Media businesses everywhere are facing unprecedented challenges posed by COVID-19. From distribution problems to reduced advertiser spend, there are unavoidable consequences of the outbreak that have no cut-and-dry solutions.
However, you can take time to fix what you can control during this slow period by shoring up your sales, production, and accounting processes.
If you want to come out of COVID-19 intact and set up for success, it’s imperative that you:
- Maximize resource management across your team.
- Invest in ad products/packages that meet advertiser demands.
- Roll out tools to help your advertisers get back on track.
Maximize Efficiency Across Your Team
The abrupt switch to remote work has been a rude awakening for many publishers. By moving work out of the office, adjusting sales, production, and accounting processes is no longer a painful unilateral decision or something that can be put of for another year. Some steps simply don’t translate to a workplace that doesn’t offer person-to-person interaction.
Furthermore, entire processes may require duplicate data entry or redundant steps that become evident when taken out of the place where they were followed for years.
Use this time to think about ways you can save time and maximize efficiency. Create a map outlining prospecting, proposal creation, signed contract, production, delivery, and invoicing. Where can you combine steps? Where can steps be tweaked to increase accuracy and reduce the need for in-person communication?
Here are three efficiency factors to consider:
- Your CRM software. Does it work with the types of ads, events, and sponsorships you’re trying to sell?
- Your contract process. Is it painless for your advertisers? Think about features like DocuSign. How does data flow from proposal to invoice? If sales data must be entered more than once, it’s time to rethink how you sell your ads.
- Your accounting methods. Does your accounting team have to manually reconcile CRM ad sales data with their accounting software? If so, look for CRM software that integrates both ways with software like QuickBooks.
Are You Offering the Ads Your Advertisers Want to Buy?
COVID-19 has changed the advertising sales landscape overnight. Yes, budgets are down overall for the time being. But marketing spend is moving in new directions—and fast. People are spending their time indoors and online, and businesses are scrambling to adjust their offerings to meet consumer demands. Moreover, certain industries are seeing rapid upticks in demand—a few examples include the home improvement sector, financial planning, and streaming subscription services.
As such, digital advertising spend is becoming a necessary offering for publishers to survive. If your processes, rate cards, and software are focused on print, you need a digital strategy now.
There are a lot of misconceptions about digital advertising, but the fact is this: you can offer the same programmatic campaigns that agencies do. And if you don’t offer digital, those same agencies will meet your potential advertisers’ demands and take their spend for themselves.
Publishers have many advantages over many agencies in the communities they serve: brand, influence, and audience. Chances are, your advertisers want to buy digital from you—you just need to offer it to them.
To that point, it’s imperative your ad sales software is built to handle the types of advertising you sell. If you’re on a publishing-centric CRM, it’s time to reevaluate if your software’s capabilities mesh with the direction you want to need to take your business in 2020 and beyond.
Cater to Advertisers Who Want to Get Back on Track
No one is sure where the economy is going from here. However, in the short term, most marketing budgets are seeing adjustments to free up cash.
It’s not all doom and gloom, though. Most business owners know that advertising must continue to stay in front of consumers during a delicate time. Be there for them.
Here are some ways you may consider catering to your advertisers:
- Payment Plans. Think about offering payment plans or deferred payment options to continue relationships during a tough time.
- Strategic Partnerships. Brainstorm creative ways to feature businesses that are open and serving customers—perhaps via online directories, revised physical distribution models, or social media tie-ins.
- Audience Involvement. You’re a voice in the community you serve. How can you get your audience to participate in a way that helps your advertisers succeed?
Software Built to Help Publishers & Media Companies Run at Their Best
Ad Sales Genius is CRM software built to help publishers and media companies succeed, and we’re here to help you come out of this crisis stronger. Join our Slack workspace today to share tips, ideas, and strategies with hundreds of media sales professionals from around the world.
Interested in learning how our CRM can help your publishing or media business sell more advertising? Schedule a personalized demo now to get started.