The importance of advertising rate cards

Advertising is not especially cheap, but it is necessary. No business can live without advertising in some form; Even small cottage industries that rely primarily on word of mouth must do something to bring their products and services to the public’s attention. This could be as simple as handing out business cards or flyers at parties or flea markets or buying space in local newsletters. Of course, to be really effective, it’s best to advertise in local or national newspapers, on local or national radio, and, if the budget is that big, in magazines and on television. When determining how to allocate your budget across different advertising mediums, you need to know how the different ads are priced, and this is where rate sheets come into play.

Wikipedia defines a rate sheet as: a document that contains prices and descriptions of the various ad placement options available in a media outlet.

But that is not all. To be really useful, a rate sheet needs to give you more information about the audience of that particular outlet. For example, the rate sheet should contain information about your demographics: pet owners, financial advisors, women in leisure, and teens, etc. A newspaper or magazine must provide information on its circulation and readership. They must also include the dimensions of the different advertisements available, as well as the contracting options. All media should inform you of programming dates and deadlines.

In many cases, the price of rate sheets is flexible. Businesses new to advertising may not know this, so it’s a good idea to hire an ad agency or media buyer to negotiate on your behalf. These agencies generally have up-to-date rate sheets for all mediums, including the burgeoning online avenues. They also tend to have good relationships with those who sell advertising and will be able to negotiate discounted rates depending on the length of your campaign, the size of the ad, and the amount of ad space available.

Shari Waters (about.com) take a look at some of the sizing factors that affect price. Divide print ad sizes into 1/16th, 1/8th, ¼ and ½ pages. However, some magazines and newspapers do not offer standard rates for standard sizes, in which case you should refer to the column inch or, in some cases, pica, a typographic unit of measure. Waters gives an example: 12 points = 1 pica or 1/6″, and 6 picas = 1″.

There is more to advertising than most people think. Rate sheets help you determine which ads fit your advertising campaign and budget. Up-to-date pricing information will help you determine how much to spend on which media. They are an invaluable tool when it comes to structuring ad campaigns, so make an effort to understand them.