Joe Tarell... discusses
Digital Advertising Sales
Digital Advertising Sales
So how do you cling to some measure of integrity when selling advertising? Well, for many,
selling starts with personal integrity so find a way to deliver what you promise. And for
many of us today, it means leaning heavily on the digital world for advertising because it
offers much more accountability. First let’s define digital advertising. Some prefer to call it
Internet advertising, but the mainstream seems to have adopted digital advertising as the
preferred moniker. Online advertising seems a better term, because then we can compare
it to offline advertising (calling it traditional advertising seems to give those mediums way
too much credence). Digital refers ultimately to the ones and zeroes of computing so it is
really a vague term, but the populace seems to have spoken, so digital advertising it is.
Advertising sales can be really simple. One of the things that Jim Van Gilder reminded me
of recently; we do not sell the ink on the paper, nor do we sell the pixels on the screen or
the radio waves being broadcast. What we sell is the audience. Way too much attention
gets paid to the message. This is not to say that great creative is unnecessary, just a little
over-hyped and hard to define. There are plenty of examples of expensive creative from
world famous ad agencies that make some people cringe. Take for instance the Scott
Trade yuppie broker who rides in limos and eats caviar at the expense of his clients. ‘Oh,
what’s that, the broker does not work for Scott Trade? He works for the other guys?
Really? I didn’t notice…’
Creative messages are many times, great to one person, and stupid to the next. But the
audience holds the key. Put a bad message in front of the right audience enough times
and you will get awareness. And awareness by any other name is still awareness. When
selling advertising, sell the audience. If the audience is solid, we will find a message that
works just fine, but if you are advertising to the wrong audience, you are wasting money.
This philosophy is why digital advertising or online advertising is so powerful. We have the
ability to define the audience like never before. Special interest magazines have always
been a favorite of mine because the audience was easy to define and it provides clear
value to the advertiser. On the Internet we have taken this one step further. We can
display ads in front of people at the moment they begin their search for our products. We
can display advertising based on their historical readings and surfing habits. We can
display ads only when certain key words are appearing on the page. We can even tell
where they are sitting when we deliver the advertising.
If your buyer signs your advertising contract and then utters the words, “okay, let’s try that,”
then you are either stealing their money or you need to get better at defining the audience.
Albert Einstein once said, “if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well
enough.” Get better at understanding your audience and your medium and you can
explain it simply. Then when your client signs your advertising contract, they will be excited
about the possibilities of reaching a defined audience that is perfect for their product and
their marketplace. That is the definition of advertising sales success.
Joe Tarell, 2011
selling starts with personal integrity so find a way to deliver what you promise. And for
many of us today, it means leaning heavily on the digital world for advertising because it
offers much more accountability. First let’s define digital advertising. Some prefer to call it
Internet advertising, but the mainstream seems to have adopted digital advertising as the
preferred moniker. Online advertising seems a better term, because then we can compare
it to offline advertising (calling it traditional advertising seems to give those mediums way
too much credence). Digital refers ultimately to the ones and zeroes of computing so it is
really a vague term, but the populace seems to have spoken, so digital advertising it is.
Advertising sales can be really simple. One of the things that Jim Van Gilder reminded me
of recently; we do not sell the ink on the paper, nor do we sell the pixels on the screen or
the radio waves being broadcast. What we sell is the audience. Way too much attention
gets paid to the message. This is not to say that great creative is unnecessary, just a little
over-hyped and hard to define. There are plenty of examples of expensive creative from
world famous ad agencies that make some people cringe. Take for instance the Scott
Trade yuppie broker who rides in limos and eats caviar at the expense of his clients. ‘Oh,
what’s that, the broker does not work for Scott Trade? He works for the other guys?
Really? I didn’t notice…’
Creative messages are many times, great to one person, and stupid to the next. But the
audience holds the key. Put a bad message in front of the right audience enough times
and you will get awareness. And awareness by any other name is still awareness. When
selling advertising, sell the audience. If the audience is solid, we will find a message that
works just fine, but if you are advertising to the wrong audience, you are wasting money.
This philosophy is why digital advertising or online advertising is so powerful. We have the
ability to define the audience like never before. Special interest magazines have always
been a favorite of mine because the audience was easy to define and it provides clear
value to the advertiser. On the Internet we have taken this one step further. We can
display ads in front of people at the moment they begin their search for our products. We
can display advertising based on their historical readings and surfing habits. We can
display ads only when certain key words are appearing on the page. We can even tell
where they are sitting when we deliver the advertising.
If your buyer signs your advertising contract and then utters the words, “okay, let’s try that,”
then you are either stealing their money or you need to get better at defining the audience.
Albert Einstein once said, “if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well
enough.” Get better at understanding your audience and your medium and you can
explain it simply. Then when your client signs your advertising contract, they will be excited
about the possibilities of reaching a defined audience that is perfect for their product and
their marketplace. That is the definition of advertising sales success.
Joe Tarell, 2011
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| Digital Advertising Sales |
"Selling starts with
personal integrity so
find a way to deliver
what you promise...
What we sell, is the
audience."
Joe Tarell
personal integrity so
find a way to deliver
what you promise...
What we sell, is the
audience."
Joe Tarell
A favorite quote from
Mick Jagger and the
Stones;
"You can't always
get what you want.
But if you try
sometime, you just
might find, you get
what you need."
Mick Jagger and the
Stones;
"You can't always
get what you want.
But if you try
sometime, you just
might find, you get
what you need."
| If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." - Albert Einstein |
Many of the principles of selling
advertising are as old as John
Wannamaker’s famous quote.
Unfortunately, too many advertising
purchases today still come down to the
line, “okay, let’s try that.” That is not good
enough for me. My friend and mentor,
Sam O’Rear refers to the sales craft as
“Influencing the Decision.” A decision is
going to be made and we can either sit on
the sideline and hope (isn’t that a
wonderful strategy) or we can attempt to
influence that decision. If we try to
influence that decision with grandiose
visions of customers beating down their
doors, we better be able to back it up.
Because success and failure in
advertising can be difficult to measure,
many times advertisers just don’t try. The
customers come in for a variety of
reasons in response to a variety of stimuli
so proving success can be difficult
anyway. In my opinion, the only way to
truly measure any advertising is to create
a vacuum and place our advertising
message in there with your customers.
That is hardly possible in today’s age of
communication.
advertising are as old as John
Wannamaker’s famous quote.
Unfortunately, too many advertising
purchases today still come down to the
line, “okay, let’s try that.” That is not good
enough for me. My friend and mentor,
Sam O’Rear refers to the sales craft as
“Influencing the Decision.” A decision is
going to be made and we can either sit on
the sideline and hope (isn’t that a
wonderful strategy) or we can attempt to
influence that decision. If we try to
influence that decision with grandiose
visions of customers beating down their
doors, we better be able to back it up.
Because success and failure in
advertising can be difficult to measure,
many times advertisers just don’t try. The
customers come in for a variety of
reasons in response to a variety of stimuli
so proving success can be difficult
anyway. In my opinion, the only way to
truly measure any advertising is to create
a vacuum and place our advertising
message in there with your customers.
That is hardly possible in today’s age of
communication.
| It's the AUDIENCE, Stupid! |