Marketing cooperative focuses on small firms

Jackie Taylor-Johnson is at it again.

In June 1994, she founded Springfield's Best Locally Owned Companies, a business association that is still in operation. While she later left that organization, Tay-lor-Johnson is still interested helping small- to medium-sized local companies compete in the marketplace.

To that end, she's launched the Ozarks Marketing Coopera-tive, a division of her company, J. Taylor Johnson Advertising. She said OMC, as she calls the program, reverts back to her original idea for Springfield's Best, which was to help small businesses pool their advertising budgets to get more out of their money.

"It kind of took on a life of its own, Springfield's Best did, and took a good direction, but it wasn't exactly what I had in mind to start with," she said.

Springfield's Best now

Jerry Talty, executive director of Springfield's Best, said while the group, a 501(c)6 organization, does provide cooperative advertising for its 70 member companies, there are many more facets to Springfield's Best.

"We do advertise for our members ... we are very strong into the referral process for our members. We have a business link referral group that meets once a week, and the majority of the members attend that meeting," Talty said.

Earlier this month, Talty said, Springfield's Best members voted unanimously to form the 501(c)3 Springfield's Best Foundation, which supports youth programs, with the Reading Roundup of the Springfield Public Schools being its initial project.

The organization also has several social functions for it's members, who are nominated and selected via a stringent screening process.

"Our members represent more than 6,000 employees and the annual sales revenue generated back into the Springfield community is more than $800 million," Talty said, noting that one of the primary focuses of Springfield's Best is to keep consumers' money in the local market.

Ozarks Marketing Cooperative

But Taylor-Johnson noted that OMC isn't intended to compete with Springfield's Best, and as far as she's concerned, there's room for both the business association and her new cooperative.

And while OMC uses the same concept originated with Springfield's Best, there are many differences.

Among those, she said OMC will not have a logo, there won't be regular member meetings and membership is more open.

"I feel like there's still a need for a group to help small business, small community businesses, get more for their advertising dollars," she said.

Taylor-Johnson designed OMC to help its members do just that. At this point, radio and television advertising is available through the cooperative, although, she said, print and other media may be added later.

"The concept of (OMC) is to take three well-matched advertisers and put them together in a single commercial," she said. "For the money they spend each month, they will get three times the advertising."

OMC offers radio advertising for $500 per month, and television advertising for $1,000 each month. The way the program works is that clients who pay the $500 radio fee get nearly one-third of a 60-second spot, and the $500 budget is combined with two others for a $1,500 radio schedule.

The radio spots include tags in which one local company will introduce another. The principle is the same for television ads.

"They will get 10-second commercials, but I run them back-to-back so there's three 10-second spots together, and I'll go and buy a 30-second spot and share it with those three," Taylor-Johnson said.

The result, a $3,000 schedule, "is a good one-week flight on a broadcast station," she said.

OMC members

Thus far, there are five members of OMC: Debbie's Design and Floral, HVAC Heating and Air, Plaza Optical, Beauty Mart and Linda's Flowers.

Competitors will never be paired in the same ad, but Taylor-Johnson said she tries to combine clients by finding ways that they complement each other. For example, the first spot, a radio ad that began airing June 25July 1, was for Plaza Optical, Beauty Mart and Debbie's Design and Floral, all of which have the target market of female consumers.

For co-op member Debbie Williams, owner of Debbie's Design and Floral, the economics of belonging to the cooperative are the main reason she joined and bought radio advertising.

"It's just more economical to do that. You get a lot more exposure on different stations by doing that than you could purchase separately," Williams said.

Valorie Albertini, owner of Beauty Mart, said it is difficult for a small business like hers to dedicate enough funds to advertising to make it work to the company's benefit.

"I'm not Coca-Cola, and I'm not Chevrolet, and I don't have the sheer volume of funds available to get into the marketplace and advertise in that way," Albertini said.

That OMC will allow her to share advertising costs with other small businesses is a plus, she said.

"You have that line of needing to advertise, and simply not having enough money to go in there and advertise at a high enough volume to get any returns. And frankly, if you advertise below whatever artificial line you want to put out there, dollar-wise you just don't get enough returns to make it worthwhile," she said.

Albertini is looking forward to increased visibility, as well as the opportunity the co-op will provide for her to focus her advertising on individual services or products.

Not for all

Taylor-Johnson said the OMC isn't a good fit for all businesses, though.

The cooperative wouldn't work well for a company using vendor co-op dollars, whereby companies whose products are represented by a business provide advertising dollars for that business.

She said it also isn't for someone who uses another advertising agency, because the only income her firm will make from OMC will be agency commissions offered by the media.

"I'm looking for businesses that handle their own advertising, that want to play with the big boys in the big arenas,' but they can't afford to do it on their own," she said.