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In Part I of this article series, we established that you can t just ask an agency how much advertising will cost. It s like asking a custom builder how much a house will cost he s going to ask you where you re going to put the house, what type of house you envision building, and what your budget s like! Taking this analogy to advertising agencies, Part I was all about location location location. The first of three cost areas: media.

Once you get a rough idea of what media costs will be, it s time to think about production costs: all the hard costs an agency incurs when it is producing your campaign, from the paper on which brochures will be printed, to the rights to legally reproduce photography, to research that needs to be done to reach a well-targeted strategy. These costs vary widely, as you can well imagine, based on the scope of your project, and how high-end the materials will be. A world-famous photographer will charge more to execute a custom photo shoot, than a local guy who s trying to build his portfolio.

It s often hard to predict in advance of concepting a campaign exactly what these costs will be -- much like trying to choose exactly what kind of plants will populate a landscape before the plans are drawn up. At NYCA, the full-service marketing agency where I m vice president/director of strategic planning, we ask clients which existing campaigns they admire and how they see themselves going to market. Ask yourself: are you in a crowded category, where it s very hard to gain consumer attention? Or do you need to speak with consumers who are notoriously bombarded by messaging? If so, production costs could be higher, as you need to produce more and better to break through. And what kind of image do you want to project? A good agency will consistently produce excellent work with high production values, but if image is everything, the cost will be higher still.

So before that first agency meeting, avail yourself with whatever information you can. Search advertising production online and spend 20 minutes learning about everything that might go into a campaign. Think about what it might take to sell your product whether that s a celebrity spokesperson or a long education process. All this will help the agency help you get to the right budget range for production.

At the end of it all, the key piece of advice is to remain flexible. If you have champagne tastes and a beer budget, that s okay IF you are willing to allow the agency a lot of latitude to be creative. If you have high expectations and a low budget you re going to have to let the agency do a little improvising. The results can be spectacular, but they may not conform to that picture you have in your head about what the perfect campaign for you might look like. The bottom line is that if it s going to attain the goal you set, it s a good idea.

By: Michelle Edelman

Michelle Edelman is vice president/director of planning at NYCA, a full-service marketing agency that grows businesses with inspired ideas. NYCA has grown business for clients like TaylorMade Golf, San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau, ViewSonic Corp., The San Diego Union-Tribune, SignOnSanDiego.com, The EastLake Company, Kyocera Wireless, DIRECTV, Penta Water, National City Mile of Cars, First Dental Health, and others. To find out how NYCA can grow your business, log on to www.nyca.com