So, you got there late and you gave it away for years…the search for the elusive ad dollar seems to be a never ending game of cat and mouse. So, should publishers just give up on the web and move to new dollars? Perhaps look hard at mobile or tablet technology? The answer is flat out…Yes and No.
Yes, you need to keep your eye on new technology, but recognize that even recent advancements by Google in the mobile advertising space have held little hope of near future revenue. And, no you should not give up on the web. The issue is ad sales training. You have trained your clients to under value your digital products and your sale staff continues to tell a boring story.
Here are 10 things to try this week to help boost your online sales effort.
- Get a quality banner ad delivery system and get under the hood. Double Click For Publishers (DFP) or Ad Juggler are 2 affordable options. Bad ad delivery and reporting equal un-trusting advertisers and frustrated sales people.
- Run only industry standard sized banner ads and go big. 728×90 and 300×250 at a minimum. Go with 300×600 ads if your web site will handle the size. Plus, get access to a quality banner ad designer.
- Duplicate your ad units at the top and bottom of the page to drive up your total ad impressions.
- Compare your online ad rates to others in the industry and see if you are competitive. Remember you may not need to sell by CPM if monthly plans will resonate better with your advertisers.
- Get a hold of your Google analytics and have each member of your web team craft a “web story”. This is a simple, yet tight story about your online user.
- Change the way your ad sales team talks about digital. This may require solid ad sales training. Your companies digital story needs to be strong and vibrant. This is critical! Advertisers need to be trained that digital offerings when combined with print increase overall multi-media effectiveness by over 35% (MPA Factbook 2012)
- Create robust ad packages and stop allowing advertisers to cherry pick what you offer apart.
- Create an email collection system that centers around contests. Create alongside that a contest calendar for your sales team to sell from.
- Offer online research as a part of the ad package. Most advertisers want research and it can sweeten your total digital buy.
- Recognize that a solid SEO plan is not the only factor in driving web traffic. You hold a powerful card most web companies do not…The power of print!
All in all, these 10 points are considered “old school” by those of us in the ad sales training and internet revenue consulting sector, but most of the above are overlooked in some capacity each and every day by most publishers.
Help is just an email away. You will not solve your issues with one call no matter how good the consult is. Hire a consultant that wants to be a member of your team for a few months.
About this blogger: Ryan Dohrn is an award wining ad sales training coach, a nationally recognized internet sales consultant <http://ryandohrn.com> , international business speaker <http://businessspeakerpro.com> and is the President and founder of 360 Ad Sales Training, a boutique internet revenue consulting <http://ryandohrn.com> firm with a detailed focus on ad sales training, internet consulting and media revenue generation. Internet consultant <http://ryandohrn.com> and business speaker <http://businessspeakerpro.com> Ryan Dohrn travels the globe teaching media sales training classes and offers detailed coaching help to business owners and media companies looking to make money online.
Contact information:
Ryan R. Dohrn
President/Founder
360 Ad Sales Training and Strategy
Brain Swell Media LLC
http://www.BrainSwellMedia.com
http://RyanDohrn.com
https://360adsales.com
803-867-3769
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