Long ago, I either read or was told the difference between a foolish man, smart man, and a wise man.
A foolish man never learns from his mistakes. A smart man learns form his mistakes. A wise man learns form the mistakes of others. That being said, I consider myself to be a "smart man"; however I would like to the "wise man".
I have started my first serious attempt into an entrepreneurial venture. Basically I will be selling advertising space at service stations. As they say "the devil is in the details". Since I am sort of new at this, I have little personal experience to draw upon to make decisions about the details. This is why I am hoping to get advice here.
1. To start off with , I am having a difficult time deciding how many ads and how big the ads should be. The advertising display has the equivalent space of 5 letter sized 8.5" x 11" sheets of paper stacked end to end. There could be twenty 4.25" x 5.5" 4 up ads per display, ten 5.5" x 8.5" half sheet ads per display, and five 8.5" x 11" full size ads per display.
What issues should I consider in deciding the number and the size of my advertisements?
2. How do I decide how to price the advertisements? There is not anyone in my town who offers this type of advertising; Therefore, I do not have a point of price comparison.
3. Would it be worth the collection hassles to offer financing to the advertising clients or should I only accept prepayments for the ads?
4. How should I compensate the service station owners? I always wanted to give to charity. So I thought I might kill two birds with one stone by offering service station owners 20% of the gross revenues and taking 10% and making a donation, in their name, to the charity of their choice. Is this a good idea?
5. I am considering seeking out and partnering with advertising agencies who may be able to connect me to deep pocket advertising clients. Would this be a smart move? In addition, what would be a good compensation arrangement with the advertising agency? Pay them a percentage of the gross revenues or a flat fee?
6. Should I design the ads myself or hire some one to do them? Personally, I think it might be better to hire someone to do them to leverage my time.
Who does this type of work a graphic artists…. a sign company? Also, should I have the advertisers contact the "ad designers" directly or go through me first?