Successful (and experienced) newspaper ad salespeople know and will tell you that spec ads can be very powerful, and once in place, they help the selling process proceed to a close, resulting in an ad in your newspaper.
Don’t think that spec ads are for new advertisers only. Rethink your spec ad selling strategy and consider incorporating their use with your best customers and with some new, strategic ad alliances you want to pursue (. . . clean your car inside and out — a joint car wash retailer/oil change retailer promotion . . . weather outside is frightful, the fire inside is delightful — a joint video rental retailer/pizza delivery promotion).
Why create and use spec ads, both for print and online? Very simply, spec ads allow you and your newspaper to strategize, show, save and succeed with your new and existing advertisers.
Strategize: Spec ads help to open the door and begin the idea and need exchange, not only with new advertisers, but also with your existing customers. Presenting a spec ad helps you help your advertiser visualize a new sales or marketing strategy, and encourages those advertisers to take that first step in a business partnership with you and your newspaper.
Show: Spec ads give you and your newspaper the opportunity to teach someone how to buy advertising, through a well thought out ad and ad campaign which showcases you and your newspaper’s marketing expertise and strength as a creative selling medium, both in print and online.
Save: Spec ads will save your advertiser time and money. Time is saved which was previously spent wondering (discussing?) “what to run” … “when to run it” … “how much to price”. . . “what to say”. . . “how to say it”. . . “what will it look like”! You and your newspaper will also save time and money because of fewer rough ad drafts, proofs, production time, deadline impacts, and error adjustments.
Success: Spec ads will help foster the outcome you and your advertiser envision. For your advertiser, that may be more sales, more revenue, more profit, or overall market share growth. For you and your newspaper, it may also mean more income for you, more revenue for your paper, more profit, and enlarging customer base or overall market share
growth.
Idea generation for spec ads is easily accomplished if you remember where and how to look for ideas. Where? First and foremost, at your potential or existing advertiser’s place of business. Does an existing business card give you an idea of how to develop an ad that matches the image this retailer wishes to convey? Does the same business card provide easily accessible and usable art work, logo and/or address/phone information for spec ad development? Are existing ads or past ads (from other media — chamber book, yellow pages, direct mail, other newspapers) available to incorporate into your spec ads? Are there other printed materials available — restaurant menus, catalogs, flyers?