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According to Variety magazine, Twentieth TV has sealed a cash-plus-barter deal with Tribune and Fox stations for the second cycle off-net run of "Family Guy." Beyond the cash deal, Twentieth will get 1½ minutes of ad time on "Family Guy," while stations will keep 5½ minutes -- similar to what they now get on the show. Yes, barter is alive and well in virtually all media.
Media companies (from TV stations, radio stations and magazines to those little coupon flyers that you receive every few days in your mailbox) all follow the same agenda – they must all sell their ad space or airtime by a certain deadline or they’ll be at a loss. As that deadline approaches, many owners of media outlets are anxious to fill the open spaces and are willing to trade out the unsold slots.
Does your marketing plan this year include some type of media advertising in order to attract more customers? How can you tap in to that available space so you can reduce that expense by bartering for all or part of that line item?
One option would be to approach the media executive or publisher to find out if they’d be willing to do a one-on-one trade with you. This may work well with a smaller publishing firm. However, it could become problematic if you’re say, a painter and you’re dealing with a larger company and the sales rep has no idea if the company would need a painter and may not even know how to facilitate such a transaction. Or, the firm may simply have no need for a painter at this time.
The other option would be to contact your broker at your local barter club and find out what advertising opportunities are currently available on barter. You can also ask about any design and production services that they may have. That way, you can work for a client who actually needs painting, and use those accrued barter dollars to pay the media company for your advertising. In turn, should the campaign that you have chosen proves to be effective, you’ll turn those barter dollars that you’ve spent in to valuable cash-paying clients.
There’s an old adage that says that you “have to spend money to make money.” Well, here at SBC, we believe that you can “spend barter money to make money.”
Media companies (from TV stations, radio stations and magazines to those little coupon flyers that you receive every few days in your mailbox) all follow the same agenda – they must all sell their ad space or airtime by a certain deadline or they’ll be at a loss. As that deadline approaches, many owners of media outlets are anxious to fill the open spaces and are willing to trade out the unsold slots.
Does your marketing plan this year include some type of media advertising in order to attract more customers? How can you tap in to that available space so you can reduce that expense by bartering for all or part of that line item?
One option would be to approach the media executive or publisher to find out if they’d be willing to do a one-on-one trade with you. This may work well with a smaller publishing firm. However, it could become problematic if you’re say, a painter and you’re dealing with a larger company and the sales rep has no idea if the company would need a painter and may not even know how to facilitate such a transaction. Or, the firm may simply have no need for a painter at this time.
The other option would be to contact your broker at your local barter club and find out what advertising opportunities are currently available on barter. You can also ask about any design and production services that they may have. That way, you can work for a client who actually needs painting, and use those accrued barter dollars to pay the media company for your advertising. In turn, should the campaign that you have chosen proves to be effective, you’ll turn those barter dollars that you’ve spent in to valuable cash-paying clients.
There’s an old adage that says that you “have to spend money to make money.” Well, here at SBC, we believe that you can “spend barter money to make money.”
