How much does an ad cost? A design, a brochure, a trade show exhibit?  We’re always getting that question, particularly from small to mid-sized accounts. Then we ask,  “What’s the budget?” and then the tennis match begins. Better question is, how much should an ad cost, or a design, or a brochure or a radio spot? Ads, brochures, self-mailers, tradeshow exhibits can have infinite price ranges.  And no matter what price is offered, a less expensive alternative is always just a phone call away. And you can never forget that share of market will invariably follow share of voice.

Account supervisors ask, “what’s their budget” with the typical response being “they didn’t really have one.”   Everyone has a budget – even if they don’t know it. More than a buck, less than a million; see…we’re closing in on it already.

You need to place a value on the expectations of the project.  If it’s a print ad or a broadcast spot, the cost of production has to have some relationship to the size of the media buy.  Buy a hundred-thousand dollar TV schedule and spend three-thousand to produce the spot, and you fail to get full value from the media buy.   Buy a ten thousand dollar schedule and spend five thousand on production, you fail to get full value from the creative. Ten-to-one, schedule to media is a reasonably good place to start– to START.

How much media weight did you buy?