Working on Commission: Why Hiring a Law Firm Ad Agency is a No-Brainer!

On Monday, Dan wrote about one of the overlooked benefits of hiring an advertising firm — check it out if you missed it.  

But at the end of the day, a lot of folks are still hesitant, to hire an advertising representative, because (especially when dealing with phone books) they are already paying huge rates for the ads — why tack on even more for an agency’s commission?  This is sound logic, but it highlights one of the biggest misconceptions about how an advertising firm, like Kirkpatrick Creative, bills our clients.

An advertising firm is in your best interest, since:
Our fee comes exclusively from the phone book!
(Or other media outlet…)

Kirkpatrick is commissioned the standard 15% for our work, from the directories — as a “recognized agency.”

Hold up — what does that even mean?  A recognized agency?  Basically, since Kirkpatrick has been around the block a few times, we wear our experience like a badge of honor for anyone to see — like the phone books.  If you are working with an agency or individual who isn’t “recognized” by local media, rate negotiations will probably be a longer, more difficult process.  This agent will have “prove himself” essentially showing that he knows the profession and what is to be expected.  However, if you have a “recognized agency” then this testing period is waived.  If you are recognized, media outlets know that you’re a professional and you should be treated as such.  However, since we are a proven professional, we come with a 15% commission —  

But you aren’t paying that commission.
The phone book is!

 

Media outlets are willing to pay this, because we design and produce your advertisement to your specification, saving them the work. Last week, Dan wrote about the struggle of redesigning the phone book after you request a smaller ad!  The same theory applies here — when you order a new ad or try to change things, the phone book has to pay copywriters and ad designers to craft this new page space, or they simply pay us our 15% commission and we do all that work for us.  Phone books hate an ad agency during negotiations, but love us during design.

Our commission is deducted from your final negotiated rate with the publisher. You pay the same rate, either way! So a simple numbers example could be:

• Without an advertising agency, if your phone book sales rep asked for $100, you’d pay a gross rate of $100 and get a cookie-cutter ad from their designers.
• If Kirkpatrick was your advertising agency and you chose not to negotiate the rate, then you would pay the phone phone book $100 and they would pay us $15 to design the ad for them to your specifications.
• Finally, if Kirkpatrick was your agency and did negotiate the rate. We would try to renegotiate your advertising placement. Our average reduction is 30%. Now, you pay the phone book $67 and they pay us approximately $10, and you get a personally designed ad for two-thirds the price! – Better Math!
• In the end, the quality of the ad is better, it works better (producing more leads) and you are more likely to renew your contract. Everybody wins!

Hopefully it is clear that having an advertising agency in your corner is a no-brainer, from negotiations to design, you get nothing but benefits.  We make our money from the media, and you get a more focused, personalized advertising strategy!