Author: Travis Cartier, senior manager, onboarding and development, Marketron
One of the most frequent questions I hear from radio salespeople is, “What’s my differentiator?” It’s a crowded landscape with local businesses receiving daily emails and calls from someone who wants their ad budget.
How do local media sellers break through the noise? At the top of the list is their local market expertise. Most agencies and ad tech platforms certainly can’t match this. It’s a great leading point, but not the only one.
The other powerful play is owning the creative. When local sellers come to the conversation with ideas, it can be persuasive enough to win them the deal. Overlooking this competitive advantage keeps a seller’s offerings on par with anyone else’s since most advertising is a commodity, and targeting options are standard.
The path to differentiation has a foundation in the creative, which has more impact on performance. A recent study found that creative as a sales driver has much more power than targeting.
So, how does one “own” the creative?
3 Strategies for Local Media Sellers to Own the Creative
During a conversation, how often are advertisers somewhat directionless on what types of ads to run? It’s easy for them to promote specific sales or promotions, but what are they doing for consistent brand awareness? How are they managing the message to their audience?
Most don’t have answers for this. They are busy running businesses and want increased traffic or sales but aren’t sure which road to take.
That’s where strategies for creative ideas come into play. These examples can help a seller apply this to their prospecting and pitching.
Understand the Vertical and Leverage Trends
Every industry changes and evolves, much as the result of audience shifts. How people buy and what criteria they use evolves. Think about the explosion of online grocery shopping or how many consumers transitioned to digital banking.
These changes in consumer preference caused businesses to adapt their advertising strategies. Before a seller pitches something, it is important to research the vertical and understand what’s trending. Center campaign ideas on these and present them to companies. It shows knowledge of their market and customers – key characteristics of a marketing professional.
Remember, Every Business Is Unique
Even within the same vertical, each advertiser has their own identity. A canned approach to pitching that only addresses the industry could still not impress. That’s why combining industry insights with actual company wants and expectations matters. It may mean evaluating their current ad campaigns to understand why they aren’t working. Much of the time, the cause will be the creative.
The key to attracting business owners as potential advertisers is customizing your VBR (valid business reason). This initial icebreaker can be used to tease creative ideas for them based on their current digital footprint and industry data.
Take Advantage of Resources Available
Being a creative fountain for advertisers means staying up to date. Our industry has many helpful resources that do much of the ideating for you. Examples include:
- Research on local media ad campaigns where creative was impactful to performance (e.g., Westwood One studies and RAB presentations).
- Industry-specific information, including changing advertising perspectives and general trends found in vertical publications.
- RAB’s library of local sales insights.
- Campaign idea generation articles like those on our sales enablement microsite, Aspire.
All this information can help personalize pitches and build credibility and value.
Be an Idea Generator, Win the Deal
Local sellers are creative at heart. They have to be as they adjust to all the factors that affect ad sales. A lot can’t be controlled, like the economy, but being an idea generator for campaigns can. It requires more work, but the payoff is earning an advertiser’s trust and dollars.
Owning the creative requires guiding the campaign’s core to achieve advertiser goals and resonate with audiences. That’s good for performance and eventual renewal conversations. With this approach, it is no longer purely sales. Instead, it is a consultative approach, solidifying relationships with businesses for the long term.