Ad Sales Blog

A study that helps your clients "think interactive"

  The just released Booze-Allen-Hamilton study entitled HD Marketing 2010: Sharpening the Conversation is a big picture look ahead at what marketing will look like in the future. It’s an impressive study with VP level marketing people from Unilever, Anheuser-Busch, Ogilvy North America, Fox Interactive Media, Denuo featured in cameo interviews.

Much of the study relates to big accounts, big agencies, and big budgets, but there is a common theme that connects it all to every piece of media you sell, the shift from advertising that simply present messages to advertising that invites interaction.

As we all move from display advertising vehicles (print)to adding interactive advertising we must think interactive.

What this think piece says is that by 2010 many ad campaigns that now exist in "present only" form will have shifted to interactive. If you have some web laggards, still waiting to place their first banner ad, this study could be a shrill cry that the future is coming.

Use it on a sales call.

First describe the idea that there is a movement afoot among advertisers to shift from display campaigns to interactive campaigns. Describe that currently these are ideas that are being embraced everywhere but you can share a document with them on how the large fortune 500 level marketers are coping with this challenge. Show them that even at the highest level, only 25% consider their organizations to be "digitally savvy", only 30% are using behavioral targeting to impact the allocation of the marketing mix, and so on down the line (see the above graphic).

The bottom line is that the transition from display advertising to interactive advertising is a work in progress and your current advertiser base should not feel intimidated if they are not far along in the process. But the other message is that the change is coming. For your web laggards this could again be a shocked of the study.

Five key themes quoted from the study:

• Marketing as Conversation: Marketing is becoming less about sending a message to consumers and more about conversing and co-creating experiences with consumers. Marketers are calling on a new mix of media to further the communication of their messages. For example, close to half of marketers are planning to increase their PR budgets as a part of marketing.
• Insight into Foresight: Technology enhances consumer insights and targeting capabilities on steroids; amplifying ability for perspective and accuracy. Eighty percent of marketers place high importance on behavioral targeting.
• Media: The New "Creative": Distribution mechanisms and context rivals creative execution in importance. Marketers are investing in capabilities that bridge the gap between media, creative and brand strategy chain (e.g., communications planning and "integrator" positions). Again, over 80% of participants agree communications planning capabilities will be critical moving forward.
• Marketing + Math + Technology: Data quality, quantity and accessibility have brought math to all aspects of marketing. Leaders are more likely to have the metrics and capabilities to judge the effects of new media.
• The Network Effect: The move to digital media necessitates a higher level of collaboration and coordination across all players in the ecosystem. Almost 60% of participants believe that creative, strategic, and media capabilities should be re-bundled – but there is no consensus as to which agency 'type' should lead. Further, traditional creative partnerships are taking a back seat to media partnerships – twice as many participants indicate that media company and media agency partnerships will become more important than traditional full service agency partnerships.

Read a review on he IAB website

Download a PDF for your next sales call

Just because you're "hot" doesn't mean people trust you

So it is with media. An October released study from The Nielsen Company revealed that, World wide, the most trusted media is also the one most loosing ground with advertisers, newspapers.

The two least trusted media are the ones with blue sky ad sales predictions, online banner ads, and ads on mobile phones. According to the study:

"...while new platforms like the Internet are beginning to catch up with older media in terms of ad revenues, traditional advertising channels continue to retain the public's trust. Ads in newspapers rank second worldwide among all media categories, at 63 percent overall, while television, magazines and radio each ranked above 50 percent."

The study also contains fun information on which media are trusted most/least in different countries.

Use it on a sales call

Often it is hard to shore up the "traditional media" part of an integrated media package. Start by asking your advertiser how important "trust" is in their selling process. Tell them that through an integrated package of traditional media and new media they get the best of both worlds. The functionality of the new media, and the credibility of traditional media. Then show them the study. 

Read about the study on the Nielsen website

Write up on the Agency Spy Blog

It's a multiplatform media world after all

If you sell multiplatform B to B media this is for you!

A media consumption portrait top level American executives by Ipsos (ironically headquartered in  Paris) has documented some long suspected patterns.

