News: Articles: Advertising a Powerful Form of Communication

An Amateur Point of View

Advertising: A Powerful Form of Communication

by Russ Vento

Recently someone asked me, “Why do I need to advertise? Why is it so important?”

Good question. We spend money on our horses and time on our riding, driving or leading abilities. If we are good enough to win, or at least do well, why should we then have to tell everyone about it too? Shouldn’t the achievement just stand for itself?

Well, the achievement does stand for itself—but not everyone was on the rail to see us when we got our ribbon. So we have to make sure they all know about it. The industry is no longer like it was 20 or 25 years ago, when we all did the circuits and were pretty aware of what everyone else was doing. Back then, there was a big Florida circuit, and people came from everywhere to do it—and so on around the country, and then up to Canada, and back here to the U.S. Nationals. For a lot of reasons (not the least of which are the costs of gasoline and labor), it’s different now. We don’t haul our horses all over the country. Now we all have our regionals, and we have other events specifically designed for our areas. We don’t get to see all the horses and all the developing careers ourselves. That is where the magazines help us out: People don’t know that you’re great unless you tell them you are.

It is the same if you are standing a stallion. Unless people know why they should breed their mares to him, how will they even know to consider him? If the stallion has had a successful show career, then breeders might remember his name—but even so, you need to keep that name in front of the public, and tell them why he should be selected instead of all the other stallions.

And let’s be honest. In addition to letting each other know, we also want the judges who might see us in the future to be aware of our achievements too. There is nothing wrong with that; judges are Arabian horse people, just like you or me—the breeders, the owners, and the trainers of the industry. When they are not judging, they are doing the same things we are, which is breeding, training, buying, selling and showing horses.

In our industry, we’re very proud of our horses. We’re proud people; it’s all about building the horses up. “Hey, mine’s great! Did you see him? He did this—” Or “Did you see my kid?” or “Did you see my trainer? They were incredible! They won a class of 10!” The magazines are another way of getting it out there. Advertising, bottom line, is your way of getting out the news that is important to you.

So let’s take that ‘why’ question a step further. Let’s talk about how to advertise and promote your horse and yourself.

Advertising a Show Horse or Exhibitor

The biggest thing to remember in advertising a show horse is that a great picture can do a thousand great things. A bad picture can do a thousand bad things. So if it’s not a good picture, don’t use it. You’re wasting money. If it’s a backyard snapshot and it’s not wonderful, don’t put it out there; it will hurt you more than anything else.

Another rule to remember is advertise only when you’re ready. Don’t promote your horse too early; don’t promote it too late. Do it when the time is right, and that means when you have something to say and have the pictures to back it up.

In my mind, what you want in advertising is the first impression. So when you are putting an ad out there, you want whoever is looking through that magazine to stop and say ‘wow.’ They are probably not going to remember that Bint Ibn Black won the Carousel Horse Show in Virginia. What they are going to remember is the picture of Bint Ibn Black with a little girl or an amateur or the trainer riding that horse. We all have a visual library in our mind; we see an image and store it in our brain. It is in our mental library.

Advertising is a huge deal for junior exhibitors, amateurs and trainers. When you put those horses out there, you have to let the public know when they win. Whether you’re getting ready for Youth Nationals, or for amateur, or for English Open, choose from everything that is available to you and come up with a plan A plan helps you get the most bang for your buck, and these days, when nearly everyone is on a budget, that really helps. We all have to be realistic about what we can afford.

When I say a realistic plan, I mean that you don’t promote a kid for Youth Nationals 2006 in August 2005. First you get some wins under his or her belt, and then you start your promotion in April or May for July 2006. For exhibitors going to the U.S. Nationals, your promotion should be targeted for August, September and October. The exceptions to this rationale are, say, you win at Scottsdale or the regionals. Let people know! Most magazines now have regional highlight coverage; if you win there, do an ad to enhance the notice you get from the little picture the magazine runs.

The most important thing you need for print advertising is pictures. We’re in an industry where we have a lot of great photographers within a few hours of us. Slide one in for the day; if money is an issue, get your friends together. With a group of people, you can make it worthwhile for a good photographer to stay a couple of days. That will give you great pictures at an affordable cost.

This is a good time to point out that an effective advertisement is not always about ring shots. You can have beautiful standing shots, beautiful emotion shots. If it’s a performance horse and you’re not riding it, you want to see some emotion (which sometimes can mean some motion too). If it is a halter horse, it’s not about the body shot anymore. Years ago you had to have a body shot so that we could see the quality and conformation of the horse. Now it is more about the ‘pretty.’ However the photograph for a halter horse is arranged, it absolutely must make the horse look pretty. It can be a head shot, an over-the-shoulder shot, or the horse can be sniffing a baby or looking at a little girl, but the photo has to be eye-catching and the horse has to be pretty.

