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Myths Advertising Reps Tell You As Gospel

by Claude Whitacre
9 replies
Myths Advertising Reps Tell You As Gospel
Ad reps are a strange group. They sell advertising, but never take the time to learn how to advertise.

I've spoken to groups of ad reps before. They have a set of beliefs that are unbreakable. They aren't true...but they are unbreakable. Here are some things I hear from ad reps;

You have to run the ad for 3 months before you can expect any results.

Nobody responds to an ad the first time they see/hear it.

Your company name should go at the top of the ad.

Color will get your ad seen. (Even if the entire page is in color)

You just need to get your name out there.

It takes 5 exposures for any ad to work.

We never negotiate price.



The most frequent thing I hear is that it takes so many ads to get anyone to respond. And ad reps will swear that it's true. It doesn't even help if you tell them that most of your response, from actual testing, comes from the first ad.

And when speaking to the ad rep group....they were visibly angers that I suggested that they study advertising, so that their ads would be more effective for the client.

I'm talking about reps for print and radio advertising that call or walk in businesses to sell advertising.
#advertising #gospel #myths #reps
  • Profile picture of the author joe golfer
    Good ones. Here are some others:

    A full page ad gets better response.

    Our research shows you need to reach 60 percent of your demo 3x for any response.

    You need to be on the air three weeks out of four or your money is wasted.

    You need to hit them with spots every hour during a sale.

    You need a jingle.

    You need a gimmick.

    You need a base campaign where you sponsor the news or weather so your name is "always out there." Then add more spots for sales.
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  • Profile picture of the author DABK
    Business owners do it too.

    Especially the one about logo must be at the top.

    So do college professors of marketing and advertising. I know a retired one, from one of the top Universities in Chicago. He now sells print ads. And he tells people, even the ones who he's not trying to sell ads to, that if you run an ad only one time, you're wasting money because it takes 3 or more times before you get response.

    My ads that get clients buyers the 1st run are flukes. The ones where I mess up and don't get results the 1st time are the ones to pay attention to.

    Otherwise, he's a fine, intelligent gent.

    One I hear a lot from (I get a lot of calls from people who're keen on selling me on buying ads on their websites) has to do with impressions. What I should worry / pay attention to is impressions.

    They like talking impressions and don't like talking about how many of those impressions turn into a sale... In one case, 42,000 impressions a month translated into 28 visits to the site, 0 phone calls. But they were impressed with the 42k impressions.

    I wish my clients would pay me based on impressions!

    Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

    Default Myths Advertising Reps Tell You As Gospel
    Ad reps are a strange group. They sell advertising, but never take the time to learn how to advertise.

    I've spoken to groups of ad reps before. They have a set of beliefs that are unbreakable. They aren't true...but they are unbreakable. Here are some things I hear from ad reps;

    You have to run the ad for 3 months before you can expect any results.

    Nobody responds to an ad the first time they see/hear it.

    Your company name should go at the top of the ad.

    Color will get your ad seen. (Even if the entire page is in color)

    You just need to get your name out there.

    It takes 5 exposures for any ad to work.

    We never negotiate price.



    The most frequent thing I hear is that it takes so many ads to get anyone to respond. And ad reps will swear that it's true. It doesn't even help if you tell them that most of your response, from actual testing, comes from the first ad.

    And when speaking to the ad rep group....they were visibly angers that I suggested that they study advertising, so that their ads would be more effective for the client.

    I'm talking about reps for print and radio advertising that call or walk in businesses to sell advertising.
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  • Profile picture of the author joe golfer
    My take is impressions do add up, but to make it work effectively you have to buy a boatload. That's why you see so many spots from big brands. It works! But it takes a gajillion dollars.
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    Marketing is not a battle of products. It is a battle of perceptions.
    - Jack Trout
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  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    I like the line I got from NY MAGAZINE when I wanted to run an advertorial in it and they objected to it looking like an article.

    The ad rep tries to discourage me away from doing that and says to me, "Nobody's gonna read it anyway"

    And I said, "then why do you guys bother writing articles every month?"

    But there's some truth about having to run something a few times but it's not because it takes a while for the ad to suddenly become effective.

    It's because people overlook the ad, never see it, don't read the mag fully from cover to cover and then the magazine has a limited shelf life so they never get back to re-reading it and coming upon the ad. Then they see the ad again in a later publication, seeing it for the first time or still missing it or seeing it again and saying "oh yeah..." and maybe they're interested but they don't act on it or get disrupted from acting on it, file it and forget it...

