Agencies vs. Advertisers: How to Customize Your Digital Sales Pitch

Digital Aptitude: Agencies vs. Advertisers

When agencies come to you for digital ad buys, you don’t have to review tactics. They should be well-versed in these from a media buying standpoint. Business owners may have some familiarity but aren’t as savvy.

In discussing options with agencies, they may have more technical questions, like:

• What’s the quality of inventory associated with your DSP (demand-side platform)?
• What advanced targeting is available?
• Are there limitations in geofencing?
• Is retargeting possible?
• What kind of transparency is available for reporting?

Answering these questions requires some knowledge of ad ops. If you use a third-party digital advertising platform, addressing these issues is easier. Your technology partner can help if needed.

Advertisers aren’t likely to ask questions like this. You may need to start from scratch, using simple terms about how digital ads work in terms of targeting and serving. You may also need to give them an overview of targeting options. They’ll look to you as their expert.

Partnership Model: Agencies vs. Advertisers

As noted, advertisers will look to you as an expert even if they have digital knowledge. The relationship is built on trust and will continue to grow as long as you meet their expectations.

In terms of expectations, there are two:

• What they think a campaign should deliver in terms of ROI
• Their anticipation that you’ll be transparent about performance

An agency has similar expectations, but they are slightly different. As such, the partnership has a unique dynamic. Agencies are buying ads for multiple businesses, so there’s scale that you should be able to handle. Also, they, too, want transparency around the logistics of the campaign and its eventual performance.

Your digital sales pitch should include how you’ll partner with them.

Defining Goals and Tactics: Agencies vs. Advertisers

Agencies typically have identified specific goals of the businesses they represent. They’ve done much of the customer needs analysis, so it’s not on your plate. They may also have a clear path in mind for the tactics that align with the objectives.

You can still offer recommendations or further complements to the campaign, but they are proposing. It’s also a time to talk about advanced targeting and what that looks like for programmatic and other channels.

With an advertiser, you’ll need to put on your detective hat much of the time. A local business owner may not be able to articulate what their goals are entirely, so it’s time to ask questions like:

• Are you trying to gain more customers?
• Is there a specific product, service or event you want to amplify?
• Are you seeking more website or foot traffic?
• How do you currently acquire new customers?

From these answers, you can define what their overall goal is and then align it with tactics. You can use our Ad Mix tool to do this with ease.

Budget: Agencies vs. Advertisers

Agency budgets for their clients tend to be larger than those for an individual company, but that’s not always the case. Advertisers are also more likely not to have determined spending.

For agencies, there is probably little wiggle room on the final amount. If you think it’s too small because it won’t serve enough impressions or reach enough people, call that out in the beginning so there’s no confusion later.

For advertisers, once you know the goal and the tactics, provide them with three options for budget and “what they get” for those dollars. You have more influence here if they have a range in mind. Ultimately, show them what an optimized budget could deliver.