NONE: RE: ONLINE-ADS>> Need good ammunition!
RE: ONLINE-ADS>> Need good ammunition!
e/y/e/s/c/r/e/a/m/ - Adam Boettiger (ab_at_eyescream.com)
Fri, 5 Jun 1998 20:45:07 -0700
John Flint wrote:
> I have a sales call with a client this coming Tuesday
> 6-9-98. \snip/ The first thing they said to me was, why would I
want to
> spend money to advertise on the Internet or list jobs with your
site
> on the Internet?
> He said he can't see where it is beneficial to spend money on
> advertising on the Internet. Does anyone have any ammunition I
can take
> with me to my sales call to prove to this company that the
Internet
> is fast becoming the advertising media of the future??
John...
Normally I would suggest you move right on to another
prospect, however in your market as a TV station selling ad
space on your partner Web site you're likely to run into
more and more of these types of people, so I won't tell you
to close the door just yet. What you do will largely depend
on the following:
1. How much potential money this person/company may be
willing to spend on this buy, and if they are serious or
just sniffing you. How much inventory have you sold this
month and do you really need the sale? I've had so many
prospects tell me what your prospect said above, when what
they are really saying is, "I just got hired as an Internet
marketing manager and I have no idea how to do the job they
hired me for. Instead of spending hours learning, I want
you to tell me what I need to know." Not saying everyone is
like that, but just that you should be careful. These types
can really take up a lot of your time with no intention of
ever buying from you.
2. How much time are you willing to invest in educating this
person and their staff about the online ad industry and your
site in order to make the sale? Is this person the buyer or
the buyer's little helper sent out to learn more to make the
buyer look good? Will you have to educate both he and his
or her boss at a later date?
> He said he can't see where it is beneficial to spend money on
> advertising on the Internet.
If they are coming at you with that type of pessimistic
statement, it is an immediate red flag that they know very
little about the industry and that they will be a
"high-maintenance" client, requiring many hours of education
before any sale might possibly occur. If they are looking
at committing to a year with you at a fairly good buy size,
I say go for it. If they are a one time $5K-$10K buy, then
I would suggest moving on to clients who don't require as
much hand-holding. Why? Because it is people like this who
are apt to spend $5K on your Web site, the only site they
buy on, calling it a "test" and when it gets a mediocre
clickthrough they loudly proclaim that the Internet doesn't
work for them and is a waste of money. It is also these
types of clients who feel they need to have something
"proven" to them, and who often have unrealistic
expectations should they enter into a campaign. Not a good
combination.
If they need to be convinced that they need to advertise on
the Internet, then they sure as heck do not know how to
design and impliment an effective online ad campaign and are
destined for failure even before you call them to sell ad
space to them. It's like the blind leading the pessimistic.
I work for an interactive ad agency and it is our job to
drive visitors to clients' sites. We've been doing it since
1995. I hear that very same thing from time to time, and to
be quite honest, I am so busy taking care of new business
and clients who DO know that the medium works, that I really
don't have the time to go into long educational sessions to
convince a company that they need to advertise on the
Internet. If they need that much convincing, it indicates
the potential for a tremendous amount of maintenance and
company resources. Is it worth it? You have to be the
judge.
The clients who come to us are ready to advertise online or
have already been advertising online. These are the types
of clients who understand the industry, who are here now and
are spending money. For the local businesses or uneducated
clients, I might suggest that you put together some sort of
a powerpoint presentation or text based one that answers
those questions, if they are coming up frequently. That way
you won't need to devote so much time and resources toward
teaching. Educating the client/prospect is *always* going
to be part of the sale, but there are certain limits to how
much time should be spent on the process.
http://www.nua.ie/ has some really wonderful statistics to
use as do reports on http://www.casie.org/ and
http://www.iab.net/ . I wouldn't go too overboard spending
time providing 79 page studies etc. unless this is a large
client for you, however. ClickZ http://www.clickz.com/ ,
AdResource http://www.adresource.com/ , and ChannelSeven
http://www.channelseven.com/ have some good information as
well. You're never going to give them a year of education
in a quick meeting - nor should you, so your best tactic is
to find out how serious they are. If they are serious, then
get right to the point and show them some clear examples of
other businesses who are succeeding on your site with
advertising and show them in dollars and cents how it will
benefit their own business. Tie your presentation directly
into what their objectives are and how your site can help.
Break down the buy into clickthrough, cost per visitor and
ultimately Cost Per Objective - and relate it to their
business.
Good luck! Hope this helped a bit.
AB
List Moderator, The Internet Advertising Discussion List
http://www.internetadvertising.org/
----------e/y/e/s/c/r/e/a/m interactive, inc.----------
adam boettiger - e: mailto:ab_at_eyescream.com
vice president, advertising & marketing
t: (503) 292-6987 Ext. 16 / f: (503) 296-0945
traffic building, strategic partnering, new media planning,
killer creative and design that will make you s/c/r/e/a/m
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