where's the synergy between media buyers and ad sellers?

good morning media folks ☀️

a warm welcome to the 17 new subscribers. thanks to everyone for your support.

Over the last year, the relationship between Media buyers and Ad sellers has been weird. Media buyers are inundated with opportunities, AI email blasts, raising work expectations, and smaller teams… while sellers are facing a decrease in demand, difficulty finding genuine opportunities, battling against more competition, less pay, layoffs, and higher expectations. The list goes on.

But that doesn’t mean this relationship needs to be a tumultuous one. Buyers and sellers have so much information at their fingertips, and now is the time for both sides to take it upon themselves to prepare appropriately for these types of business relationships.

It would lead to quicker decisions, better campaign outcomes, and cheaper costs.

Isn't that what we all want??

what do you mean by being prepared?

From the 20+ email publishers I’ve worked with over the last year, I can see how Media buyers have struggled to find value. Publishers have a tough time articulating the value of their audience and how to present that to brands. Not only that, they struggle to come up with creative ideas that are outside the norm.

for Media buyers:

Media buyers have to take things into their own hands. You owe it to yourself to dive deeper into the email publishing industry and understand its nuances, so you can get the most out of your partnerships. It’s also about understanding the core metrics of your goals that way you already know the value a publisher can bring ahead of time.

What about the simple things? Like pre-prepping an agenda, sending materials and questions beforehand to keep conversations efficient, and being upfront about your budget and timelines. Lastly, it is okay to say no right away when a partnership might not work for you.

for Ad sellers:

Ad sellers are too salesly now. They don’t bring new ideas to the table, tend to not understand their product's true value, and lack in preparation to give media buyers the information they need.

They need to think creatively, bring ideas to the table, understand the business of the prospect, set correct expectations and agendas beforehand, do their research, set timelines, and be upfront about limitations. If you don’t have a consulting mindset, you’ll never be able to sell during times like these. Especially against stiff competition.

Do what you can to stand out.

the benefits

• time-efficient

Having your approaches dialed in, saves you from lengthy negotiations, and can help you get to a decision faster. At the end of the day, the Media buyer has a specific metric or brand goal and the seller wants to find out if the deal will close. So getting to those outcomes faster is the goal. A win-win for both sides.

• cost-effective

Understanding each other's needs and capabilities upfront saves you money. You’ll have fewer meetings, and more time executing campaign goals, ultimately making this relationship move at hyper speed while saving on costs.

• better campaign outcomes

I always tell my publishers that if you over-communicate, you have a better chance of strong campaign performance and longer partnerships. Ideas develop faster, there’s a balance of trust on execution, and more information is shared… that's when partnerships truly become fruitful for both sides.

real-life example

I recently worked with a Travel newsletter that needed support to land a mid-6 figure deal with an airline company (Think Delta, Frontier, etc…)

The Media buyer came to the conversation with tons of insights from their past newsletter sponsorships, new campaign creative they were working on, the exact dates they were looking to launch, how much they had budgeted for newsletter sponsorships, and what they were looking for in audiences.

We made it easy for them to make a decision, because we over-communicated, and custom-tailored a campaign based on the information they provided. We were able to turn around a proposal in 24 hours, and came up with creative that was on the nose about what they were looking for.

They landed the deal, and are looking to renew their partnership for next year, with an even more expansive scope.

changing the stigma

If you’re a Media buyer and you make a decision that an opportunity is worth exploring, you owe it to take some conviction in a new business relationship. How can this person help me get what I need for my business? What do they need from me to help them give the best solutions?

Media buyers can ask for materials ahead of time, do research in the email publishing space, understand the core metrics and KPIs, get referrals, set proper expectations, be quick to respond, and prepare before calls.

And sellers owe it to Media buyers to be informed. Use platforms like Crunchbase, MediaRadar, Inc., X, LinkedIn, and Google Alerts, to stay ahead of the curve and give yourself an advantage against other vendors.

We can all move in unison and achieve better business outcomes. It starts with how you view potential business relationships and having the right intentions and expectations.

see you next week,

shaan

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