The Challenges of Fixed Placement

The challenges with Fixed Placement advertising tend to prevent small businesses from investing in this program. Contract minimums can be cost-prohibitive. Furthermore, campaign management is confusing or downright frustrating to entrepreneurs who need to modify their campaigns quickly but don't have the time or technology to do so. Review the following challenges to see how well equipped your company is to address these issues before initiating a Fixed Placement program.

Contract Length and Cost Minimum

To get price breaks on Fixed Placement ads, you'll need to commit to long- term contracts. This is risky. What if your campaign bombs within a few weeks and you've signed up for a one-year campaign? A cancellation clause allows you to pull the parachute cord and jump out of your ad agreement with written notification, but search engines began eliminating these a few years ago (still ask for it anyway). As part of a "test before you invest" strategy, run a 30-day campaign and then draft a long-term agreement based on the results. This isn't a guarantee of long-term performance, but it'll give you an idea of what to expect.

The cost minimum of Fixed Placement far exceeds that of Pay-For-Placement (which we'll be getting to in the next chapter), so this can't be a first advertising step for small business owners . It doesn't make good sense to learn from a $2,000 campaign when you can test a $50 one instead.

Keyword Replacement Restrictions

Keep in mind that you're committed to the keywords you select for the entire length of the contract. With several other types of paid advertising programs you can immediately delete the nonperforming keywords. Not so with Fixed Placement.

If you notice that certain keywords are hurting your entire campaign, ask for a contract revision to replace those with other terms. Although keyword replacement isn't a guaranteed option, it's worth asking about if you wind up in this situation.

Ad Listing Limitations

Throughout your campaign, you'll be editing your ad copy, and probably destination URLs, continuously. This task is a piece of cake through self-service, Pay-For-Placement programs. Unfortunately, changes to your Fixed Placement campaign dictate that you work with the search engines' technical support people or systems. Modifications to your listings can take longer. Worse, there could be limits on the number of modifications permitted each month without incurring a fee. Check your agreement or ask your media rep how ad listing updates are handled.

Invoice Reconciliation Hassles

Generally, your cost is broken down into a monthly schedule of fixed, equal payments. Therefore, budgeting for Fixed Placement campaigns is effortless because your cost is a known figure. Keep in mind that you're paying for estimated visibility, traffic, and sales. So unless you've purchased a set number of these deliverables each month, you won't know what is actually delivered until you check your tracking reports . Absolutely, positively review search engine invoices each month. I've witnessed how a couple of search engines' bills were based on estimated deliverables instead of actual ones. If this happens to you, don't panic. Check with your media representative to ensure they'll deliver what was guaranteed in your contract by the end of the term. It's just something you'll need to monitor with Fixed Placement.

The second headache with regard to payment is multiple invoice reconciliation. As inventory becomes available for the keywords you've purchased, you'll sign new agreements. An invoice is issued for each contract. Several years ago, I managed keyword banner and text link campaigns on over 15 search engines for one client. For AOL.com alone, I reviewed about 10 invoices each month because the client continued to buy new impressions for a core set of keywords. Ugh. Luckily, most search engine campaigns now allow you to add and delete keywords without this extra paperwork.