Magazine add critique

Tony Shelton

Tony Shelton

BS Detector, Esquire
Last year I traded services for an ad in a property manager / developer / building owner magazine, The Nevada Business Journal.

It only ran three times and I didn't get anything out of it. It was a 1/6 page ad and was too busy.

It's not a hard account for us to service so I'm willing to listen to them this time on the layout and see what happens.

Here is a full page ad that will go in once then reduce to a 1/3 page ad for the rest of the year.

The ad copy guy sent this and says it matches the style of the mag and will draw more attention than my old ad.

What do you guys think?

Sonitx1-3pagead310.jpg
 
Looks great, professional, clean and decisive, mags and news paper are always a hard sell, done them all and never a great return. I hope that you can sell a bunch with this ad. I really do think that it looks great. I think about advertising all the time in trade mags and locals, but scared to lose ya know?

I hear for a great sales call you need to show up, bother the decision maker when he is busy and just stare at him uncomfortably till he feels the need to respond. After all whats the difference if you sell a customer on your skills, and superior product or service or just your ignorance ? I hear that being a dumb eye bulging moron that manipulates the situation as needed works, just make sure to make ""truth"" fit your situation at the moment, and everyone else will follow your lead.
Sonitx1-3pagead310.jpg
 
Tony, I like it. It's a little subtle, and I would want an image that relates more to what you do (even a before/after). But, that's probably what you did last time! Perhaps the ad guy knows this audience better. You know they want the ad to be successful as much as you do to keep you coming back.
Your name/logo is prominent, striking the ever important name recognition. That's a big plus!
 
Tony I like it, I always try to put to much stuff in my ads also, this one you have looks good, but I almost miss the coil cleaning etc. I almost miss what your company does. But really what the heck do I know, my stuff is over done usually. Good luck with it

You may not get a great response from it, but you have to look at the TOTAL picture, its another way another chance for customers to see your COMPANY name. I might if I was you where it says Sontix, I would have it your Company logo, that you use all the time. Let them always see that logo, so they remeber it.

Tony do you have a email list or address list from this magazine , could you get it, or do you know some or many of the customers that read that mag????. If I was you I might even do an email blast with an advert or sale in the email blast and ALSO mention " LOOK FOR OUR AD IN BLAH BLAH MAGAZINE" I do anything to keep my name in the customers faces. They might say hey he's advertising spending money in my industry magazine, maybe I will give him a shot

Good luck with the ad
 
Thanks guys. The people who advertise/read the magazine are on the property manager list I am already compiling thanks to Ron's help. We had over 400 pm's we were emailng and mailing to and Ron told us to get out there and VERIFY the market. From that we've come to the conclusion that there are probably less than 45 that really matter as far as the size accounts we are marketing.

The email blitz is a great idea.

The magazine told me my logo is too hard to read. They also said that the average reader is busy and won't spend more than 1 second on an ad unless a word or phrase catches their eye. On a personal level the owners of this magazine are good people and if they steered me in the wrong way I know it wouldn't be intentional.

I think I'm going to go with it and see what happens. Since I got nothing last year they are offering me 4 times my cost in ad space and a probable interview later as an expert in the field. (Glad it's not garage cleaning!)

Thanks again guys!
 
jlpressure said:
Tony I like it, I always try to put to much stuff in my ads also, this one you have looks good, but I almost miss the coil cleaning etc. I almost miss what your company does. But really what the heck do I know, my stuff is over done usually. Good luck with it

You may not get a great response from it, but you have to look at the TOTAL picture, its another way another chance for customers to see your COMPANY name. I might if I was you where it says Sontix, I would have it your Company logo, that you use all the time. Let them always see that logo, so they remeber it.

Tony do you have a email list or address list from this magazine , could you get it, or do you know some or many of the customers that read that mag????. If I was you I might even do an email blast with an advert or sale in the email blast and ALSO mention " LOOK FOR OUR AD IN BLAH BLAH MAGAZINE" I do anything to keep my name in the customers faces. They might say hey he's advertising spending money in my industry magazine, maybe I will give him a shot

Good luck with the ad
Click to expand...


I like that...... great wisdom
 
I think the ad is nice Tony but maybe some of the PM's reading the ad might not know exactly what you do.

