How many calls can a business owner take before he doesn’t really care if it’s going to yield the highest ROI he’s ever experienced, he’s WORKING!  And how many times has an advertising representative heard ‘I wish I had know about this last week, I just put my ad somewhere else!’

I really appreciate my single-source office supply distributor.  I certainly wouldn’t want separate weekly calls from paper, pen, and packing supply reps, nor would I want to call several ink suppliers when I need ink for my various printer makes and models.

But, more importantly, my one-stop office supplier offers me the value of industry knowledge, relevant offers, volume pricing, and access to an extended network of partners for ancillary products and services.

Oil, beauty, health, beverage, hospitality, and countless other industries have been putting their highly competitive products in the capable hands of distributors for decades with success. 

Bob Gremillion, the executive vice president for publishing at the Tribune Company, said of their recent merger of its TV stations and daily newspapers in Miami and Hartford, “We’re combining and fighting together.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/business/media/11local.html.

Do we, advertisers, consumers and sales executives alike, expect better than we are getting in this noisy media market?   Is it time to recognize the craziness and join forces in a distributor model for media sales, or find other ways to combine and fight the noise together?  

Account executives from every media – offering everything from new insert themes, low remnant prices and the latest in digital and video, to the newest direct mail innovations, guaranteed-traffic radio events and support-your-community local cable programs – are all individually calling on small business decision makers.

How many calls can a business owner take before he doesn’t really care if it’s going to yield the highest ROI he’s ever experienced, he’s WORKING!  And how many times has an advertising representative heard ‘I wish I had know about this last week, I just put my ad somewhere else!’

I really appreciate my single-source office supply distributor.  I certainly wouldn’t want separate weekly calls from paper, pen, and packing supply reps, nor would I want to call several ink suppliers when I need ink for my various printer makes and models.

But, more importantly, my one-stop office supplier offers me the value of industry knowledge, relevant offers, volume pricing, and access to an extended network of partners for ancillary products and services.

Oil, beauty, health, beverage, hospitality, and countless other industries have been putting their highly competitive products in the capable hands of distributors for decades with success. 

Bob Gremillion, the executive vice president for publishing at the Tribune Company, said of their recent merger of its TV stations and daily newspapers in Miami and Hartford, “We’re combining and fighting together.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/business/media/11local.html.

Do we, advertisers, consumers and sales executives alike, expect better than we are getting in this noisy media market?   Is it time to recognize the craziness and join forces in a distributor model for media sales, or find other ways to combine and fight the noise together? 

The definition of integrated that may better serve small business advertisers is, however: pertaining to a group or society whose members interact on the basis of commonly held norms or values

The way to integrate to get MORE for LESS?  Identify advertisers whose products or services are used by your target market and establish advertising partnerships, forming an advertising group based on your commonly held market!

Example:  You sell art and custom framing and your market is high income homeowners.  High income homeowners also buy more elite automobiles and tend to take them to a dealer for service.  The local high end dealerships advertise their services through direct mail, you advertise your business in the newspaper’s arts section. 

Suggest a partnership offering $25 off at your store in their direct mailers (tied to a service at the dealerships) and $25 off a service at a selection of dealership  in your newspaper add.    Try adding the landscaper who advertises on the radio and a restaurant who advertises via email to the group with multiple value added offers in each of your ads.  You each gain a stronger call to action along with valuable INTEGRATED exposure in your market. 

Already doing something similar with success?  I’d love to hear about it.  Share it here!

For anyone who hasn’t tried ad sharing, here are some recent articles to get you started on understanding how it works and why to use it:

Ad Partnering for Profit

Low-Budget High Impact Marketing

Financial Examples of  How Ad Sharing Works

Share your ad sharing successes!