Beware the "one-day" sale

This time of year -- after the election, when inventory is low -- you might get a couple of pitches from local radio or TV stations about "one day" sales. The prices may seem good, but don't get sucked in.

One of my co-workers in one of our U's colleges visited me yesterday and shared a one-day sale sheet for a local radio station company -- she had to commit in one day to the low prices offered. The prices offered were pretty good; but then, we read the fine print.

She wasn't planning on running ads until April -- yet, if she took this deal, she had to run radio ads in January, February AND March to lock in the low prices for the rest of the year.

In addition, the options offered to her were day ads (from 5 a.m.-8 p.m.), evening ads (8 pm-midnight), and late-night early morning ads (midnight-5 a.m.).

A good media buyer would tell you these time periods are waaaaaay too large and vague. If you bought the day part, all of your ads could run before 6 a.m. and no one would hear them. Normally, when you buy radio, you buy in much more segmented parts of the day.

Luckily, I was able to steer my co-worker away from this. But the sense of urgency and special prices during a one-day sale is as luring in the media as it is in the stores.

Buyer beware.