The
Niche Magazine Conference in Minneapolis last month left me with many “ah ha”
moments as I listened to some of the smartest publishing people on earth talk
about how to generate more revenue for our media companies. But making more
money generally involves selling something and that can always be the tricky
part. That’s why the session Media Buyer’s Steel Cage Match was one of the
most valuable to me.
In this session, three local media buyers,
Theresa Chang of the Buntin Group, Kristen Counce of Sullivan Branding and Rich
Melin of BOHAN sat on a panel and answered questions from the audience of about
eighty people for an hour and a half. Here are some of the highlights of
their advice to ad sales people.
Use email as your primary mode of
communication with them – at least initially. When you contact them you
need to have a compelling reason for them to consider your magazine or website
not just a general fluff piece on why you are the Bible of the
industry. Make your emails very short – don’t go in to a long drawn out
sales pitch. If they have to scroll down to read the whole thing they will
simply delete it.
Know everything you can about their client
before you contact them. They are far too busy to bring you up to speed on
who their clients are and what they do. When you do meet with them either
on the phone or in person, have a list of questions to ask pertinent to how
they fit with your media offerings. Don’t waste a media buyer’s time.
Providing the media buyer with valuable
research and market data will almost always get you a meeting. Research is
key to opening the doors of communication so use it often. The media buyer
will then come to rely on you for the information they need to do their
job. Feel free to contact the advertiser directly with any information you
have, but always copy the agency if there is one, with all communication.
Remember, there are thousands of ad sales
reps out there, most are really bad and only a select few are worth the time of
a media buyer. Be one of the best by being prepared, informed and a
marketing consultant and partner to the media buyers.
Happy Selling!
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