I really like the 1/2 clean 1/2 dirty filter picture that you have, maybe show that and put comments explaining how this dirt buildup over 6-12 months makes your unit work hotter causing the rooftop unit lifespan to be cut in half, making unnecessary service calls which sometimes don't fix the problem, (nobody is up there watching them work, they might not even do the work they are charging you for where we can actually show you a difference immediately in the temperature of the incoming air in the building!), make the tennants irritable and get them calling you mercilessly, adding more to your already busy workload, increasing the already high electric bills, adding to the chances of a blackout in the city (hahahahaha, I like that one the best j/k) and causing your nerves to get shorter and shorter. hahahahaha j/k

I am not an expert by far but just an idea that gets them thinking, something that they can probably relate to and real situations that they probably have dealt with and would like to avoid.

Just my opinion.

Good luck Tony!











Tony Shelton said:
Last year I traded services for an ad in a property manager / developer / building owner magazine, The Nevada Business Journal.

It only ran three times and I didn't get anything out of it. It was a 1/6 page ad and was too busy.

It's not a hard account for us to service so I'm willing to listen to them this time on the layout and see what happens.

Here is a full page ad that will go in once then reduce to a 1/3 page ad for the rest of the year.

The ad copy guy sent this and says it matches the style of the mag and will draw more attention than my old ad.

What do you guys think?

Sonitx1-3pagead310.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Tony Shelton said:
Last year I traded services for an ad in a property manager / developer / building owner magazine, The Nevada Business Journal.

It only ran three times and I didn't get anything out of it. It was a 1/6 page ad and was too busy.

It's not a hard account for us to service so I'm willing to listen to them this time on the layout and see what happens.

Here is a full page ad that will go in once then reduce to a 1/3 page ad for the rest of the year.

The ad copy guy sent this and says it matches the style of the mag and will draw more attention than my old ad.

What do you guys think?

Sonitx1-3pagead310.jpg
Click to expand...
The add does look good, however if I just glance at it I think of Claritin or some type of hay fever medication. I don't think of coil cleaning or filter maintance.
 
Tony Shelton said:
Thanks guys. The people who advertise/read the magazine are on the property manager list I am already compiling thanks to Ron's help. We had over 400 pm's we were emailng and mailing to and Ron told us to get out there and VERIFY the market. From that we've come to the conclusion that there are probably less than 45 that really matter as far as the size accounts we are marketing.

The email blitz is a great idea.

The magazine told me my logo is too hard to read. They also said that the average reader is busy and won't spend more than 1 second on an ad unless a word or phrase catches their eye. On a personal level the owners of this magazine are good people and if they steered me in the wrong way I know it wouldn't be intentional.

I think I'm going to go with it and see what happens. Since I got nothing last year they are offering me 4 times my cost in ad space and a probable interview later as an expert in the field. (Glad it's not garage cleaning!)

Thanks again guys!
Click to expand...

Ya I have a list of about 900 and add some every week, but also have been deleting many, probably dropped 100+ so far and will drop more.. Got to go after your target and drop what isnt for you

Good luck
 
I like it. I would use a pic of one of your jobs. I remember you showing a real good one of a couple trailers and a lift in front of a building. Maybe a different word for legitamate would be good. Thats just my 2 cents. That background may look a little mediciny.
But I am just a powerwasher, I would go with your ad mans opinion over mine.
 
OK. Well that ad ran for a month (1/3 page size!) and here are the results:

6 salespeople calling to sell me something.
1 call to find out where to buy this Sonitx Allergy Medicine..... :)

They've come up with two more to try. Which would make you pick up the phone?
 

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If I had seen this 4 weeks ago I would have said I didn't like it.

Get your name/logo out of being the most prominant thing on the ad for one. Have a headline with something like:

How much money could your properties save if your a/c units lasted twice as long.. for double the efficiency?

Stop listening to these ad people who probably went to school to learn how to "brand" companies with unlimited advertising budgets. Put in a headline, then with some copy agitate the problem, tell them the solution (your company), then give them a call to action. It's amazingly simple yet eveybody thinks they know better. Follow the example of mail order catalog people who depend on their print ads to bring them revenue (not branding) and you will see success. Unless of course you just want everybody to recognize your logo... and be broke.
 
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