For the past eight years I have been involved in advertising the goods and services of my company.  I have designed a series of ads you’ve seen in C&EN and I’ve just recently gotten a trade name through the trademark process at the USPTO.  I have been deeply involved in the design several iterations of chemical catalogs and web-sites. 

What has been interesting about this experience is the chance to witness up close how the advertising business works.  I have been an industrial chemical sales manager, so I can spot salesmanship a kilometer away.  In some respects, my chronic exposure to it has built up a resistance to the enchanting ways of the art.  But I have nothing over advertising account managers (a.k.a, advertising sales people).  These people are smooth.

It has been said that 50 % of all advertising is wasted effort and money. The trick is to figure out which 50 %. Advertising is something you know you should do, but the question is, how much should you spend and what should the message be?  Ah, that is the trick.  An advertising rep will encourage you to spend as much as possible.  They understand your uncertainty and trepidations, but they are in the job of selling ink & space.

The uncertainty over what and how to advertise is always there, but it is possible to put some boundaries around it. You do this by having an advertising budget. At minimum, this limits the cash bleed out in advertising costs.  Pretty elementary so far.  Next you have to decide on a message and an image.  Sometimes the image is the message. Other times, you will want to trot out specific goods and services. 

Within your company, just as everyone believes that they are an expert in pricing, everyone will have the same certainty that they are an expert in how to design ads.  I bring this up because rarely will someone have complete and solitary control over the design of an ad campaign.  There will be input from all levels- from the janitor to the CEO- however, some opinions are more important than others. If the CEO or other officers of the company don’t like the ad campign, then no matter how brilliant or clever it is, the thing is dead.  Like death and taxes, it is an elementary fact of life.

Selling chemicals is not quite like selling fragrances, apparel, or cars.  In advertising chemical goods and services, you can’t overtly appeal to the vanities controlled by the gonads.  People do not buy chemicals to fulfill some notion about their identity.  They buy chemicals for the same reason people buy cordless drills, 2×4’s, and bolts.  They are going to make something else or use the chemical to achieve some purpose other than simply being in possession of the material.  Owning a pile of KOtBu or a drum of DMF does not confer any upper eschalon status that I am aware of. It might alarm the local authorities, though.

But there is one vanity that a chemical sales campaign can appeal to: that is the need to have achieved a good “buy”.  Being a smart buyer feels good. Having a track record of being a smart buyer will help your company and will give bouyancy to your career.  People are always looking for a good deal and the advertiser needs to focus on this need.

But a smart buy isn’t simply about low unit price.  Availability and quality are important as well.  Nothing sours people quicker than the realization that they have been duped with an inexpensive purchase of low quality chemicals or late delivery. So there is always the need to balance price with quality and delivery.

Some companies are very smart about this.  Take SAFC (“Aldrich”) for instance.  Aldrich tends to be a premium supplier of chemical products.  While their catalog prices tend towards the higher side of average, at least by my observation, you can depend on high quality and fast delivery. They have built a successful institution on high quality and excellent service.  When you pay $80 for a gram of something, you are paying for good quality stuff and the price of near instant availability.  The fact is, most people are willing to pay the price for availability.

So, while you can’t take the “Give Her Diamonds” approach of DeBeers, your chemical advertising campaign can appeal to the need to be smart and to look smart.  The way to make a buyer look smart is to offer a service that gives competitive pricing and timely delivery of quality goods.  Buyers always have a list of difficult-to-find materials as well, so advertising unique reagents and intermediates is often worthwhile.