PromoMEDIA was set up as an alternative to traditional marketing and advertising agencies in the UK.
Having worked in a busy and thriving independent marketing agency and with 20 years’ experience of working with media planners, media buyers and other UK advertising agencies all over the country, it was clear that there was a gap in the market to help small and mid-scale enterprises (SMEs) looking to expand, develop and grow, as well as a more flexible way of working with national and international companies who had often become wedded to one particular advertising agency.
As with most marketing agencies I specialised in a particular niche but it became clear that the means of successful marketing are similar across all industries, even if the best advertising methods may vary depending on the product, service or company being promoted.
The marketing and advertising “toolkit” is essentially the same - billboard adverts, television advertising, newspaper adverts, radio advertising campaigns, social media, SEO strategy etc. – so regardless of what’s being advertised, with both my experience and brilliant media supplier contacts in place (offering great ad rates all over the country), I realised I could help any business achieve their marketing aims with cost-effective marketing teams.
This realisation was the birth of PromoMEDIA.
I was also aware that many of the main advertising agencies in London and indeed across the UK were, and still are, focused on large companies with big budgets, advertising predominately on a national scale. This strategy continues to leave SMEs, major regional companies, start-up businesses and one-off purchasers to be simply passed down to less experienced members of advertising teams or even turned away to then look after the marketing and media buying themselves.
This is simply because these companies are often spending less in comparison to their larger counterparts and are often seeking more cost-effective advertising; to put it bluntly, they don't generate the ad agency as much money as the bigger brands and are so pushed down the order of priority.
This means potential advertisers and aspiring businesses are left in a state of flux about where to go in order to advertise, ultimately this leaving them to approach media owners directly, often then paying inflated rate-card marketing costs rather than the discounted rates enjoyed by the leading advertising agencies.
This is something I think is unfair and counter-productive.
In essence, it allows the larger companies to grow further and pay less for their advertising, whilst the smaller companies end up paying more. This approach I’ve always found very short-sighted, if slightly morally questionable, after-all, a small company today can be a bigger one tomorrow.
As I worked in a small bespoke marketing agency with a loyal client base this imbalance was never the case and I handled marketing budgets and advertising campaigns all over the UK from a few hundred pounds up to a million, both types of which I loved working on as they presented different challenges.
I was determined that no matter what size marketing budget, all companies and advertisers should be treated the same.
Also, a large amount of personal satisfaction is derived from seeing something new and special grow through effective business and product marketing. Don't get me wrong, it's great to work with huge brands with big budgets and then see something you work on featured on UK-wide billboards (https://www.promo-media.co.uk/advert-services/billboard-specialist/), on national TV ads or with major radio advertising, but it's equally satisfying to know that you've seen a small company grow on a tighter marketing budget and with a more strategic and targeted ad campaign, as the saying goes, variety is the spice of life.
As I moved forward with the idea of PromoMEDIA and looked to create a marketing agency which would support all-sized businesses, I was intrigued to learn how companies went about finding a marketing or advertising agency to help them promote themselves.
When I spoke to SME business owners, in-house marketing teams, self-employed individuals and even national companies - with seemingly extensive marketing departments - it was a unanimous answer that when they were looking for a UK ad agency they simply ended up typing in Google “UK ad agencies”, “Top 100 marketing firms”, “the best marketing company”, “cheap business advertising”, “advertising for a company”, or something similar.
This seemed both extraordinary but at the same time logical to me, in that marketing or advertising agencies aren’t the type of company you would see on a high-street and most people who don’t work in the creative industry couldn’t even name one. Well, maybe Saatchi & Saatchi but definitely not two.
These Google results nevertheless threw up a sea of advertising and marketing companies, many offering tips on how to advertise and market your business, promises of "the best advertising rates", “cheap forms of advertising” or the like. However, in many cases when these SME companies went on to approach these marketing agencies they felt either intimidated, like “small fish” or found them expensive. The majority of the time it was an impasse and nothing moved forward.
So, knowing that there were companies across the country looking for marketing support and with a personal desire and team able to offer an informed advertising service, coupled with the best rates, PromoMEDIA was launched in July 2016.
Since then we have gone from strength to strength, supporting and booking advertising campaigns for everything from small local start-ups and chip-shops through to gym chains, storage companies, national restaurants, major hotel chains, sports clubs and international brands. However, our ethos will continue to be the same; to offer cost-effective advertising at The Right Time, Right Place and Right Price to all, using a top team of hand-picked media planners and media buyers who are highly experienced and passionate about what they do.
That’s what makes us different.
At PromoMEDIA we are keen for a personal approach to be taken to business marketing, so we aim to deliver cost-effective advertising and are personally invested in your success.
This is why when we get an advertising enquiry a bespoke media planner is selected and matched to the job.
