Aspire is kicking off our second year of Ask the Expert! In this post, you’ll gain insights and strategies for selling multi-tactic digital campaigns from Penny Noss, senior client development manager. Noss has many years of experience in local digital ad sales and supports our digital clients in meeting their revenue goals.
Starting with a CNA
Every great conversation with an advertiser starts with a customer needs analysis (CNA), according to Noss. Asking the right questions will reveal the client’s specific goals and challenges. It’s also a time to begin connecting those objectives to tactics.
Noss explained further that this exercise also opens discussions about how to reach people in different ways. This is crucial to moving those folks down the sales funnel to an eventual conversion. It’s a good time to offer insights on maximum reach and targeting, which they can accomplish best with a mix of ads, including radio and digital.
Noss noted she recommends the trifecta of audio, visual and video. In that way, advertising has many paths to connecting with an audience. It allows for engagement across all the senses.
The Importance of Consistent Messaging
When presenting the benefits of multi-tactic digital campaigns, Noss also believes it’s vital to talk with advertisers about consistent messaging.
By using diverse channels, ads reach more people, but they need to be uniform in messaging for maximum effect.
Themes could include specific promotions, new products or services or branded value props. A truly integrated campaign has the same messaging roots, just in different formats.
Noss said that consistency can build brand trust and positive feelings. It also makes recall more likely. She likened it to that brand becoming a “friend.” There’s a subconscious response that happens when hearing and seeing things repeatedly. That’s critical because only a small portion of any audience needs a product or service at that moment. Businesses must advertise continuously to be an option when someone is ready to purchase eventually.
Addressing Objections to Multi-Tactic Digital Campaigns
It’s common to get pushback from companies about campaigns with multiple tactics. Noss offered this advice to overcome objections.
Financial Objections
Money concerns are likely the top response you’ll get, but there’s a way to work with small budgets that can still include multiple tactics.
Campaigns can launch for very little if you’re using a digital advertising platform without minimums. Another way to frame it is to narrow the audience so advertisers get maximum impact from smaller budget campaigns. It could be demographics, geography or attributes like homeowners.
We’ve developed the 3-6-5 play for multi-tactic campaigns. It’s three tactics with a budget of $5,000 for six months. That amount is usually palatable for businesses of all sizes and can deliver results.
Uncertainty About ROI
Along with money objections, clients may also feel unsure about the ROI they’ll receive. Noss suggested first to ask what their idea of ROI is. From there, you can tell the story about how each tactic can contribute to this.
Another response could be posing the question, “What’s the cost of not acquiring new customers or losing market share to competitors? ” It’s an excellent way to counter the argument about ROI.
Lack of Creative
All ads require creative, including copy, images or video. It can be what keeps advertisers from trying new tactics. Most stations have ways to help either with in-house staff, partners or through their advertising platform.
Noss relayed that you should explain how you can assist with this and the costs. For those already price-sensitive, make sure they know these are creative assets they can use in other places, like on their website or social media profiles.
Confusion Over Targeting
During your CNA, you’re asking about their ideal customer profile or audience makeup. Some businesses may not have an answer or think it’s everyone. That may be true for some, but not likely.
That’s when to have a chat about targeting, Noss recommended. Targeting that’s overly broad may display the ad to those it’s not relevant to creating ad waste. However, it may not get enough eyes if it’s too narrow. There’s usually a happy middle.
Noss explained that digital ads allow companies to focus on audiences, tailor advertising and ensure that frequency is optimal.
You can base questions on the actual available targeting for advertising, which includes demographics, geography, interests and behaviors. Working with them to define an audience based on targeting criteria resolves confusion and ensures you can build an audience your customer wants.
Multi-Tactic Ad Campaigns Can Be Flexible
Your advertisers may be willing to try a multi-tactic campaign but have questions about making changes once in flight. With some platforms, you can move budget between tactics. Noss shared that this can be a great differentiator.
For example, if geofencing isn’t performing well because too few people have location turned on in that space, you could shift money to display or retargeting. This flexibility ensures your advertisers can be confident that optimization of their budget continues throughout the campaign.
With these insights and strategies, you’re ready to get advertisers on board with a multi-tactic campaign! If you loved this post, you don’t want to miss what’s new and fresh on Aspire. Subscribe today for local media sales expertise in your inbox.
