Getting around the Catch-22 of your comeback.
“Catch-22 – a circumstance with mutually conflicting or dependent conditions.”
Which is to say, sort of like having to advertise and promote your property so you’ll be able to get business when things open up, but not having revenue from recent months to fund it.
But one thing is clear. You’re going to have to do something. You can’t just wait for the dawn to break and open up for business as usual. And any number of studies after recessions (which, in many ways, is where we are now) show that companies that maintain an advertising and marketing communications presence when the economy is down, come out of it faster and better than those who don’t.
So, back to the original question, how do you fund your marketing over the next 4-6 months? Be creative. Assuming they have your best interests at heart (along with their own, of course), your outside marketing communications firms should be willing to work with you.
We certainly are. We’re open to talking about all sorts of mutually beneficial arrangements. Just remember what Somebody Smart once told us: “A deal isn’t a good deal unless it’s a good deal for everybody.”
And as far as media is concerned, they're most likely going to be open to some creativity when it comes to paying for things. After all, just like everybody else, they could use the business.
Things have changed, and it’s time to think differently about a lot of things. So here are some ideas. They're geared primarily toward your creative partners, but most can apply to media as well.
Barter.
This works especially well if you’re a resort or in a vacation / getaway-friendly location. Sure, if you’re working with an agency that does a lot of hospitality work, they’ve stayed in a lot of hotels, but here’s the thing – they’re always working when they do.
This works especially well if you’re a resort or in a vacation / getaway-friendly location. Sure, if you’re working with an agency that does a lot of hospitality work, they’ve stayed in a lot of hotels, but here’s the thing – they’re always working when they do.
Take it from us, staying at a resort or hotel and just going from a meeting to a photo shoot to a meeting to a presentation isn’t the same as chilling by the pool and seeing the sites around town for a few days. It may seem like a busman’s holiday, but it’s not.
Stretch out payment terms.
Maybe pay for three or four months of work in five to seven. OK, for the agency, it might be half a loaf for a while, but a) what’s good for you is usually good for them, b) half a loaf is better than none and c) if it’s a project, the agency will still see some income after they’re done.
Maybe pay for three or four months of work in five to seven. OK, for the agency, it might be half a loaf for a while, but a) what’s good for you is usually good for them, b) half a loaf is better than none and c) if it’s a project, the agency will still see some income after they’re done.
Deferred payment.
There’s always the possibility of a “no payments for 60 days” kind of thing, perhaps for a small premium. Car dealers are doing it. Of course, the healthier the assignment, the greater the chances an agency will want to do it, but it’s worth exploring in any case.
Performance compensation.
This comes up in the Ad World now and then and the industry is fairly well split on it. We don’t see anything inherently wrong with our compensation being tied to performance, provided everybody agrees on the KPIs up front, and we’re pretty much free to do what we think will work best and have decent resources to do it. Nobody is going to want to take on a project where they get paid for performance unless they get to call a whole lot of the shots. “We’ll pay you based on how successful you are, but we’re going to dictate the approach” isn’t going to work.
Then again, if you’re working with somebody who knows what they’re doing and has a track record of success, you’re not taking much of a risk. Just don’t expect to pay on performance and get a deep discount.
This one may seem obvious and self-serving, but here it is anyway.
A really good way to make limited marketing dollars go further is to work with an agency that will give you a lot for your money. Like maybe a small agency that can keep costs down and knows how to do a lot with a little and has 30 years of hospitality advertising success. (We can hook you up with an agency like that.)
Honest. There is a way to finance a marketing plan to promote your comeback.
Just don’t skip doing it.
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