In The End, Content Drives Sales

Before I wade into this, let me throw out a couple of caveats.

Yes, I do work for Internet Broadcasting, but I’m not in sales. I don’t have any direct contact with client sales departments, and in fact, most of my experience here (and at my previous jobs), is on the journalism side.

But I do have experience working at news startups, and also run a small news site of my own in what passes for my free time. I know first hand what it’s like to be a scrappy web dog, wrangling for traffic and ad numbers and attention.

So take what I say not as some IB pontification, but as a guy who knows what it’s like to have few resources, little time and lots of financial pressures.

Everyone wants some magic bullet for online ad revenue. You’ll hear a lot of talk about how to sell your inventory, ways to package it and aggregate your traffic for national advertisers. All of these are legitimate and worthwhile discussions.

But if I’ve learned anything, it’s that at the end of the day, what’s actually on your site will drive your ad sales. Great content opens up sales opportunities and insures that you’ll not only make that initial sale, but end up with a happy advertiser who will return for another round.

Whether you talk to salesmen at web-only news sites, newspaper sites or TV web plays, the dirty little secret is that you’re always battling the churn rate with advertisers. A lot of people get sold ads without understanding what works (and what doesn’t), and there are a lot of sales people out there who will sell some poor schmoe a package that will never deliver for them.

Relevant content enables sales opportunities. If people read something that is useful and that speaks to their needs, they will not only interact with current ads, they will be more likely to interact with ads in the future. I harp about building local relationships a lot here, but that’s because it’s good business. Happy, satisfied consumers will reward advertisers on the site, and that translates to a stronger bottom line.

Sometimes building that customer satisfaction means learning to help guide your advertisers. Even if that means saying “No.”

Let me give you an example. I was looking at a local news site last night trying to get a handle on traffic conditions. One site I visited had a nifty interactive traffic map sponsored by a towing company. Hey, a great fit, you would think.

But for whatever reason, a nearly full screen ad for the towing firm shaded the map everytime I visited. I must have seen the damn thing 40 times, and let me tell you, at the end of the experience I vowed to never call that towing firm.

Now maybe this was a cookie problem and maybe it should have only popped up once. And I suspect that the towing firm paid extra for the ad, because either the firm or the ad saleperson was convinced that a roadblock ad like this was “effective.”

Yep, it was effective, but maybe not in the way they planned.

Odds are this client won’t re-up, unless they’re strictly focused on impressions. In which case they’ll be happy with my 40, and everyone will continue on making the same mistake for the next quarter.

There are ways this ad relationship could have not only been effective, but built a stronger brand for the towing company. Consumers don’t really hate advertising. They hate stupid ads, which is generally a preventable disease.

Hearst-Argyle to Resell Google AdWords for Local Advertisers

Hearst-Argyle announced earlier this week that they will resell Google AdWords across their 26 local TV station sites to local advertisers. Here is Hearst-Argyle’s press release:

(Full disclosure: Hearst-Argyle is a customer and equity investor in Internet Broadcasting)

Hearst-Argyle First Television Reseller of Google AdWords

NEW YORK, Nov. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — In an effort to target the growing local search advertising market, Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. (NYSE: HTV) today announced a new strategic agreement with Google in which Hearst-Argyle will become the first television industry reseller of the Google AdWords(TM) advertising program.

Under the agreement, Hearst-Argyle, operator of 29 TV stations and more than 30 Websites, will become an official reseller and will use its Web sales force to provide marketers in its 26 local markets access to Google AdWords. AdWords is an online advertising platform designed to help small and medium- sized businesses use the Web to find new customers by delivering relevant ads when users search for specific products and services.

“This is a terrific partnership to expand the digital suite of solutions we provide our advertisers,” said Terry Mackin, Executive Vice President of Hearst-Argyle Television. “This entry point to the local search market complements our existing digital media efforts which include local content, social networking, and being a primary destination in all our markets on ‘all three screens’.”

“Our new collaboration will build on the trusted relationships that Hearst-Argyle has already established by selling local television and Web advertising,” said Eric Stein, director of local markets at Google. “Now, local marketers will also have access to an additionally efficient and cost- effective way to reach customers on the Internet and help drive their continued success online.”

Boston, MA-based research firm Yankee Group recently projected that local search and Internet ad spending will grow from $1.9 billion this year to $9.3 billion in 2010. According to research by New York-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc., more than 50% of U.S. small businesses believe they can use the Internet for sales, marketing and customer support.

Today’s announcement represents an expansion of Hearst-Argyle’s relationship with Google. In June 2007, Hearst-Argyle became the first independent TV station group owner to establish a content- and revenue-sharing arrangement with YouTube(TM). To date, Hearst-Argyle has launched 26 YouTube Channels populated with news, weather, sports and entertainment videos as well as with original, local television programming and content from its recently launched social-networking site High School Playbook (www.HighSchoolPlaybook.com).

