RE: Multi-Medium packages

From: Jason Tafler <jtafler_at_50plus.com>
Date: Mon 19 Mar 2001 12:21:35 -0600

With our leading Canadian magazine and web site
targeting the mature market, we have been working on the
issue of cross-media sales for over a year and a half now.
I will start by saying that it can be very challenging,
not only to sell to traditional offline advertisers/
agencies but also to motivate your sales force to see the
web site as an interactive medium that can extend the
print advertising campaign's reach and bring it to life
(so to speak)! The key here is the interactivity that
web sites can bring to the table.

The Sales Manager and Salespeople, especially if coming
from traditional backgrounds, must be both interested in
the Internet and motivated to include the web site in all
sales efforts. We have found that education about the
Internet and the various interactive advertising
opportunities/trends can play a key role in this; however,
salespeople's compensation must also be directly tied to
both print and web site sales in a similar way. Although
one might feel as if this would cut into print sales, we
believe that if this happens at all it is only short-lived.
For one, a number of agencies and advertisers have specific
offline and online ad budget allocations, and we are trying
to maintain our offline allocation while opening up their
eyes to our web site for their incremental online plans
and budgets. This way most web site sales dollars can be
incremental. When an advertiser does have a fixed budget
that they have traditionally spent offline, we try to
integrate the Internet as a test campaign by offering a
print/Internet package deal to the advertiser so they are
spending a similar amount but gaining both online and
offline exposure. Although this may take a little bit away
from print sales in the short-term, we are confident that
the long-term potential from opening up their eyes to
the benefits of Internet advertising far outweighs the
costs. Once they are convinced, successive "package"
campaigns can incorporate additional Internet advertising
while allowing for rate-card recovery on the print side.

Our most successful efforts with traditional advertisers
have been by showing them case studies of how the web site
can expand the reach of their print campaign while giving
it an interactive component that print cannot offer. For
instance, we recently convinced a company advertising its
health care products in our magazine to use the web site
by buying banners, buttons and e-mail newsletter ads, all
leading to a mini-site where the visitor could easily
request a free product sample in exchange for some user
information. The magazine ads also directed people to
the mini-site, completing the integrated campaign. We
have done similar integrated campaigns for financial
services and travel companies (with contests and other
free offers).

In many cases like this, we have seen outstanding response
rates and very satisfied advertisers when interactive web
site components are included in the campaign. Not only do
advertisers extend their reach, but they can gain
information on their users and can start a 1-to-1 dialogue
that can be somewhat rare in the print-only world. The key
is to show print advertisers how the web can work for them,
either by using a product sample, contest/survey, or other
interactive component and by linking all online/offline ads
to this offering. Just selling them banners as an add-on
to a print campaign is a recipe for disaster.

Good luck.

Jason Tafler
Business Development Manager
Fifty-Plus.Net International Inc.
www.50plus.com



Received on Mon Mar 19 2001 - 12:21:35 CST