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Customer Service - Advertising

Wednesday, Feb. 07, 2007

Plan your newspaper advertising budget

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Your advertising budget is an indispensable part of your planning process, so give it the attention it deserves. The process is uncomplicated. Simply determine your projected sales, and then apply a percentage of sales for your advertising investment. Advertising planning and budgeting can be as simple or as complex as you like. For example, you can make one budget for your entire company or create separate budgets for each department - or even each merchandise line.

  • The One-Minute Advertising/Promotion Budget Test

    This simple test will help you determine how much to budget for advertising and promotion. It's easy. And it only takes a minute!

    Instructions: Next to each category, check one of the three answers. Click "Tally" to get your score and see below for your answer.

    1. I am in a location that has:

      • High traffic
      • Average traffic
      • Low traffic
    2. My store's awareness in the marketplace is:

      • High awareness
      • Average awareness
      • Low awareness
    3. My store has _____ competition.

      • Little
      • Average
      • More than I can count
    4. My store places a _______ emphasis on

      • Little
      • Average
      • High
    Your Total:
    • 4-7 points - Advertising dollars should be approximately three percent to four percent of sales.
    • 8-11 points - Advertising dollars should be approximately four percent to five percent of sales.
    • 12 points - Advertising dollars should be approximately five to seven percent of sales.

    Rule of Thumb:

    To determine what percentage of advertising should be spent when, follow this rule of thumb. If 10 percent of your sales are made in a given month, you should budget 10 percent of your advertising in that month.

    For a more detailed approach to planning your advertising budget contact your Modesto Bee sales representative. They can help you forecast annual and monthly sales based on industry averages for your store type, giving you a more precise monthly budget.