Why should a local business advertise if the ad doesn't bring instant clicks?

A lot of local advertisers expect an ad to make the phone ring the next day. Some ads do. Most of the value is somewhere else, and you need to be able to explain it.

What does an ad do if nobody clicks?

Two things.

• Legitimacy. When I see an ad in a legit place, it tells me as a consumer that this is a real company that can afford to spend real money on advertising. If you can afford ads, you're big enough to be legit.
• Top of mind. They want to be the name people think of when they need it.

"why does Coca Cola spend billions of dollars on advertising? Nobody sees a Coke ad and then goes to the store immediately to go buy it. Nobody clicks on a Coke ad on the internet to go order Coke, right? It's to keep you, keep in the front of your mind."

I'd argue it's even more valuable for local businesses than for Coke, because it's so hard for a local business to get noticed.

Who buys awareness instead of leads?

A spa is a good example. For them it's about getting their name in front of potential clients and staying top of mind, like car ads or Coke ads. They don't expect clients immediately. When one wanted our listed six-month package, my coaching was simple: sell it at the listed price and don't discount it.

Bigger brands can be the same. My guess for a private trash company I wanted to reach was that they care less about 12 new customers next month and more about being the trash company people feel good about. That's a guess. I hadn't spoken to them yet.

Does selling prestige actually work?

Look at local magazine companies. The biggest one is, I believe, a nine-figure company, and there are many eight-figure ones. They're experts at selling ads, and they have no clicks, no opens, nothing to track.

A partner of mine positions his newsletter as the brand that's seen the most and is the most well known, not as "I'll get you this ROI or this many clicks." That's why he's succeeding. Ethan Brooks of Austin Business Review passed on similar advice on my podcast: don't frame reporting around ROI, clicks or opens, tell the story of the newsletter's local influence and the important readers the advertiser got in front of.

Newsletters can do more than a magazine, with social and digital on top. What we're missing is the physical prestige. Local business owners still like to hold something.

Why do business owners still say no?

Inertia. It's easier to keep doing what you're doing, even when the new option is better. A busy owner also hears "change" as more work: learning something new, figuring out how to get you their info. Work with that instead of pretending it isn't there.

Justin Moore, a sponsorship sales expert, told me on my podcast that the wrong conversation is promising to match a Facebook ad return. His approach is to look at the business's ads in Facebook's ad library and bring a proposal they get excited about. For why I don't lead with click reports, see whether to send advertisers click reports.