Hearst-Argyle’s digital multimedia efforts encompass the Web and the digital broadcast spectrum. A majority of the Websites operated by Hearst- Argyle stations are consistently ranked No. 1 within their respective markets. Generating in excess of 1.5 billion page views each year across the network, the sites are at the leading edge in providing wireless application protocol (WAP) content, podcasts, web-based newscasts, web video, and blogs in a broad cross-section of markets. Several Hearst-Argyle stations have used digital spectrum to launch weather and/or traffic information channels.

AdWords is a cost effective, efficient way for businesses of all sizes to advertise their products and services at exactly the time their customers are looking for them. Businesses can select and bid on keywords related to what they are selling and pay only when an interested user clicks on their ad. Advanced targeting options, customizable ads, and detailed reporting enable advertisers to evaluate the benefits and performance of their cost-per-click advertising efforts. More information is available at www.adwords.google.com.

Have You Hugged A Banner Ad Today?

Many local advertisers are mesmerized by the glamor of search advertising – and for good reason. Search offers a direct response vehicle that matches clicks to results, it’s essentially self-service – any business can get an ad on Google or Yahoo within minutes, and it’s hyper-targeted meaning advertisers can reach consumers at the right place at the right time. Of the $20+ billion expected to be spent on online advertising in 2007, approximately 40% of that will go to paid search, according to eMarketer.

But as paid search becomes more time consuming with advertisers having to managing hundreds, if not thousands of keywords, and costs increasing with its popularity, some local advertisers are looking elsewhere for new customers online, as The Kelsey Group found. When looking to best allocate their budgets, local advertisers must not forget their old friend — the display ad.

Still a force online with approximately 30% of all online ad dollars (eMarketer), display ads can have a huge impact on campaigns, as Robin Neifield points out in her ClickZ article. Display ads differ from search ads in their ability to catch consumers’ attention, reinforce a brand, create memorable messages, and raise top-of-mind awareness through compelling graphics and rich media.

Because of the Web’s inherent ability to track, direct response marketing and measurement have proliferated in online advertising. But as Neifield says:

“Online remains largely a direct marketing realm that rewards the last point of consumer contact prior to a sale or conversion. This last touch point has the perception of ultimate value when, in fact, many contributing factors should share credit. An exceptional marketer understands these fine points.”

The smart local advertiser and media buyer will understand how display ads fit in with their online mix. While search can provide instant gratification, the smart plan is to use search together with display ads to build brands, create awareness, and ultimately drive new customers.

Cyber Monday

Techcrunch posted an article about the high hopes for a large Cyber Monday. Experts are expecting $700 million in online sales today.

According to wikipedia, the origins of Cyber Monday date back to 2005. The term was first coined by Shop.org when research showed that 77% of online retailers reported a significant increase in sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving in 2004. I personally have not heard of Cyber Monday until this month, but evidently the day is very popular for online shopping.

Cyber Monday represents the first chance for consumers to shop at work after the Thanksgiving holiday, and it presents a huge opportunity for retailers to use advertising to drive local media consumers to their online store fronts. Seventy two million Americans are expected to being shopping (purchasing or browsing) today. If that number is accurate, it would mean nearly 1 in 4 Americans will be online looking for Holiday presents on Cyber Monday.

Local Media’s Old Paradigm May Be Crumbling

Greg Sterling wrote today about the sudden awakening of newspapers in response to years of eroding subscribership and the loss of classified and regular advertising dollars. As a result, the newspapers have been aggressive in their pursuit of joining consortiums (e.g., Yahoo) and aligning strategically (e.g., Blogrunner, Zillow) which are both good tactical first steps. But why are the newspapers stopping there?  Why aren’t they pursuing cross-platform partnerships with equal zeal? Shouldn’t they also be thinking about partnering with the local TV stations, the local radio outlets and more? Singularly, probably none of these has enough clout to outright “own” a market, but combined, couldn’t they build the kind of engaged local audience that advertisers simply couldn’t dismiss?  From a small business perspective, just having a shared business profile might save me countless hours and I can continue to work with a trusted outlet. And better still, my ads are going to reach many, many more eyeballs than I am accustomed to. Sign me up!

I think that the traditional media has for so long competed head-to-head against one another, that the notion of now working together must still be too frightening. Granted, it’d be a lot of work to coordinate such an endeavor, but cooperating and aggregating content sure seems to me to be a better way to remain viable in the consumer’s and avertiser’s eyes. It’s got to be tiring to have to fight for content ownership all the time, especially when the end result is you’ll only own a small piece of it.

Is Hyperlocal Advertising Really an Issue?

Read/WriteWeb has an interesting article on the rise of hyperlocal information. The article begs the question, how hard is it to reach hyperlocal audiences? Are local businesses having trouble doing this currently? Or just online?

