Advertising cooperatives are a different beast altogether. Unlike co-op funds, advertising cooperatives cost you money. But it may be the best money you ever spend, because you enjoy high-quality production and your fair share of the clout of a substantial combined media budget.
Advertising cooperatives (also known as dealer ad groups) are common in the franchising business and the automotive business. The franchise business discovered a long time ago that it can do a much better job at advertising if it asked each of its franchisees to pony up a percentage of gross sales, which then goes into a “war chest” where it accumulates until enough cash is available to do a large-scale media buy for all the franchises together. An individual store can’t hope to do advertising on a scale to match the combined budgets of many stores. Strength in numbers is the name of the game.
The advertising cooperative also uses its money to employ the services of an ad agency that produces top-quality TV, radio, and print advertising, as well as in-store, point-of-purchase display materials, and, in the case of food franchises, menus, banners, bags, and so on. If you’re in a business that can take advantage of the media buying power and quality production provided by an advertising cooperative, be sure to get involved. Your business will most likely benefit.
Showing posts with label Finding Out Which of Your Suppliers Have Co-Op Funds Available. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Finding Out Which of Your Suppliers Have Co-Op Funds Available. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
You’ve found your funds, now how do you get the dough?
After you’ve located the funds you need, you must run an obstacle course on your way to collecting them, providing all the proof the vendor requires that you actually ran the ads (see the section “Understanding the Rules, Regulations, and Restrictions” in this part). Then, and only then, will you receive your co-op funds in some form or another.
Suppliers can pay co-op funds in strange and unusual ways, including, but not limited to:
Suppliers can pay co-op funds in strange and unusual ways, including, but not limited to:
- Cash reimbursement
- Additional merchandise
- Discounts off future merchandise purchases
Knowing who to talk to
Each of the vendors who sell to your store has assigned a sales representative to work with you. These people visit you on a regular basis — of course they do, they want to sell you stuff! These sales reps are a great place to start the process of finding co-op funds. Even though they may not be inclined to offer you information on co-op funds on their own (because of some bonus arrangement they may have with their employers), they can definitely tell you about them if you ask.
If you get a positive response from one or more of these sales reps, get the lowdown on how you can go about collecting some of this money. Ask what you need to do to qualify for funds, and what, if you do qualify, they require you to do in order to receive a check. If the manufacturer’s rep tells you that no co-op funds are available to you, press the issue and ask whether vendor dollars are an option (which have no strings attached other than a few initial qualifiers).
You may also want to talk to the marketing and/or advertising managers of these suppliers. These people control the advertising funds (including co-op money), which means you can get your answer straight from the horse’s mouth. If the marketing or advertising manager says that the company doesn’t offer co-op funds, show how smart you are by asking for vendor dollars. This question definitely gets a marketing or advertising manager’s attention because, chances are, he’s never mentioned these available dollars to anyone.
If you’re working with an ad agency, ask your agent what her experience is with businesses similar to yours, and where these other businesses may have found co-op money. Agency people know where the bodies are buried, as they say in the ad biz. I even know of one group of radio stations in my area that has a co-op department for the express purpose of helping its direct advertisers find money they may not otherwise have known was available to them. (Of course, the radio stations benefit from this found money, too, because the companies spend that money advertising on their radio stations.)
One way or another, ask as many people as you can think of within the various companies you deal with about co-op funds. Unless you’re selling something obscure like arts and crafts made by individuals, you’re likely to find some hidden money somewhere.
If you get a positive response from one or more of these sales reps, get the lowdown on how you can go about collecting some of this money. Ask what you need to do to qualify for funds, and what, if you do qualify, they require you to do in order to receive a check. If the manufacturer’s rep tells you that no co-op funds are available to you, press the issue and ask whether vendor dollars are an option (which have no strings attached other than a few initial qualifiers).
You may also want to talk to the marketing and/or advertising managers of these suppliers. These people control the advertising funds (including co-op money), which means you can get your answer straight from the horse’s mouth. If the marketing or advertising manager says that the company doesn’t offer co-op funds, show how smart you are by asking for vendor dollars. This question definitely gets a marketing or advertising manager’s attention because, chances are, he’s never mentioned these available dollars to anyone.
If you’re working with an ad agency, ask your agent what her experience is with businesses similar to yours, and where these other businesses may have found co-op money. Agency people know where the bodies are buried, as they say in the ad biz. I even know of one group of radio stations in my area that has a co-op department for the express purpose of helping its direct advertisers find money they may not otherwise have known was available to them. (Of course, the radio stations benefit from this found money, too, because the companies spend that money advertising on their radio stations.)
One way or another, ask as many people as you can think of within the various companies you deal with about co-op funds. Unless you’re selling something obscure like arts and crafts made by individuals, you’re likely to find some hidden money somewhere.
Finding Out Which of Your Suppliers Have Co-Op Funds Available
The suppliers of many of the products that you sell most likely have available advertising funds that they’re happy to provide you — if you follow their sometimes convoluted rules and go to the trouble to ask for it.
For example, I have one client who told me that, in his first ten years in business, he never applied for co-op advertising funds because he didn’t know they existed. Not a single manufacturer from whom he was buying merchandise had bothered to tell him they had co-op funds available to augment his very limited ad budget. So what’s the moral to this story? If you want co-op funds, you have to ask!
Look at all the brands you’re selling, read every factory invoice, calculate what you’re spending with each of your suppliers, and go after them for ad bucks. Chances are, at least some of the companies who supply you with inventory have co-op or vendor dollars available. This Finding Out Which of Your Suppliers Have Co-Op Funds Available section helps you get the co-op ball rolling.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)