Dear Dave:

An executive at our company came into my office and dropped a magazine on my desk and said, “I want you to place an ad in here,” then turned and walked out the door. The magazine covers our industry and target market, but will running a single ad in a single issue of a magazine be an effective marketing tactic?

Signed,

Under Pressure from the Top 

Dear Under Pressure:

The short answer is “No, it will not be an effective marketing tactic” unless the executive will fire you, in which case the answer is “Yes, it will be an effective survival tactic.”

Any isolated marketing tactic, such as one ad in a magazine, is doomed to fail, alone and unnoticed, even if it does address your target market. Here’s why:

As hard as it may be to believe, your customers and prospects are not sitting around hoping your ad reaches them. Instead, they are doing their jobs, and when they have a need that your company can fulfill for them, they might think of you - if you have maintained frequency and consistency in your marketing so you stay in their minds. Frequency and consistency means you establish and maintain a presence on the Web sites, e-newsletters, search engines, print journals and other media your target customers and prospects use to obtain work-related information. And also by reaching out to them through events, direct marketing, phone calling and other tactics. 

The only thing a single ad in a single issue of a print magazine will do is waste money that could have been put to better use as part of an integrated marketing program. Not only that, print readership is trending down, down, down. Which is another reason why a single print ad won’t get the job done. Today, everyone is on the Web searching for information, products and vendors. You need to have your print ad, and be listed on the publisher’s Web site, and sponsor their e-newsletter. Assuming of course that this publisher’s readers are your target customers and prospects.

That assumption brings up another question for you, Under Pressure: Do you have a marketing strategy that’s married to your company’s business strategy-and has your marketing plan been communicated to and fully embraced by your company’s executive team, including the executive who walked into your office demanding a new ad?

Your marketing plan, if it’s working, can be used to defend a decision not to place an ad in the magazine your executive likes. You can also bring up frequency and consistency in marketing argument. But maybe this executive uncovered an opportunity you didn’t know about when developing your marketing plan. It does happen. I recommend you do additional research to determine if it’s worth re-allocating marketing budget to a new program.

 For Klein Marketing, I’m Dave