<p>Need some help from my trusty cc resources!! How does one calculate/estimate the value of advertising for a small business? I don’t mean “ask how many of your clients saw your ad” kind of data gathering, but rather, say, for example (and this is hypothetical) a landscape architect landscaped your property and then used photos of the finshed job, without your consent, in large magazine ads, on their website, etc. Can someone direct me to websites, references, journal articles or something that can help calculate the value of these ads? </p>
<p>Would prefer not to get into more detail/specifics, and I thank you in advance for respecting that. Surely there must me marketing information about marketing/advertising!!
Thanks in advance</p>
<p>Did you send a cease and desist letter yet? Did he have you sign any kind of release when he took the photos or did he take the photos without your knowledge?</p>
<p>No, there is nothing in writing permitting use of photos for purpose of advertising, nor was a request made to be used as a reference. It also seems to be an invasion of privacy too.</p>
<p>jym, I think you need to talk to an attorney specializing in such issues and pay him/her to draft a stern letter to the company using these photos. One caveat - if they’ve taken pictures from public property (e.g., a sidewalk) instead of from your driveway, they are most likely off the hook. If the pictures were taken from your property (inside your backyard), then it is very likely they have no rights to own and profit from such photos:</p>
<p>As far as value calculations go, I suspect even if any such formulas exist, marketing pros guard this information so tightly that even WikiLeaks will not be able to get a hold of it.</p>
<p>Sorry that you have to deal with this stuff. :(</p>
<p>Thanks, BB.
As I mentioned earlier, the landscaping was just an example. The photos that were taken were not landscaping, and they were definitely not taken from public property. There is an attorney involved, as this is part of a bigger issue. Still hoping there is some way to estimate what return a person might expect from advertising with large photos in magazines and websites. If anyone can suggest some helpful verbiage on how to address the use of photographs for commerciaql benefit without permission, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>OK … I recently <em>purchased</em> stock photos for which I have advertising use. My total cost was under $200 and I bought six or eight professional photos of pets. </p>
<p>The website is istockphoto dot com. You can compare pricing on purchasing the stock photos in different sizes. For any sort of print ad, you will need at least a “medium” size photo …</p>
<p>I do have to say that it is <em>really</em> hard to measure the impact of any sort of advertising, much less the value of one particular bit of an ad. I just ran an ad (the ad with the purchased art) in one of those shopper flyers and someone came in clutching the ad the same day it hit their mailbox. Ok … that ad worked … but it hasn’t paid for itself yet. This person’s purchase was about 1/20 the cost of the ad!</p>