These executives whose companies have 250 or more employees shared that they are huge media consumers of all kinds. The 2,390 sample shared that:

Nine in ten have read the last issue of any print media

• Seven in ten have watched any Network TV channel in the previous day

Just over half went online in the previous day

Seven in ten have received a daily email alert or newsletter in the last month

Nearly half have streamed or watched a broadband video from computer in the last month

A third have read a blog in the last month, but only 5% have actually contributed.

Nearly a quarter have downloaded a podcast in the last month

Websites also prove to be important for improving a business publication’s overall offering, even more so than websites for TV channels. Over three quarters claim a website is an important part of a business publication’s overall offering, while only a third claim that a website is an important part of a TV channel’s overall offering.

On a more personal note:

The survey shows the average American business leader is male, aged 51, earns $408,000 per year, and has a personal net worth of $1.7 million. And their attitude toward business is one of sound management with a willingness to take calculated risks if they feel they have good, trustworthy information.
In addition:

• Nine out of ten say they like to keep up with the news.

• Eight out of ten say they are not afraid to take business risks.
• Seven out of ten agree that return on investment is a key factor in their business decisions.
• Eight in ten claim their most senior managers play a major role in business purchasing decisions.
• Nine in ten will only do business with companies with a favorable brand image, with five out of ten claiming those brands need to be well known.
• Nine out of ten also say they are prepared to pay more for quality.
• Eight out of ten claim to have good relationships with suppliers but are cautious when engaging in a relationship with a new supplier.

Use it on a sales call:

This is great ammunition to prove the importance of reaching a target with multiple media. First , introduce the study and describe it's impressive scope. Then share the personal information found at the end of this post. 

Then, assuming your client starts nodding his head and saying things like, "Yeah that sounds like our target audience"  share the media consumption information emphasizing that these people are using a variety of media to satisfy their needs.

Now shift the conversation to the "variety of media" you have to offer.

Read the press release

More information on the study posted on the Ipsos web site

'Days of the Hard Close are Over'

Last week I spoke at the New York Folio Show on the unique aspects of closing for media sales.

Read a Folio article,  "Days of the Hard Close are Over" reporting on the presentation

Several have asked about getting the leave-behind. It is now posted on the Folio website for download:

http://www.folioshow.com/page.asp?prmID=47

My last two Folio articles:

Picking Your Next Web-Based Option in the On line Candy Shop Repositioning Print for a Digital World

Newsletter consutative selling tool

This is a great white paper on the latest trends in e-mail marketing that you can use to be a consultant when selling newsletter sponsorships.

The white paper is written for sophisticated marketers sending out their own newsletters, not buying sponsorships on ones like you are selling. But there are some great best practices that you can use to pursue a consultative dialog.

Use it on a sales call:

There are two best practices in particular that stand out. Show your client the study and then point them out:

"#5 Test. You might be surprised by the results"

Show  them the best practice and ask if they do testing or post campaign evaluation. Great way to get your client talking about evaluation and expectations of the sponsorship you are trying to sell.

"#6 Include video links to boost click response"

Video is the hot thing to build traffic. Have they considered using the banner your are selling to link to video? Ask what else are they considering a link to? For small and mid sized accounts this is where you get to talk about how best to motivate your readers to action. 

Download the_top_email_marketing_power_trends_for_2007

Rate temptation and Al Franken

It is tempting to offer a "limited discount" to bring in a new clients. But if details of a discount become public, typically, the discount is extended beyond the original target.

That's my take on what happened last week in Minnesota with Al Franken and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. As the senate race heated up Incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman ran an a full-page ad in the newspaper criticizing Democratic hopeful Al Franken. The ad was controversial and in the publicity that followed the price paid for the ad was revealed. Coleman paid a little over $23,000 for the ad...far less than the $37,000 Franken's campaign paid for the same size ad two months before. Oops!

The Star Tribune responded:

"A new sales rep made a mistake and gave the Coleman campaign a rate from the local retail rate card, rather than the national rate card. We only discovered the mistake when the Franken campaign complained. We thought the best way to make it right is to give the Franken campaign the same rate we gave Coleman on this particular ad. Going forward both campaigns will be charged the national rate."

  Typical. Blame it on the media rep.

On a sales call:

There will always be temptations to discount to get more business.  But caution should be your guide. If word gets out, where ever it goes, so does the the discount. 

Read the whole story