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Selling in the recession??
Here is a 25 page PDF that can help you sell more media in the recession.If you attended my presentation earlier this week in New York, this was the leave behind. I hope this helps. It's tough out there.
Click here:
Download Recession-ad-sales-bible-2
To launch a successful Ad Supported Digital Magazine (ASDM) you need to deploy a design or content strategy to overcome the two physical digital magazine annoyance factors; having to zoom in and out to read pages, and pages that don't always turn when you want them to.
One content strategy is to tighten editorial focus to appeal to a smaller, possibly under served, but more motivated group of readers. With a more motivated audience these annoyances become minor and the dramatically lower costs of digital delivery make the business model work even with a smaller circulation.
That seems to be part of the strategy behind "US Newsweekly" which soft launched back in January as the digital only reincarnation of the former weekly news magazine "US News and World Report."
According to a post on Jeff Bercovici's Portfolio blog based on an interview with Kelly:
"Whereas the parent title has gravitated toward advertiser-friendly topics like health and education, the digital weekly will be "very Washington-centric, "says Kelly, with a tighter focus on politics and policy. Since there's less ad support for that type of content, U.S. News Weekly will be a premium product: A one-year subscription will cost $19.95. "This is what every editor's trying to figure out right now -- how can I pay my reporters to do reporting?" says Kelly. "You've got to figure out a way where, on some level, the consumer is going to pay for some type of content."
We wish Brian Kelly and his pioneering group good luck. If successful, this launch could lead to greater acceptance of digital magazines created to attract their own audience, not just digital replicas of print magazines.
Video: see editor Brian Kelly explain his new digital magazine
For several weeks now, Josh Gordon's white paper written for the Customer Collective, "What Is Your Recession Sales Strategy?" has been one of the top ranked white papers on the web. This is great news for media sales people because it is a great media sales tool. The white paper is based on a research study that challenges assumptions of how selling should be done in a recession and can open conversations that lead to a media sale.
There are six findings in the white paper and each can can help sell ads. Here are the first two:
Number 1: In a recession, the most common sales direction is to go after new categories of customers. Instead, focus on selling more products to your current customers. This will be more profitable, less difficult, and when the recession ends you will be tighter with your client base.
Selling point: A client who embraces this strategy will be releasing new products, configurations, programs, and packages to their existing client base. Ads can help carry the message.
Number 2: As a result of the recession, 26 percent of sales organizations are working more closely with their marketing departments.
Selling point: The bad news is that three out of four are not. The panel of experts insists that in a recession sales and marketing must work together. Marketing needs to refocus to help the sales staff. Image advertising can be diminished, and more emphasis placed on the kind of promotion that attracts people looking for solutions. This is a golden opportunity for you to sell advertising and online programs that generate sales leads, or attract people looking for solutions. Webinars, e-blasts, and direct response advertising are appropriate here.
This white paper is not just a great media media sales tool it also happens to be the top downloaded white paper on this subject.
ZDNet.com boasts the "Web's largest library of free technical white papers." Unique to the German portal (ZDNet.de), is a system that rates the popularity of white papers posted by editorial category. For several weeks "What Is Your Recession Sales Strategy?" has been the #1 ranked white paper in the "Finanzmamagement" (Finance management) category, as it still is today. In addition, the white paper is #3 in the "Financial Planning" category.
If you read the Folio article and review the importance of the study you should be ready for a great sales call.
I addition, the white paper has been in the top 10 for the category of Financial Planning
For media salespeople who struggle with the challenge of proving the dollar value of a branding campaign this study is a blessing. Millward Brown Optimor, the study creator, does the hard work for us as it examines the "brand value" of the worlds top 100 brands and ranks them.
According to this study, "Brand Value" is the financial value of a brand, "defined as the sum of all earnings that a brand is expected to generate." By isolating revenues only associated with a company brand, true brand value is laid bare. The study is also fun. These are companies we all know and it turns the potentially dull business of ranking brand equity into a horse race. Over previous the year brand equity at Home Depot is down 16%, Pepsi is up 15%, Starbucks down 25%, and BlackBerry up 390%. Goooo Blackberry!!
On a call.
You can use this study to make a hard connection between brand building and revenue generation. You do not need to go into every detail of the study, use the study to sell the idea that brand value is revenue value. Find a page or two from the study where the well known companies are known to your client. Now turn that same line of thought to your clients business.
Ask: How much is your brand worth? What if it were worth more? How much more revenue would come in if it were? How could this happen? The answers to these questions could help you selling a branding program.
Download the FREE 2008 30 page report: http://www.brandz.com/upload/BrandZ-2008-RankingReport.pdf
If one of your clients is actually in the report, you can have fun on the call by comparing 2008 results to 2007 report.
Download the FREE 2007 28 page report: http://www.millwardbrown.com/Sites/Optimor/Media/Pdfs/en/BrandZ/BrandZ-2007-RankingReport.pdf
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