Thursday + Gregory Huffstutter = The Ad Man Answers
Q: Last time, you talked about saving budgets by partnering with other authors –- any other ways I can stretch my dollar?
A: Let’s make a deal.
That’s not just a Monty Hall show… for many advertisers, it’s a way of doing business. Bartering media space for goods and services is as common as an overpriced hotel room in New York City.
Sports franchises barter all the time. When you see a billboard of your local pro team on the side of a freeway or back of a bus, chances are it wasn’t paid for with cash. The teams trade out bulk tickets, luxury boxes, and even signed merchandise in order to secure free advertising space on TV networks, radio stations, newspapers, and outdoor billboard companies. If the media vendors don’t allocate the sports tickets internally, they’ll use them for entertaining paying clients.
According to wikipedia, barter is possible “when coincidence of wants of economic actors enables an exchange cycle between their bids: each party must be able to supply something another party desires.”
Barter has its own trade organization and companies that act as intermediaries between people looking to wheel and deal. Some operate using virtual “value units” that allow you to bank credits for later use.
So how can barter work for authors? After all, writers can’t offer seats on the third-base line of Wrigley Field. And the advertising manager of your local newspaper isn’t likely to be tempted by an offer to trade a full-page ad for “naming a character” after him/her in your next book.
But perhaps you have other skills or contacts that might be valuable. Maybe your brother-in-law can get you free carpet cleaning, which in turn, could be attractive to the editor of “Mystery Scene Magazine” as a trade-out for ad space (not to suggest that Kate Stine has dirty floors… I’ve never even been to her house, honestly!)
The point is, you don’t know until you ask. And sometimes just being a writer can be valuable in and of itself. The Ad Man’s wife, who runs her own freelance copywriting business, once did a special client a favor by trading website copy and a brochure for free interior design work.
Figure out where you’d like to place your book advertising, ask if they ever trade out space for services, then say: “Let’s make a deal.”
Gregory Huffstutter has been punching Ad Agency timecards for the past decade, working on accounts like McDonald's, KIA Motors, and the San Diego Padres. He recently finished his first mystery, KATZ CRADLE. The first 100 pages of his novel are linked here. For general advertising questions, leave a comment or send e-mail to katz @ gregoryhuffstutter dot com with 'Ask The Ad Man' in the subject line.
I find it very interesting that many businesses will choose to go broke and close their doors instead of barter. They think they can only accept cash. Because they do not understand how to use money (all forms of money) they go out of business. During these slow economic times barter becomes even more important for business owners. Just like people in third world countries that barter for survival business owners can barter for their survival also. Don't wait until it's to late learn how to grow your business through barter and stay ahead of your competitors. To Learn how see www.barternow.us
Posted by: Debbie DeSousa | March 10, 2008 at 11:20 AM