Quid Pro Quo Please, The Auto Channel Publishes Auto Maker Releases For Free, Stop With The "PR Has No Ad Budget" Poor-mouthing Excuses, Do What's Right.
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Publisher's Note: We believe that what you have to say is important, so give us the same courtesy and read the below plea.
Kudos to PR departments. Your unpaid-for placed Brand Exposure has been quantified to be as effective as your brand's ubiquitous Paid-For TV Advertising in influencing Automotive Purchasers according to a report from Foresight Research.
I'd say that this data should finally empower car maker PR execs to do what's right, to be able to step up and control budgets to monetarily support the publishers of automotive editorial web sites, editorial web sites that have been giving car companies space and time for free and providing the most effective support for auto brands without receiving even a minimum paid-for payment, its now time to step up before its too late. Will it have to come to..."no monetary support, no more freebies?".
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Yes we need your money, but the truth is we feel really taken advantage of when after The Auto Channel publishes your brand's news or a new vehicle review for no cost to you, we then see your paid-for advertising shown on even the most obtuse, no audience cable TV channels, paid-for-advertising that provides less impact on the purchase decision, then our freebies that generates brand exposure and influences a meaningful audience.
Free brand exposure is great for your company, but unless publisher's receive a commensurate share of paid advertising we won't be around to editorially promote your products.
The Auto Channel audience of over 500,000 a month and our measured Domain Ranking of 70 are so valuable to autocentric advertisers seeking higher GOOGLE SEO rankings that they pay us $200-$300 for us to publish their linked guest editorial post...your company gets more yet pays zero.
We don't want the present one sided “you take-but-not-give” to evolve into The Auto Channel and other non e commerce based web sites charging car makers for publishing their promotional news releases and reviews...but it may come to that.
Over these past years we have created almost a million pages of automotive content including Buyers Guides for every brand vehicle sold in North America, each contains thousands of brand specific articles, reviews, images and company news, each indexed, parsed and instantly available to researchers and shoppers in perpetuity.
This effort is expensive to initialize and maintain so its time that car makers gave us a realistic publishing budget that can help insure our continued editorial promotion of your brand.
Yes I understand that there is an historic internal corporate battle over budgets between PR and Advertising, but the Foresight Research report should change all of that middle school drama; "Auto PR Matches Paid For TV On Dollar For Dollar Basis", this report means that its finally time for PR execs to be empowered to monetarily support publishers with advertising budgets by paying for formerly free PR exposure that is as effective as paid advertising in influencing top of mind brand awareness.
OK, you have heard our argument and plea for advertising revenue, so below are low priced advertising packages that should be used to promote your PR effort...just imagine how much more brand impact this will make. If a news release is worth the effort and expense of a Business Wire or PR News-wire media distribution, The Auto Channel will most likely publish it, and now your PR promotion budget can promote readership with messages impressions that point to your published release. Unless the release is published and then read on a public media, it was worthless.
Please break with your one sided policy and act on this request with a strong suggestion to those ad buyers who are obliviously oblivious to the PR value and partnership with The Auto Channel.
Brand News Release Or Vehicle Review Viewer Boost Banners Rates 2Q 2022:
Impressions - Cost
- 20,000 - $600
- 80,000 - $2100
- 150,000- $4000
- 250,000 -$7200
Bob Gordon
Co-publisher
The Auto Channel
bgordon@theautochannel.com
http://www.theautochannel.com
332 West Broadway
Louisville, KY 40202