They will then call you to chat through what you are looking to gain from advertising and find out more about your marketing aims and company ambitions.
Sometimes these media planners are local to you, other times they may be in another town or city, however, they will but be an expert in your location and media type.
Having chatted and listened to you they will then recommend the best forms of advertising for your company so you get the best return on investment. We often find that people enquire about one form of advertising e.g. billboards, before realising a different media option may be more effective e.g. bus ads (https://www.promo-media.co.uk/type-of-ads/vehicle/).
We can also send you examples of previous similar work to help you make a balanced decision before you book anything. Obviously, the advice and marketing recommendations we give at PromoMEDIA is free – you only pay for any advertising you want to go ahead with.
We believe that the personal touch and listening is key to any successful business marketing campaign.
Some media and outdoor advertising websites now allow you to identify the billboard or bus sites which you want to advertise on; you can then purchase them directly and upload your artwork, without having to speak to or interact with a marketing or ad agency.
Initially, this approach may sound radical and time-saving – cutting out the middleman. However, whilst this in many ways is a quick way to advertise a business, it does also eliminate personal touch and someone with experience being able to recommend and advise you properly.
Also, late availability of decent billboards, and out of home advertising sites in general, is rare (https://www.promo-media.co.uk/type-of-ads/outdoor/), the best billboards get booked up well in advance, so if you are purchasing cheap billboards for close up start-dates, they are probably not great sites and are those not wanted by leading advertising agencies.
In many ways using these sites is like shopping in the bargain bucket for billboards; you are getting the left-overs, not the premium sites, which is why they are both available and cheap.
A tough question, the typical marketing budget we work with at PromoMEDIA is around £10,000 but we do work with much larger and smaller advertising budgets.
I personally think it’s important for companies to see marketing not as a cost but as an investment.
It’s an old adage to “put your money where your mouth is” but I believe this is true. If you don’t believe and invest in your company why should potential customers? I’ve seen so many individuals with good business ideas fail because they aren’t willing to invest in proper marketing or try to do it on the cheap.
It’s not enough to simply create a good company or product and expect people to happen upon it, you have to tell them, and business advertising is the best way to do this.
Again, a tricky question.
All media owners think that their media platform is the best and most effective form of advertising and they will all have industry facts and figures to prove it!
If you put billboard suppliers, TV ad bookers, SEO experts, bus ad specialists etc. all in one room they would argue with each other for hours that their form of advertising is the best.
But the truth is the best form of advertising depends on the product or service and what is the most effective way to show this off is. For example, if you are selling a visual product e.g. a holiday, the best way to do this is with visual marketing, so billboards or TV advertising (https://www.promo-media.co.uk/type-of-ads/tv-adverts/) would be brilliant. If you are selling a music gig, radio ads are great (https://www.promo-media.co.uk/type-of-ads/radio-adverts/).
Our job at PromoMEDIA is help advise you on what will the most effective marketing platform for your company, based on what you are promoting and where this is.
Often a balanced “pick and mix” of a few types of media is very effective and something our media planners may recommend to you.
You are all different and advertising for new business and customers is tricky – it’s a sad fact that most companies fail in the first year.
There is no simple answer about the best place to advertise a business and once again it totally depends on your product or service.
At PromoMEDIA we always believe that outdoor advertising is a great starting point if you are looking to raise your company profile, it’s impactful and can hit a large number of people relatively cheaply in targeted and high-footfall areas. In terms of specific locations, we find that train stations, roadside 48 sheets and shopping centres are especially effective.
We often get asked for some free advertising tips.
As mentioned we think investing in paid advertising is important but our free marketing tips would be – a clean and user-friendly website, positive social media interaction, a decent logo and hard-work!
Check out our blog for lots of weekly tips, news and views - https://www.promo-media.co.uk/blog/
Many people expect instant results from advertising but that isn’t always the case.
You have to think realistically about how you interact with marketing as a human being.
For example, if you saw a poster billboard for a new restaurant in the morning on the way to work you don’t instantly call up and book or go straight over there for a meal. However, a few weeks or months later when you are thinking of somewhere new to eat you may decide to head over. The same applies to a service; if you see a new dentist being advertised you may log that mentally and the next time you are due a check-up decide to go to them – again this could be days, weeks or months after. People are complex, not robots, and marketing is a balance of art and science meaning results are not instant.
Successful marketing plants a seed which grows into customers further down the line. Also, too many advertisers and businesses try to overanalyse results and focus on things not working - we call this paralysis by analysis - basically you over-think things and end up not moving forward.
At PromoMEDIA we know that business and product marketing takes a leap of faith, it’s an expensive investment for most companies but we believe it’s the only way to move forward and fulfil your business ambitions.
If you want to or sustain your marketplace or grow, we confidently believe the way to do this is with effective and well-placed marketing and at PromoMEDIA we are here to help you.
