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Why Do Advertising Sales People Hate Me?

Do you know what really drives me mad? The assumption by advertising sales people that I spend my life persuading my clients not to buy advertising space - but to spend it on PR instead.

Catherine Caplis - Joint MD

Catherine Caplis29.01.2016

Because here’s the thing – I actually believe in advertising to build and maintain a brand. In fact, I’m becoming increasingly grumpy about the amount of people who have suddenly decided it doesn’t work. Or more to the point – have decided that because you can’t measure it in the same way as an e-mailer or Google Adwords, it doesn’t work.

And in fact – the clients of ours that commit the most money to measuring ALL of their marcomms activity are also the ones that have maintained their advertising spend. Food for thought?

Whereas some may cite a dip in circulations as a reason to abandon advertising – I would still challenge you to reach as high a critical mass anywhere else, as cost effectively as you can with many of the credible, ABC Audited, requested publications our industry boasts.

And…if you value the PR you are achieving in these same trade press, it’s also worth remembering that those publications wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the advertising spend.

That’s why I don’t spend my life persuading my clients not to buy advertising space but to spend it on PR instead. I always suggest they do both.

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