    ...kind of the same reasons you can't just do one direct mailing... except that with DM they have your piece in their hands whereas with magazines you're buried in there somewhere.
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    • Profile picture of the author kirbymarketingconcierge
      do you still need a good headline.

      like this: GOOGLE CRASHES

      Google Street View Car In Wrong-Way Crash

      Cops cite motorist for careless driving in Arkansas accident

      link:

      Google Street View Car In Wrong-Way Crash | The Smoking Gun


      happy friday everybody!
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      Originally Posted by misterme View Post

      I like the line I got from NY MAGAZINE when I wanted to run an advertorial in it and they objected to it looking like an article.

      The ad rep tries to discourage me away from doing that and says to me, "Nobody's gonna read it anyway"

      And I said, "then why do you guys bother writing articles every month?"

      But there's some truth about having to run something a few times but it's not because it takes a while for the ad to suddenly become effective.

      It's because people overlook the ad, never see it, don't read the mag fully from cover to cover and then the magazine has a limited shelf life so they never get back to re-reading it and coming upon the ad. Then they see the ad again in a later publication, seeing it for the first time or still missing it or seeing it again and saying "oh yeah..." and maybe they're interested but they don't act on it or get disrupted from acting on it, file it and forget it...

      ...kind of the same reasons you can't just do one direct mailing... except that with DM they have your piece in their hands whereas with magazines you're buried in there somewhere.
      Advertorial ads work, because (I think you know this), there is no "It's an ad!" barrier. And it reads like information.

      As far as ads working better later? Never. No magazine direct response ad ever didn't work the first few months, and then started to be profitable. Results go down...sometimes rapidly, sometimes slowly....but they never go up with repetition.

      TV ads are slightly different (I'm talking about direct marketing TV ads). The first view usually doesn't give enough time for the viewer to figure out the offer, and write down the contact information. So there may be a slight bump after the first few days...and then the response slowly goes down. It may still be profitable for a long time...but response goes down.

      It's the reason you don't see the same ads run for years.


      Originally Posted by joe golfer View Post

      My take is impressions do add up, but to make it work effectively you have to buy a boatload. That's why you see so many spots from big brands. It works! But it takes a gajillion dollars.
      They are getting you to remember the brand name, not buy. The ads that create sales are mostly local ads. The big national brand building ads support the local direct marketing ads.

      It's why the brand building ads don't have a specific offer that you can buy through the company. They aren't creating sales...they are creating an emotional connection that will come in useful when the consumer is looking at the local sales ads. There are exceptions; Beer, for example.
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  • Profile picture of the author AmericanMuscleTA
    Oh those silly ad agencies.

    Ah, myth number 3: "Your company name should go at the top of the ad."

    I know a business owner who's son used to work at Leo Burnett. I would tell her we need to do Direct-Response Marketing, and she would go off saying how her son worked for "Leo Burnett" and he said her name and business name need to be as big as possible above everything else (head smack).

    I convinced her to finally do some direct-response marketing and she was shocked that she has had better response than she's ever had on any of her marketing.... well duh! Though, she still talks about how her son worked for Leo Burnett, she doesn't agrue anymore about doing direct-response.

    Unless the advertising rep studies Dan Kennedy, they don't know squat about advertising/marketing!!
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      You have to understand what an advertising agency does. They sell to their clients. they sell ad concepts that the company CEO likes. They help build an image.

      Direct marketing ad copywriters create sales. They are writing for the end consumer (or customer)

      I was talking to an VP in charge of a million dollar annual budget. And he could spend it any way he liked. He told me about his plans (which did nothing to generate sales).

      I asked "Have you read any books written by advertising masters? People who created huge returns for every dollar invested in advertising?"

      He said "No. I've heard that there are books like that out there, but I've never read any of them. I have a degree in communications. So I figure I know how to best invest my company's money."

      I threw up a little in my mouth.

      Not every advertising VP is like this, but it fascinates me that advertisers...and ad reps....almost never make any attempt to learn how advertising works.

      I've never run into an ad rep that ever thought about studying advertising. The idea simply doesn't occur to them.
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      • Profile picture of the author AmericanMuscleTA
        Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

        You have to understand what an advertising agency does. They sell to their clients. they sell ad concepts that the company CEO likes. They help build an image.

        Direct marketing ad copywriters create sales. They are writing for the end consumer (or customer)

        I was talking to an VP in charge of a million dollar annual budget. And he could spend it any way he liked. He told me about his plans (which did nothing to generate sales).

        I asked "Have you read any books written by advertising masters? People who created huge returns for every dollar invested in advertising?"

        He said "No. I've heard that there are books like that out there, but I've never read any of them. I have a degree in communications. So I figure I know how to best invest my company's money."

        I threw up a little in my mouth.

        Not every advertising VP is like this, but it fascinates me that advertisers...and ad reps....almost never make any attempt to learn how advertising works.

        I've never run into an ad rep that ever thought about studying advertising. The idea simply doesn't occur to them.
        Insane!!!!

        And there's the... "I have a degree in such and such so I must know what I'm doing."
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