Another thing to consider when stretching your advertising dollar is the special-interest magazine issues. For women, most publications include an annual ‘women in the industry’ issue; not only does this highlight horsewomen, but advertisers are offered editorial coverage at no extra cost. Find out what the magazines’ schedules are and see if there is a good place for you to participate. (This also lets you know where you might not want to advertise; on a budget-conscious plan, an issue devoted to reining horses is not the best spot for a good English horse!)

In addition to all of the above, advertising your horse is a good idea for another reason. Just remember: You might want to sell your horse at some point. I flip through magazines all the time, checking out the amateur competition and who’s winning in open. Now and then Bob will say, “I need a horse for so-and-so,” or “So-and-so wants to ride an open English horse.” Or whatever. All of the sudden, my brain—with its mental library—will start working, and I’ll remember horses I’ve seen. They are not always right for what Bob has in mind at the moment, but sometimes they are. On occasion, we’ve bought horses from some mental image of mine as much as two years later.

Promoting a Stallion

A huge aspect of our business is breeding stallions. The production of horses is the ground floor of the Arabian industry, what enables all of us to keep doing what we’re doing. Every stallion needs promotion, and to emphasize how important that is, let me call to mind the number of stallions who have been virtually “made” by advertising alone.

A good example of what I’m talking about would be The Egyptian Prince. I don’t think the horse ever showed in his life. Of course we’re going back 20 years, but this horse was one of the industry’s top stallions, one of the top-producing stallions in the country—and he never went in the ring. It was all done through advertising in the magazines (and the very good foals he sired because people then bred to him) It was classic promotion: great pictures, putting them out in the right time and the right place, letting people know. What it amounts to is that we’re all doing word of mouth, but people have to put a visual with the verbal.

For effective stallion promotion, again, you come up with a plan. You needn’t feel that this means advertising 12 months a year, because some of those months are not breeding months. You direct your advertising toward breeding mares at a specific time—that is, say, December through May. Then you slate your advertising from May through August on foals (this one was champion here; this beautiful baby was born out of this mare). You’ve got to keep that stallion in readers/breeders’ minds.

Basically, there are three different phases of advertising. You let the equine public know a) that a specific stallion is available for breeding; b) that his product is successful, and where and how; and c) that the stallion and which get—or just which get, if that’s the case—are going to be at Nationals. Then, after Nationals, you start the process all over again.

To make it easier to identify and remember your stallion, it is helpful to have a logo for him. Put that logo on his advertisements and also on as much promotional material as possible—hats, jackets, flyers, whatever your budget will handle.

A breeding packet is your presentation. In that packet should be, at a minimum, a picture and write-up on your stallion, a stallion video, a pedigree and stud fee. A word on videos: You need a good one. You can have the greatest pictures in the world, but if you have a nickel video, it doesn’t work.

The write-up is important too. Advertising is often such an art form, designed to make the most of beautiful pictures and deliver maximum visual impact. Information and detail need to follow. At a minimum, develop your own text of important facts about the stallion, and if stories on your horse have appeared in magazines, include copies of those too.

It is a good idea to include other promotion as well. Congratulate new breeders and say welcome to the family; let people know that there are 10 breedings left, or 20 breedings left, or that you’re offering only 50 to the public. Let them know that time is running out.

Once you have all that, and you are receiving inquiries on your stallion, remember this: If someone has called you, they have called three or four others as well. Nine times out of 10, the one who gets a promotional kit there first will get the breeding. In our office, we get 15 breeding calls in one day. Fifteen packets go out that day, because those 15 people have called other people and requested the same information.

The packets that we send out cost probably $3 to $5 a packet—but you’re talking a return of $3,000 to $5,000. So it is definitely worth doing.

Finally, take the time to call the people back, ask about their mares, make them feel involved. All of that is part of promotion; you’re selling yourself; you’re selling your product. The magazine and videos are just venues for it.

I realize that just as show advertising can get expensive, so can promoting your stallion. I know we have to be realistic. Our industry has different types of magazines, from newsprint tabloids through the slick coffee-table models. Choose what best suits your needs. Not everyone can support a national campaign, and maybe not everyone needs one. But we are all able to do local advertising, so don’t forget local newspapers, club newsletters and flyers mailed to everyone in your region.

Another way to get your name out locally—and attract support that just might be there on the rail for you later—is to have an open house Invite people into your farm, and then publicize that you had 20 people over for hot dogs and presented stallions or babies. Put on a clinic for amateurs and kids and get a successful local horse trainer to give pointers.

My point is that while advertising is important, it is not everything. A good promotional campaign is more than just advertising. It’s everything from word of mouth to local open houses to magazines to videos to promotional material. And when it comes to having an open house or a clinic, or shining the spotlight on your horses within your community, you are promoting not just yourself, but the Arabian horse as a whole. It is all beneficial in the end.