I don’t know about you but here are a few of the stories I have heard:
- There is a limited number of new cars on the lot to buy due to the inability to get chips – used car pricing is through the roof!
- A well-known motorcycle brand is issuing IOUs as they do not currently have products to send their dealers.
- A neighbor just received a hot tub that they ordered last August! While another one finally gave up on the hot tub they ordered back in January and were told at that time it would only take 6 weeks.
- Pool chemicals (chlorine, bromine) appear hard to come by.
I am sure you can add plenty of stories to this list, every day there seems to be another shortage causing delays or the inability to get the product at all.
Then don’t even get me started on the employee shortage. I am starting to think there were a whole lot more people that went up in space with Jeff Bezos and never came back…where are all the workers? To be fair, I read that 2.9 million people decided to retire this year and the normal number is a million a year. However, it seems like when the U.S. was ready to open in July there was no one around to open it up. I can walk up to the corner and see multiple help wanted signs on 3 of the 4 corners. I now see companies like Olga’s Kitchen and Popeye’s Chicken offering health care benefits and college tuition for part-time employees and still, no one is taking the jobs and they remain closed.
It is all a bit frustrating and overwhelming, and as a Media Publisher or Agency, I am sure you are encountering local businesses that want to drastically cut their spending or cut their advertising altogether. Utilizing co-op funding, along with a few new ways of looking at things, may keep that advertiser going. Let’s look at three ideas:
1. You’re a bicycle shop that can’t get in any bikes to sell – how about advertising restoration and repair. Everything old is new again so maybe that old Schwinn would work out perfectly with a few adjustments.
2. Auto dealers can’t get cars for their lots but what about the parts & service departments? Advertise oil changes, tire rotations, and even body damage repair.
3. An HVAC company that is low on AC units or furnaces? Again, what about promoting winter furnace tune-ups all while utilizing your co-op funds!
Talk to your advertiser about using co-op funds to advertise that they are “Now Hiring” or promote a “Hiring Fair” or “New Employee Offerings” such as tuition, signing bonus, health care, and more. I recently saw a great ad for John Deere tractors where a dealer used co-op funding to promote the fact that they are looking to hire John Deere mechanics and would pay for training — just genius!! If you take the time to sit down with your advertiser and put a couple of heads together on being creative in using the co-op funds, I think you would end up with a long-time advertiser as they would really appreciate your effort.
I would love to hear about unique success stories and publish them on our blog! Please send your most creative use of co-op to my attention at [email protected]. I will reach out to you to confirm that we can publish your story and can modify as needed. For instance, if you are not allowed to mention an advertiser name, we can say a bicycle dealer or a pool store, etc.
The Localogy Co>Op Connect database contains all the information for thousands of brands in hundreds of different verticals. You may be able to take a complete list of brands under a specific vertical to your next advertiser appointment and brainstorm a new way of promoting products. For a database demo, or for more information call 866-323-5504 or email Alanda Hunt at [email protected].
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