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Adroitsquare

Are You Leaving Advertising Revenues on the Table?

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Adroitsquare

September 5, 2023
“Fresh & Innovative” Solutions Bring Challenges

The answer to that question is almost a certain “yes” if you head a daily, weekly, or monthly publication dependent upon local retail advertising revenues. As we wind down the hottest summer on record and turn the corner into September, it’s time to think about capturing more advertising revenues during the “make or break” critical months ahead.

Strategizing to maximize advertising revenues during the holiday season is obvious, but that is wildly shortsighted. If your advertising revenues are not accelerating in September long before anyone even begins thinking about Halloween, that is scary! Every geography, region, city, and town is unique, but all have festivals and sports-themed advertising drivers galore. Halloween, as most people know, is now surpassed only by holiday season spending, topping $10+ B last year, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). September through the end of the year is “spend season,” with more than a third of all retail sales happening just between Black Friday and Christmas alone.

With America’s credit card debt recently passing $1 trillion, record inflation still out of control, and interest rates at a 22-year high, like clockwork, the so-called “experts” are predicting lackluster spending this upcoming holiday season. Like a broken clock that is correct only twice per day, so too is the accuracy rate of the “experts” when predicting holiday spending.

The same gloom and doom projections were delivered last year, and consumer holiday spending rose 6.7% over the previous year, 8.4% more during Thanksgiving, and 6.9% on Black Friday and Cyber Week.

Sometimes, a Ph.D. in “human nature,” a.k.a. real-world experience, outweighs all the surveys and number crunching by the “experts.” Someone’s frugal intentions in July quickly go right out the window when family gatherings and good cheer abound, why “IT’S THE HOLIDAYS!”

According to a Jusuno survey, 63% of Americans plan to spend the same or more than last year. Human nature will rule again this year; people will spend money during the holiday season; end of story!

Buying Habits are Changing as Dollars Buy Less

 

Look no further than our historically low unemployment rate if you question whether people will open their wallets and spend. If people are employed from September through December, they will be spending money. We all know it takes an advertising program, not an ad here and there, to leverage statistical realities, such as:  
  • 62% of holiday shoppers start shopping before Thanksgiving 
  • 84% of shoppers shop at both large retailers and small local businesses
  • 76% of shoppers do impulse buying during the holiday season 
  • More than 65% of impulse buying occurs locally in brick-and-mortar stores. 
  • Women (58%) are more likely to impulse buy than men (48%). 
  • Stress plays a significant role in impulse buying, and no time of year is more stressful than the holidays 
Since shoppers will be looking for deals by shopping earlier or waiting late to purchase, local advertisers must have staying power via their ad buys to catch buyers when they are ready to purchase. That requires weeks of advertising during the next several months; otherwise, shoppers will purchase elsewhere. Earlier and prolonged ad spending requires various solutions to capture a greater share of the dollars spent. Humdrum same-old vehicles and ads are passe; advertising dollars spent locally will be seeking new vehicles, outlets, and integrated marketing via attention-getting tools such as:
  • New monthly or quarterly publications
  • Seasonal and sports-themed publications
  • New types of ads that mix print and digital interactions
  • Marketing collateral to boost advertising

A mix of all these options and more will be required to capture a greater share of local advertising dollars, but such initiatives don’t come without challenges and risks.

“New and Innovative” Solutions Come with Challenges

“He who hesitates is lost” is as true as it is cliché. Getting around to innovating can’t wait for falling leaves, snowflakes, or creative inspiration to arrive. Now is the time to start brainstorming, but before you do, there is a major roadblock to circumvent.

That roadblock is staffing — which will soon be on life support, working “tirelessly” to meet ongoing needs. Only hamsters in wheels work “tirelessly”; designers’ fingers cramp up, develop digital eye strain and related headaches, and have personal lives that outweigh your profitability goals. 

Adding a supplement, launching a new publication, and creating tons of new ads takes time. Paying overtime to grow your market share of local advertising is way too expensive for the risk-reward ratio. You can’t change your rate card nor eat the added production costs — this is about profit, NOT holiday cheer.

Complex Problem with a Simple Solution 
We’re Adroitsquare; we make creative visions come true. Whether it is a supplement, new creation, or building ads all night while you slumber, we love it!

Operating out of our state-of-the-art design center, our team of world-class designers works seamlessly within a 24/7 operation, always fresh with innovations and nimble fingers, clicking for our client base of newspapers and magazines.

Forget about pushing your existing design team to the edge of resignation or paying crazy overtime charges; we’ll assume the load and slash existing costs by 40 to 60%. Greater capacity, innovation, and new revenue tools at a higher profit margin, what’s not to like?

Cha-Ching . . . Happy Holidays!

Whether just for the months ahead or year-round, scaling up or down to meet your needs is what we do; never a contract or long-term obligation required — which makes partnering with Adroitsquare risk-free.   

Make Some Notes, and Let’s Get Started

You know your local market, what autumn festivals and sports-themed events resonate, and how ghoulish Halloween is year after year; FEAR NOT — the “trick” this year is to “treat” yourself with the advertising dollars you have been leaving on the table.
Holiday shopping will begin long before Thanksgiving, almost as soon as Halloween ends, and last through the end of the year. After that, who knows, the so-called “experts” may finally be right: Americans will be out of money, but they will spend during the next few months; “you can take that to the bank.”
So what are you waiting for? Reach out now; let’s get on a video call, get acquainted, and explore your creative visions, capacity needs, etc., before procrastination snowballs into lost profit opportunities again this year.