says “We have to much advertising” • Ask, “Is it bringing you too much business? Are you reaching the Central HS students? They spend…Our surveys show that they don’t read…or listen to…and they do read our publication. They may even keep it for weeks or years because it is about themselves and their friends.”

20. Responses to No… • If he says “I won’t support your publication because I never get any business from your school district” • Tell him that the district is bound by law to accept the lowest bids. But students are not bound by such laws and they can buy anywhere they wish. If they know about the products this store offers, they might be very happy to buy from him.

21. Responses to No… • If he says “If we did it for you, we would have to do it for all the school publications in this area” • Tell him that your publication is the only way to reach your student body. If he advertises in another school’s publication, he will reach a different 2,000 buyers.

22. Responses to No… • If he says “I can’t afford it right now.” • Tell him that you can understand that business has been bad recently. But when is his busy season? Is he preparing for the Easter rush? Or Valentine’s day? If students know about the great new products this store will be getting in, you are sure they would be interested. Besides, it is time for our Prom, and many of our students will be purchasing just the kind of goods or services he sells.

23. Responses to No… • If he says “If we did it for you, we would have to do it for all the school publications in this area” • Tell him that your publication is the only way to reach your student body. If he advertises in another school’s publication, he will reach a different 2,000 buyers.

24. Responses to No… • If he says “I can’t afford it right now.” • Tell him that you can understand that business has been bad recently. But when is his busy season? Is he preparing for the Easter rush? Or Valentine’s day? If students know about the great new products this store will be getting in, you are sure they would be interested. Besides, it is time for our Prom, and many of our students will be purchasing just the kind of goods or services he sells.

25. Responses to No… • If he says “School kids are too young to buy anything” • Tell him you have taken surveys at your school to find out just what students spend and give him the facts.

26. Responses to No… • If he says “Advertising money comes right out of my own pocket.” • Explain that the law allows him to deduct the cost of advertising as a business expense before he figures out his business profit. He only pays taxes on his profit.

27. Responses to No… • If he says “I advertised in your publication last year, and I didn’t get any new customers.” • Say it is hard to tell just how a customer learns about a store? Did he ask each customer how he learned about the store? Couldn’t some of them read his ad, come in and not made a big thing about it? Perhaps they heard about the store from someone else who had seen the publication’s ad? Sometimes it take awhile for people to respond to an ad that interested them.

28. Responses to No… • If he says “We are merely a franchise of a national business. I have no local authority to authorize ads.” • You should ask for the name and address of the person you should contact. Call from the school phone with a well-organized sales presentation or send a letter giving your sales pitch and a copy of your publication.

29. Completing the sales call • Do not persist if the merchant is clearly reluctant. After the third “No”—back off • Don’t be hurt if a merchant doesn’t buy. Thanks them courteously for their time and continue to be friendly. • Always leave a leave-behind, whether or not the store buys an ad. The manager who said “No” might change his mind and want to get in touch.

30. The Media Kit • Letter of introduction • Ad contract • Why to purchase an ad • Publication samples • Advertising policy • Distribution dates • Refusal form

31. Where do we go from here?

32. Always be thinking of advertising Always be thinking of why a business that you visit would want to advertise in your newspaper? What’s in it for them? Always survey staff members and peers about companies they frequent.