Now Is The Best Time To Advertise

When there is a recession or crisis, one of the first thing businesses usually do is cut advertising.  It is easy to do, and often saves jobs and can be a short-term fix.

It’s no different during the COVID-19 Coronavirus Crisis.

For many businesses, it is the right thing to do. If your business is closed or operating under limited capacity, pulling your advertising is a prudent way of saving money and maybe the only way you can survive during a crisis.

However, if you are in business and have a product that is reasonably priced and needed during this time, this can be a perfect opportunity to “get the word out” about your product or service.

When I first got into radio advertising in the early 1970’s I worked for the largest most popular radio station in Odessa, Texas – KOZA.  We had a package in the newscast that gave a business 300 commercials for $300.00. We called it “A dollar a holler.”

Well, radio advertising may not be that cheap, but it at a recent all-time low.  The reason: Many advertisers have bailed leaving a glut of time available.  Radio, Television, Billboard, Internet, and other forms of advertising now have all this unsold inventory on hand. If it is not sold, the media loses that income forever.  That’s why they willing to “cut a deal” to get it sold.

A second benefit is that many people are at home and while they are watching Netflix or another programming, commercial television and other media have a potentially larger audience than normal.

What that means is you can reach more people for your advertising dollar in just about every media — radio, television, outdoor billboards, internet advertising, newspaper — almost every form of media has been affected and has unsold inventory.

Best Time To Advertise

This is a prime time for people involved in Direct Response Advertising.  DR is the kind of advertising that drives traffic to a toll-free number or website.  They depend on buying lost of ads and a reasonable rate. If you are selling items at $29.99 and offering free shipping you can pay $2,000 for a commercial and make money.  However, now you can get prime ads at a reduced rate.

Turn into any cable channel and you will see lots of direct response ads in prime time at night. You can even find them on local channels in prime time.

The fewer businesses that are advertising — in any media — the lower price to advertise.

Again, this may not be the best time for your business.  But it could be the best time to advertise.

If you need help navigating COVID-19, review the options for everything from Face Mask to Floor Decals at Bagwell Promotions.

If you need more ideas for how to advertise during this time. Contact Bagwell Marketing.