‘Tis the season for a bit of bargain shopping. Who doesn’t love getting a little something extra when they make a purchase? Media buyers are no different. When negotiating placements and rates for customers, it is also our responsibility to maximize the client’s budget. In media planning, we call this providing Added Value, or Value Add. One of the benefits of employing a professional media buyer is that we can often leverage our relationships with vendors and the sheer volume of advertising we purchase for bonuses that benefit our clients. These often come in the form of free or heavily discounted placements and packages offered to the advertiser to sweeten the current buy. These bonuses can be negotiated by your media buyer in addition to your ad purchase. Sure value-add provides the opportunity for more prospects to be exposed to your product or service, but the goal of your value-add should be to facilitate and/or build engagement with your product or service.
Building engagement through your media buys creates better recall and a more memorable impression of your product, according to research. Here are some suggestions to add value to your current media buys:
- Appearances: Guest host as a subject matter expert on a local radio or TV show.
- Product Placement: Creatively incorporate your product or service into the programming.
- Bonus Placements: Additional space for a volume purchase or to encourage repeat business
- Run of Network (RON): Spots on other products owned by the vendor especially
- Advertorials/Native Ads: Digital or print ads designed like website or publication content
- Contests: This comes with an initial cost for sponsorship, but access to contestant lists for prospecting can be valuable for future marketing outreach