The topic of budgets is a common challenge for media sellers. While there’s no magic number that will deliver results, small spending is often ineffective at achieving an advertiser’s goals. The key to expanding local advertising budgets can be a simple formula based on whom they want to reach and how often. That’s the starting point for the conversation.

Additionally, once you’ve proven that campaigns can yield ROI, you’re in a much better position to recommend greater spending.

We’ve put together tips to help you during these discussions. Use them to realize more revenue and help businesses see better ad results.

Local Advertising Budgets: Ask Who and How Often

Instead of simply asking what the advertiser’s budget is, the better approach is to ask whom they want to reach and how often. Also, ask which stage of the sales funnel they want to engage people in — awareness, consideration or decision.

Answers to these questions can help you formulate an effective budget. A budget of $500 for 50,000 impressions won’t be sufficient if the audience is large. Scoping out the “who” in your CNA (customer needs assessment) allows you to recommend a reasonable spend.

Ad frequency is another component. Digital ads with too little budget won’t be in front of people enough times to drive recall of the ad. Continuous advertising is critical for brand awareness. If the right groups are served the ads too infrequently, the number of clicks and engagements will be much smaller.

Increased Budgets Are Critical for a Truly Integrated Campaign

Campaigns typically perform better when they have a mix of digital tactics and airtime. We always recommend a 3-6-5 strategy — three tactics, six months and $5,000. What that mix will be depends on the goal and target audience. Slicing up the $5,000 budget depends on which phase of the sales funnel the advertiser is seeking to reach consumers in. For example, if this is a brand awareness campaign, use tactics like display, geofencing and OTT/CTV.

In this multi-tactic campaign, OTT/CTV has a higher price point, so it may take 50% of the budget to have traction. You can divide the rest evenly between display and geofencing. All these ad types working together with airtime give your advertiser a great opportunity to maximize their ad spend for results.

Proving Effectiveness and Increasing Local Advertising Budgets

After an initial campaign that delivers on objectives, you’ll have the “proof” that you can provide ROI. As you discuss renewals, you can propose scenarios that expand the budget and include more tactics. Our team of client development managers shared some budget success stories that demonstrate this outcome!

Hardware Store Adds Digital to Radio Buys

Our team assisted a client with proposing digital, which the advertiser wasn’t previously buying from the station. The company was a longtime radio buyer, so a strong relationship existed. When the seller illustrated all the opportunities with digital, the advertiser wanted to try digital with seasonal messaging, leading to a total order value of $40,000.

The takeaway here is that your radio ad clients are willing to listen to you about their local advertising budget. When you highlight how digital works with radio, you can capture more share of wallet.

Travel Industry More Than Doubles Digital Budget

In this example, a travel industry business started with a six-month campaign at $35,000 for display. Awareness was the chief goal, so after the success of the display ads, they listened to the salesperson on the value of CTV. The renewal consisted of an annual buy of $75,000 for display and CTV.

Local Bank Gives Digital a Try and Increases Budget

This case study involves the account executive having continuous conversations about digital. The bank decided to experiment with an initial budget of $8,000 for display, CTV, YouTube and SEM. The seller updated the advertiser regularly on performance and recommendations for optimization.

The decision makers trusted their salesperson, and the campaign created positive results. When the seller and advertiser began talking renewal, the next buy increased to $40,000!

Final Takeaways on Increasing Local Advertising Budgets

  • Prove they should expand budgets after every successful campaign.
  • Make budget recommendations based on whom they want to reach and how often.
  • Ask how they currently use their entire marketing budget and if it’s working.
  • Build on the trust your customers have in you as their local market expert.
  • Stick to the 3-6-5 method, and explain why anything less than this may underperform.

Get more insights on budgeting and digital discussions with customers by watching our on-demand webinar, Initiating the Digital Conversation.