Client Services

Have you ever flipped through the pages of a magazine and wondered how much of the publication is really created by the employees, staff writers and producers behind the company name? More than half of the reading seems to be from vendors and other commercial companies battling for effective exposure to a targeted public.

At PlattForm, the magazine writers and producers are a small collective group of mostly volunteers and the work sometimes doubles for press releases sent out also. Quite the idea right there in itself!

Magazine advertising ranks among the top mediums recognizable to the general public. According to the Magazine Publisher’s of America web site (www.magazine.org) the following table shows the breakdown of advertising spending per medium in 2006:

Share of Advertising in 2006
Magazines (18%)
Sunday Magazines (1%)
Newspapers (17%)
National Newspapers (3%)
Outdoor (3%)
Network TV (18%)
Spot TV (14%)
Syndicated TV (3%)
Cable TV (13%)
Network Radio (1%)
National Spot Radio (2%)
Internet (7%)
TOTAL (100%)

Who would have guesses that more companies spend money on magazine advertising than they do on television? And so much more than internet and outdoor advertising? However, it does make sense that a targeted public and demographic reads a certain type of magazine on a regular basis more than it would watch a certain television program looking for a specific thing.

PlattForm’s experience in the magazine industry is focused on the Key Magazine and Career College Central publications. As a whole, about 75% of our sales come from the ads that are sold within the publications. The other 25% accounts the subscriptions and copies sold.

The actual magazine industry standard is a little different than PlattForm’s numbers. According to a proprietary study of 93 representative magazines, in 2005, 55% of revenue came from advertising, and 45% came from circulation.

It makes you think a little bit more about the type of work put behind the favorite magazine you pick up from the grocery store check-out stand. A lot more dollars can be attributed to the pretty models and slogans than once previously thought. And you thought the cover price was outrageous…. Pffh!

Did you know the average consumer uses the public bathroom 3.2 times per evening while out on the town? Imagine the product/service retention that a viewer would have after being exposed to the exact same advertising 3.2 times in just a few hours.

According to www.bathroomadvertising.com, this new spin on print advertising is becoming one of the fastest growing audience attention grabbing avenues the industry has seen yet. It’s 100 percent gender specific, catches 100 percent of the readers’ attention, and it’s the only place a person would choose to stand in line to read advertising. It’s also an opportunity to advertise a very personal product – most wouldn’t put a tampon ad on a billboard on Broadway Avenue, but would put it in the women’s restroom at Hooter’s, for example.

Fortune Magazine says, “The ads reach the audience most coveted by advertisers: 21-35 year olds who like to go out and spend money. Restroom ads also allow companies to target a gender with 100 percent accuracy.”

Stickers in the sink … TV’s in the mirrors … LCD screens on the automatic hand dryers … and the reading material hanging on the back of the stall doors and above the urinals. You might even see it on the tampon disposal box, toilet paper roll and soap dispensers.

Automatic flush has led to automatic conversation with a poster, or even a perfume, cologne or air freshener scent automatically dispensed for your pleasure.

One thing to think about is the subconscious psychological association that might occur. Some advertisements might create a negative connotation. Foul smell and dirty bathroom floor while reading about Charlie’s Limo Service? Not really sure how many prospects Charlie will hear from when they associate the smell of urine and dirty paper towels with his company’s logo. However, most of the time, viewers see the ads when out for a good time with friends or family … usually in a good mood and having a pleasant time. It’s a risk that most advertisers are willing to take.

Here are some numbers that really paint the picture for advertisers looking for alternatives to new or current campaigns:

• 84 percent recalled seeing specific advertisements in the washrooms.
• 92 percent were able to name specific advertisers without prompting.
• 88 percent recalled at least FOUR selling points in the ads surveyed.
• 98 percent reacted positively or neutral to seeing ads in restroom facilities

Next time you are out, take a good look at the type of advertising you are exposed to without even knowing it. It’s quite interesting and effective at the same time.

By Nici Krehbiel, Kat Reves, Casey Liddle and Kris Little

Service is the key to the PlattForm Client Services team’s ability to go above and beyond our competitors. From leads to graduates, Client Services manages the entire marketing campaign for our clients. We are the voice of our clients and the face of PlattForm.

As a Client Services team, we live and die by our goals. The goals we set are the foundation for our service. We set goals as individuals, as a team and for each of our clients to measure our standard of service. These goals become the stepping stones for our success and are reevaluated for relevancy.

Proactivity is just another piece of the pie. We strive to be proactive in our marketing strategies and work with the school to stay on the cutting edge of lead and start generation. Being solution-focused and always planning with the end in mind is our way of never losing site of the goal – exceeding start goals, of course!

Client Services is dedicated. Dedicated to the success of our clients. We care about the people we work with at each school, the students and the staff. We truly believe that in order to achieve ultimate success, we have to build a partnership with each client.

We change lives one lead at a time.

I don’t depend on a helmet to protect me. I don’t wear a stethoscope around my neck. There’s never a moment to blow a whistle and look at a clipboard. I don’t get to bang a gavel on a wooden podium. I don’t even get an official badge.

What icon does an advertiser take with them? How are we identified among a society filled with hundreds of thousands of position titles? The work done by an advertiser is viewed everyday, but not many can identify the source. Advertisers push a product or idea. They make the world see what the world can offer. Whether it’s a new car, a laundry detergent, or a trip to the Caribbean, the viewers see and hear it.

When finishing school, some don’t realize what they want to do with their lives until some length of time later. I always knew I wanted to work in advertising: the hustle of the office atmosphere, the catchiness of the campaign headlines, the commercials during the Super Bowl games and the sexiness of the industry portrayed in the romantic comedies everyone has seen. These were the things that caught my interest growing up. However, I never knew what the underlying theme of the industry all entailed; what would define me. It wasn’t until I began working at PlattForm that it all started coming together.

At PlattForm, we offer our viewers opportunity. We offer the chance to see a future or the opportunity to improve a lifestyle. And this is the bottom line for the bulk of our employees’ efforts. The institution of education has begun to be more overlooked than ever, and our citizens are taking it for granted. As the education process evolves, so do those wishing to be educated. Traditional media is holding a smaller and smaller piece of the advertising pie. It’s only normal for the traditional student demographic to do the same. We don’t push a product or experience. It’s more about the big picture. We sell an outcome for the future.

So I don’t carry a ball bag, and I don’t hold a microphone when I am “on the clock.” The thing that defines an advertiser is not as simple as an article of clothing or size of a hard drive. An advertiser’s icon is seen all over the place. One just has to look to realize.

Here at PlattForm, I am one person among many.
I offer opportunity.
I am an advertiser.

There is probably one thing uniting all the people who work at PlattForm: dedication – to the final product, to our clients, to the individuals who make the decision to improve their lives through higher education. But all this dedication means nothing unless it is communicated to our clients. That’s why the people who make up the Client Services department are so incredibly important – they represent the more than 350 people working here.

They are the face of PlattForm.

No one knows this better than the people who make up the Client Services team – they work with every single department to make sure that everyone is focused on the goals and expectations of the client. And, at PlattForm, that means the Client Services team can handle every aspect of a client’s marketing campaign, including overall campaign strategy, media placement, creative, interactive marketing, remarketing, direct mail and public relations.

Orchestrating and coordinating the marketing plans for clients takes more than knowing the career college sector like the backs of their hands. It takes understanding a client’s plans, knowing what a client’s goals are and being able to meet a client’s needs at every turn.

And when the members of the Client Services department gives their word, they know that hundreds of people have their backs and that they’re just as dedicated to getting results.