Mastering Time and Space

Media services to simplify and improve control of your advertising

Is it time you made your phone STOP ringing?

As a marketer and advertiser, you’re always hoping to hear the phone start ringing after you run an ad in a trade publication. But how often do you answer the call and find that you’re talking to someone you really can’t afford to spend time on?

Very often, when a new client comes on board with Marketing Strategies & Solutions, they soon admit that they are very glad the phone has stopped ringing so often. It seems that, anytime their ad ran in one magazine, sales reps for all the industry media followed up to pitch their publication, too.

Media buying is a critical strategic element in your marketing program. A strong media plan helps you to build awareness of your products and services, strengthen your brand, generate sales leads and outmaneuver your competition. Unfortunately, it can also be a complex and

Time-starved manufacturing executives find themselves taking the “squeaky wheel” approach to media planning!

Luckily, we can offer you an alternative – with media planning support that costs you nothing!

Confusing distraction from the day-to-day demands of running your business. Like your own sales staff, media sales representatives have a job to do in a highly competitive business.

They would be remiss if they didn’t work hard to promote their publication to anyone connected to their industry. And they know, the more often they call you, the more likely they are to get a sale.

But if you want to keep your marketing budget on track and keep your advertising on target, you really can’t afford to let media reps take over control of your planning.

Take back control of your budget!

As an accredited advertising agency, Marketing Strategies & Solutions is in the business of planning and buying
advertising programs for a wide range of clients in manufacturing and business-to-business markets. The good news for you is that all the trade publications who call you throughout the year will pay us a standard commission for any ads we place. So you don’t have to.

As your designated agency, you no longer have to take sales calls or negotiate rates or watch deadlines for your media buys. Just send your media reps to us, and we’ll take care of them.

Better yet, we’ll take care of you, too! When you outsource your media planning to Marketing Strategies & Solutions, we put all our experience and contacts in the media world to work on planning out the best way to maximize your return on your media, all through the year.

Our job is to look after your best interests. We have no special stake in choosing one advertising opportunity over another. It’s up to you to set your budget. Then it’s up to us to show you how to spend it with the best ROI possible.

The right place, the right time

By taking the time to understand your business, your customers, your opportunities and priorities, Marketing Strategies & Solutions will create a plan that places your advertising in the magazines and special editions that suit your selling cycle and cash flow, market by market.

We create a customized database for each of our clients comprising a complete inventory of printed and online media that serves their target markets. Your media database includes up-to-date details on:

• circulation data
• publication schedules
• readership profiles
• editorial calendar
• special editions

…everything we need to help you match your advertising message to the people you need to reach most. So when the phone starts ringing – you’ll want to take that call!

Develop your media plan with Marketing Strategies & Solutions, and we can open up real opportunities for you to buy more advertising impact for less cost.*

Our clients have learned that we can add real dollars and cents value to their media budget when we negotiate with publishers on their behalf. With our industry focus, we can often leverage the buying power of several clients combined to earn:

• High-frequency rates for space
• Preferential positioning and colour
• Complimentary web banners
• Placement in product feature sections & directories

In some cases, we have even saved advertising costs for our clients by telling them not to advertise! The fact is, running more ads are not the solution to every marketing need. But as your agency, we are in a position to serve as an impartial sounding board for your communications ideas and plans. If we don’t think advertising is the best way to meet your goals, we’ll advise you to do something else.

* This is not a time-limited offer! This is just part of what we do for our clients every day.

Goodbye to “Brand X”

Buying media space is one thing – using it well is another. If your media rep offers to create your ad for you, you have to ask: Will this really turn my media buy into a good investment?

Your advertising works best when it all works together. Brand-building is all about consistency. So, when the elements of your program are developed “ad hoc” by different suppliers, your brand suffers. Integrated communications planning (which is what we do), is designed to coordinate your messages, images, identity and corporate values throughout your marketing initiatives be they: tradeshows, direct sales, your website, ad mail, promotions.

Long-range planning across all your advertising and communications gives you the chance to build a strong, unique and compelling brand.

And that builds business.

Let us help you build your business. Contact us today.