Yes, you read the title right. If you run a magazine, it's time to stop advertising contract renewals. Laurie Laykish, owner and SVP of Marketing and Operations for Local Life Magazine did—and her advertisers thanked her.
We sat down with Laurie to discuss why advertising contract renewals are just one of a variety of hassles that need to stop. Without further ado, let's talk about tweaking your ad sales processes to better serve your advertisers and your publication.
What's the alternative to ad contract renewals?
Laurie Laykish calls their process "hassle-free contracts," and it's delightfully simple. At the culmination of a one-year ad contract (read more about Local Life's long-term contract ethos here), advertisers continue to pay the same rates indefinitely. If they want to cancel, they simply email their sales rep and provide 30 days notice. No fuss, no muss.
For advertisers, it's a frictionless extension of their terms. And the bonus for them is clear: there is no rate increase as long as they stay the course.
For sales reps, it eliminates the biggest drawback of a contract renewal: creating an opportunity for the advertiser to question their rates and terms. Rather, reps are free to talk long-term strategy with advertisers.
According to Laurie, starting the hassle-free contract process wasn't easy. But the results surprised her team: the first advertiser to hear about the policy thanked their sales rep! The process has now been rolled out to all of Local Life's long-term advertisers, and it's a hit.
We Live in an Auto-Renewal World
Humans are conditioned now more than ever to think about paying for services on a recurring basis. From meal boxes to streaming services, we live in an auto-renewal world. Now, Local Life is taking the hassle-free ethos one step further with a push to money-saving ACH payments. This not only saves them thousands on credit card processing fees, it also makes their A/R process a snap.
But, what's good for the business can also be good for the advertiser. In Laurie's words, advertisers' needs drive sales innovation. And if one advertiser makes a billing request, then other advertisers probably share that need, too.
Laurie says, "During [the beginning of] COVID, advertisers were having trouble paying on the day their rent or their payroll was due. Tourism-driven businesses are cash flush on Monday. So we did an auto draft on their credit card every Monday. If we did it once, we can do it again. While it is self-serving from our billing standpoint, it was also appreciated by the advertisers."
Good Sales and Accounting Processes Benefit Both Parties
Whether Local Life is changing billing auto draft dates or streamlining the renewal process, it's all about the win-win. In each of these cases, the process not only benefits Laurie's business, it also strengthens advertiser loyalty.
Sales reps love not having dozens of advertisers to renew in a single month. And advertisers prefer reps' attention on what matters most to them—their campaign performance. Laurie sums it up well, "Instead of saying 'keep us in your budget,' we flip it to, 'What can we do for you this year? Full page? Add digital? How are we going to use the dollars?'”