No budget for no return

I have had very little experience in the actual purchasing of advertising. In my position, I have been given the task of weeding out the scams and picking out the "hopefuls." I have created a full analysis of many of my company's advertsing opportunities and presented them to higher management who then picks their ideal avenue. From print, to radio, commercial, to a "Living Social" like deal, I have taken a close look at their pro's and con's. Unfortunately for me, my company doesn't quite grasp the concept of spending money to make it, so I have struggled having anything approved as far as advertising. This is why my experience has been limited as far as actual purchasing advertising goes.

I have also found that many companies will do most of the printing and advertising for us if we can find some sort of partnership. For example, we were having a promotion surrounding the idea of local micro breweries and once I offered to put the small breweries on our tap system, they immediately signed up to partner their name with ours and cover all of the costs of advertising for the event, their label, and ours. Although this is not an example of me doing the actual purchasing, this is the closest I have gotten to negociating any sort of advertising.