Commentary Box

There is a certain symmetry between how human nutritional diets have evolved and how a modern advertising budget should be spent. Think about it. Up until recently it was the norm for people to wake up in the morning and skip breakfast. They might grab a quick coffee mid-morning and then a real quick bite to eat for lunch. Too busy to stop and have something substantial. That would get them through the day (barely). They’d then have to have a massive meal at night because they were so famished from the day’s activities, then off to bed.

That’s eerily similar to how a lot of businesses spend their advertising budget. They might do a bit of ad hoc advertising throughout the year, not really planned, just a few opportunities might have come up and so they throw their logo in a magazine or something.  You know the type of thing, the sales people from XYZ Magazine call and say “Hi, we’ve just had an advertiser cancel from our July issue, I know it’s really late notice but if you put an ad in we’ll give it to you for a real good price”.  So they do. Just like the quick lunch, it’s not substantial, but it might just get them through the majority of the year (barely).

But just like being super hungry at the end of the day from not looking after your nutritional needs, towards the end of the year the company is hungry for results so they can maintain and grow their business. So they put all the remaining pennies from their budget into one massive advertising campaign.  They then have to put the advertising budget to bed and hope that their potential customers are listening at that precise moment.

Returning to nutritional diets, more recently doctors and scientists have proven beyond doubt the advantages of having a healthy breakfast followed by 4-5 smaller meals throughout the day. This increases your metabolism and gives you more energy. It should be well planned and contain all the essential food groups. And don’t get tempted by nasty snacks along the way, they are a waste of money and of no nutritional benefit.

Exactly as your advertising budget should be! Start off with some healthy communication with your target market  and follow this up with more frequent follow up throughout the year. This increases your brand awareness (the metabolism of business) and gives you more sales (energy). It should be well planned and contain all the essential media channels (TV, print, radio, web etc.). And don’t get tempted by nasty cheap advertising packages along the way, they are a waste of money and of no commercial benefit.

A well-planned advertising budget will save you money and achieve you much better results.

Feed your business on a healthy advertising diet and watch it grow!