The article cited two ways someone might want to monetize the hyperlocal audience.

• Presidential parties could send direct advertising to zip codes that are known to be tipping points in swing states.
• The other example was local advertising. Hyperlocal web sites would enable local businesses to deliver highly targeted and relevant advertising.

The suggested solution in the article was a hyperlocal online advertising platform. The article also suggested local businesses were currently using door to door sales to make things work.

Advertising by zipcode is not new. Companies like Valpak and Money Mailer have made millions of dollars helping local businesses deliver coupons to local consumer’s mailboxes. Also, if a party or politician needed to reach a swing state they are not going to be advertising by zipcode. They will attempt to reach the largest percentage of voters by using every local TV station and major local publication within that swing state.

I think there are plenty of solid online solutions right now for local advertisers. Facebook’s new advertising platforms and solutions, Google AdWords and AdSense, SuperPages, sites like CitySearch, and let’s not forget local news publications. The issue to me is creating a simple way for local businesses to efficiently advertise online to a large percentage of their local audience while being relevant at the same time. Many local businesses do not have the time and money to plan, organize, and keep up-o-date multiple online business profiles and advertising campaigns. They need solutions to help them efficiently reach new customers online.

CBS Outdoor’s Cool Test

CBS Outdoor has got a pretty cool new hyper-local, multi-platform test going on in New York that bears watching. CBS created a free 20-block WiFi area in Manhattan using billboards and bus stops to support the zone. Anyone accessing the WiFi on laptop or cellphone gets an ad-supported home page with local and national news, sports, weather, etc., and allows users to perform uber-local searches for area businesses, entertainment options and more. From an advertising perspective, only people within this somewhat limited geographic radius are going to see your ads, so the potential for conversion–or action–on behalf of the consumer should be at a premium. Health and weather permitting, all of these consumers are practically within walking distance. A deli could post a “half off on a Reuben” ad at 11:00AM and by 1:00PM be able to see the ROI on it’s investment. Can’t get much more immediate feedback than that.

Chasing The Local Ad Longtail

The Local Onliner  had an interesting post about Freedom Interactive’s efforts to chase the local advertising longtail.

Smart move by Freedom Interactive to go after medium-sized businesses. For those local advertisers out there who can’t afford offline rates, online buys are a solid way to get associated with trusted local media brands. From the publisher’s standpoint, it’s not just incremental revenue but a way to get new clients in the door.

It will be interesting to see how margins hold up as the sales force travels down the local advertiser longtail.

Regarding “tangible results,” one has to imagine that, once advertisers and agencies get past their obsession over click-through rates, online conversion measurements will be deemed far superior than trying to track down whether a print coupon was used at the local furniture store.

Yahoo Expands its Newspaper Consortium

According to paid.Content, Yahoo has added 17 new members to its newspaper consortium. Yahoo’s newspaper partners now include more than 400 dailies and 140 members. This appears to be the largest such consortium, but not the only one.  In fact, last month The Tribune and three of Yahoo’s members (Gannett, Hearst MediaNews Group and Cox Newspapers) talked openly about forming an online newspaper ad-sharing network while the Washington Post and the New York Times are also looking at combining with other papers. Yahoo’s consortium formed a year ago and forged a strategic partnership for online recruitment advertising through Yahoo’s HotJobs site and has since expanded to include common online advertising network distribution, online text ads, and content sharing between Yahoo! and consortium newspapers.  

Clearly these partnerships speak to the old adage of ‘keeping your friends close, but your enemies closer.’ Not so long ago the portals were seen a huge threat to the daily newspapers’ bottom line and now they’re partnering with Yahoo like crazy. Why? Perhaps it’s Yahoo’s ability to add cache and to help bring scale and attractiveness to advertisers? After all, if you can’t beat them you may as well join them.  Newspaper circulation numbers dropped 2.6% recently according the to Newspaper Association of America which has forced the industry’s hand. To combat the perception that papers provide less value to consumers, many in the industry are now combining online readers with their print-reading brethren to woo advertiser interest. The problem with this tactic is that advertisers have often deemed off-line readers less valuable. With all the consolidating and consortium-forming going on, the numbers may simply become too large for the advertisers to dismiss. 

Loopt to Locate Mobile Friends

Loopt is launching a new service that will help you locate your friends with mobile phones. The new version of their software integrates with your address book, and shows your friends via a map where you are when messaging.

Currently Loopt is generating revenue either through a $2.99/month subscription plan or by being bundled in with a phone data plan. While this service brings locality to a whole new level, it begs the question how else could they make money with this service? Would bars, restaurants, coffee shops, and/or other local businesses benefit by showing up on these maps as icons? Superpages has been building an extended network for its performance based advertising and a strategic alliance with a hyper local mapping service might make sense.