by Don Kreski "It's a lot trickier than what people realize," says Jerry Gale, vice president of marketing for SPL Integrated Systems, referring to marketing monies AV equipment manufacturers offer to their dealers. But these funds can be quite rewarding for a dealer or contractor. Gale estimates that he brings in about 25% of his budget from co-op, MDF and other vendor monies. The key to co-op is aggressively going after the funds, some of which are hidden and only available if you ask for them. To find out how best to secure and use them, I interviewed five AV industry experts at SPL, Crestron, NEC, TV One and Infocomm IQ. You can benefit from their insights. Read "Optimizing Co-Op Ad Dollars" from Sound & Video Contractor Magazine.

"We wanted to create something that really spelled out what we did as a company," says JR Gayman of CIM Audio Visual. Gayman has been producing a series of 28-page, full-color buyers guides modeled after consumer magazines. He was able fund them with help from vendors who do not offer formal co-op programs. Read "Stepping Outside of Traditional Co-Op Funds" from Sound & Video Contractor.

"Our goal is to get the top level people at this event, those who make the decision on the purchase of AV systems," says Dennis Krebs, speaking about Advanced AV's annual customer expo. Krebs was able to bring about 650 attendees into the expo last year, paying for the show largely using co-op and other vendor funds. To find out how, read "Using Co-op to Fund a Customer Show" from Sound & Video Contractor.