Re: Selling ad space

From: Sandy Tapper <stapper_at_tappernet.com>
Date: Wed 28 May 2003 07:14:42 -0500

Michael Bryan wrote:

"Does anyone have any experience selling their ad space to advertising
agencies. If so, who in the agency do you usually deal with (ex: account
manager, etc). When cold calling, do you usually just call an agency and
ask for an account manager who may be interested in your ad inventory?

Also please let me know the information they are interested in. I know
they will want to know site traffic, unique users, etc. What are some of
the less obvious things they may be interested in?"

Contact the Media Buyers / Media Planners within the advertising agency.
Media planners/buyers usually make recommendations to the account
executive and/or client.

Before contacting anyone, learn what accounts the agency has so you can
target your message to those media planners/buyers who handle the
appropriate accounts. Be aware of the sites the agency is currently
using as advertising vehicles for their clients, so (a) you're

knowledgeable and (b) you can provide a competitive rationale for asking
a buyer to consider your site for advertising vs. what they're using
now.

Other things they'll be interested in:
~ Target audience demographics and psychographics of your site (age,
income, occupation, geography, household size, etc.), and how they will
best serve the agencies' accounts.

~ The look and presentation of your site, and how your site's image will
benefit a potential advertiser's image by being on your site.

~ Are your site visitors mostly one-time visitors, or do they come back
to the site frequently. In other words, how broad is your reach within
your defined target audience, and how frequently does this target
audience visit your site.

~ How your site is better than competitive sites in reaching the same
target audience; have a strong, persuasive rationale as to why a media
planner should switch ad dollars from your competitor to your site.

~ What is your track record of success: what other advertisers have
used/are currently using your site as an ad vehicle; what have been the
click-through rates for your advertisers; what kind of visit-to-sales
conversion have they experienced.

~ What are you doing to generate qualified site traffic. What will you
be doing to increase the volume of qualified site visitors to your site,
so that the ad will be seen by more people. For example, what kind of
marketing and advertising budget are you putting behind your site to
generate traffic. How frequently does your content change so that the
same people will often revisit your site.

~ What is your pricing model (cost per thousand? pay by the week or
month? etc.) What kind of special volume discounts or first-time user
discounts will you offer to encourage a media buy on your site?

~ What ad sizes can your site accommodate.

~ What page(s) will ads appear on. Do certain pages of the site carry a
premium; for example, will an ad on the home page be more expensive than
an ad placed on an inside page.

~ How you track and document/audit site visitors, so media
planners/buyers are assured you'll deliver what you promise.

This is not a complete list, but it's enough to get you started. Good
luck!

Sandy Tapper
Tapper Web Consulting and Marketing
stapper_at_tappernet.com
http://www.tappernet.com
Phone: 727-521-4471
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Received on Wed May 28 2003 - 07:14:42 CDT