Alt Newspaper Under Pressure? Focus on the Fundamentals of Ad Sales!
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle
Today’s business environment offers challenges some of us have never faced before – a global pandemic, an economic recession, splintered communication, and more. One reaction might be to take the “ostrich” approach. Another might be to look for the next “great revenue generator” or the “silver bullet”. I would suggest that rather, the answer lies in the fundamentals.
The best coaches require you to practice the fundamentals and game plan to perfection. To train your muscles to the point of “muscle memory” such that when pressure is applied you do not break down at that pivotal moment. The same coaching methodologies should be utilized with a revenue/sales game plan.
The Fundamentals
Right person, reasonable message, repetitively!
You cannot expect to send out a single message and get immediate buy-in - keep the communication flowing! You cannot expect to send incoherent messages that do not get to point and get a “yes I’ll buy”. You need to let the potential buyer know what, why, and how. Finally, and most importantly, you can send/share 1,000 of the most creative messages, but if the wrong person is hearing or seeing it – there is no sale to be had.
The Game Plan
Define the top advertisers you have and take very good care of them.
Create a list of anyone who has spent money with you (but no longer does) in the past 24 months and rank those by industry most likely to buy right now. Spend time researching and finding the decision-makers at each potential advertiser, record that information in a contact management system, send messaging that highlights the greatness of your audience and follow-up.
Create a list of anyone spending advertising money with other print media (that are not on the previous lists) and spend time researching and finding the decision-makers at each potential advertiser, record that information in a contact management system, send messaging that highlights the greatness of your audience, and follow-up (yes, I repeated myself)
Create a list of anyone advertising on other media currently and spend time researching and finding the decision-makers at each potential advertiser, record that information in a contact management system, send messaging that highlights the greatness of your audience, and follow-up (yes, broken record)
Create a list of industries that are long time advertisers and multi-issue possibilities (like injury attorneys, health services, or credit unions, etc.). Create messaging that highlights editorial (they care about) in future issues and offer a multi-issue discount “special price”. Spend time researching…you get the point – rinse, repeat!
In these challenging times, success is still possible. The world may not go back to “normal” for a long time but with hard work, patience, and these tried and true fundamentals, you will weather this storm!
