How we make our advertisers part of the conversation
My first media conference cocktail reception.
I’ll never forget my first media conference cocktail reception. I had just started work at the Los Angeles Times syndicate as a recent college graduate. The intelligent, accomplished professionals I saw comfortably working the room and conversing with each other intimidated me greatly. My job as a new account executive was to build relationships that could lead to business opportunities for my company but how? These folks weren’t interested in what I had to say. They didn’t know me. They had their own agendas at the conference and I was way less important to them than the guy walking around with the chicken skewers.
I decided it was time to be bold. I found groups of people chatting and I tried to work my way into their conversation. The problem was I didn’t know who they were nor what the topic of conversation was. My interjections were more like interruptions and I ended up with a lot of quizzical looks and awkward interactions. About 45 minutes into the reception I was convinced I was a failure. I left, went up to my hotel room and began contemplating a new career,
Two nights later there was another reception at the same conference. This time my boss and mentor had arrived and we attended together. My boss had been in the industry for years and he knew everybody. He said, “Ryan, stick with me.” He pointed people out and gave me a heads up on who they were and what they did. He shared little facts about their personal life and what their passions and interests were. He then walked me around the room and introduced me to his friends. He vouched for me. He gave me credibility and then he found ways to involve me in the conversation and set me on my way to building relationships of my own. Obviously, the difference between my two cocktail reception experiences was night and day.
Local Media helps make our sponsors and advertisers part of the conversation
It seems to me that for many years we in local media were charging our advertisers only for access to our friends. We said “Here they are, good luck”. Even worse we told them “See that conversation going on over there? I think it would be a good idea for you to go interrupt it and start yelling about how great you are.” “They love that!” Somehow, we made a lot of money doing that but those days are clearly over. While the increased competition we have experienced in the digital age has brought business challenges, it has also made us increase the value we bring to both our readers and our advertisers.
We can now be marketing mentors walking our advertisers around the room and introducing them to our friends. We can share what we know about them and what interests them and give pointers on how to talk to them. We can start conversations that bring value to our friends and focus on their needs and involve our advertisers in a way that allows them to leverage our credibility and begin to build relationships of their own.
Sponsored content when done right is a great way to introduce our advertisers to our friends
When we sell sponsored content, we should be confident in the value of what we are offering. A few things to keep in mind when we introduce our sponsored content product to potential advertisers.
1. Our friends are people they want to meet
2. We’ve known these friends for a very long time and we have a deep relationship with them
3. Our friends trust us
4. We know what interests our friends and how to talk to them
5. We’ll start a conversation with our friends about subjects we know are of interest to them and then introduce you and vouch for you as someone worth talking to about that subject.
6. Our introduction will allow you to build your own direct relationship with our friends.
That’s a pretty valuable service.
I’m proud of the work we have done as an industry to become more and more valuable to both our readers and our advertisers. Let’s keep at it.
P.S. I miss meeting with many of you at media conferences and look forward to renewing relationships and chasing the chicken skewer guy again very soon.