Like all areas, sponsorship and advertising sales will ebb and flow throughout the year. Tracking your gross ad sales revenue is a critical part of annual planning. Month-over-month and (eventually) year-over-year mapping will help you understand trends in your market, letting you know when and where your efforts are best served.
Keep reading for Indiegraf Experts tips on how to get started with an ad sales routine.
A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating an Ad Sales Routine
1. Schedule Dedicated Time Every Day
Consistency is crucial. Set aside a specific amount of time each day to focus solely on ad sales. Even an hour daily can make a significant difference in building momentum. Scheduling time ensures you stay on top of your ads and sales workflow and meet your targets.
2. Track and Document Meetings
Maintain a record of all your meetings and interactions with advertisers. This helps you keep track of conversations, follow-up tasks, and potential opportunities. Use a CRM or a simple spreadsheet to log your activities. Tracking your efforts is especially important when managing ads and sales across multiple platforms.
3. Ad Sales Is Predictable: Calculate Your Close Rate
Understanding your sales close rate can make your ad sales process more predictable. If you know how many leads typically convert to sales, you can estimate how many prospects you need to contact to meet your goals. Direct advertising becomes easier to scale when you have clear metrics to guide your efforts.
4. Follow Up Until They Tell You to Stop
Persistence is key in ad sales. Keep following up with potential advertisers until they explicitly ask you to stop. Many deals close simply because one party consistently stays top-of-mind. If you’re wondering how to put ads on your site and make the process seamless, consistent follow-ups can help secure the right advertisers.
5. Make an Ad Sales Plan
Creating a structured plan for your ad sales activities can be very helpful. Set specific revenue goals (e.g. monthly, quarterly, annually) and draft speaking notes. Clearly articulate what makes your advertising service unique with a value proposition.
It is also important to plan for promotions, discounts, or bundled services to attract clients. Having this information prepared in advance will help you speak with confidence about your product.
Pro Tip: Use a lead list spreadsheet to monitor potential advertisers and their status. Keeping this list up to date helps streamline your efforts for direct advertising opportunities. Add notes about a potential advertiser’s goals and values to help guide your communication.
How Can Small Publications Compete With Larger Ones for Ad Sales?
Smaller publications can compete effectively with larger ones by leveraging unique strengths and adopting targeted strategies:
- Focus on Niche Targeting: Attract advertisers seeking to reach a specific, targeted demographic.
- Build Personalized Relationships: Develop strong connections with advertisers, offering a level of service larger publications often can’t.
- Offer Flexible Pricing: Provide bulk pricing or long-term packages to incentivize commitment.
- Experiment With Innovative Ad Formats: Consider offering sponsored content or unique advertising formats.
- Emphasize Local Content: Local businesses value publications that engage directly with their community.
- Maintain High Editorial Standards: A loyal, engaged readership attracts advertisers.
- Provide Engagement Metrics: Share data that demonstrates your audience’s value. Highlighting how to put ads on your site and effectively track their performance can set you apart.
- Collect First-Party Data: Not only can collecting data about your audience through things like reader surveys help publishers produce editorial content that better meets their needs, it’s also essential data for potential advertisers and sponsors. You can’t put a price on the value of being able to truly know your audience.
READ MORE: How to make effective ads that readers actually respond to
Effective Ways to Upsell Existing Advertisers
Growing Retention Rates
Improving retention rates in a predominantly digital environment can be more challenging than in traditional print advertising. Still, enhancing your renewal and retention rates is incredibly worthwhile. Retaining an existing sponsor requires significantly less effort than acquiring a new one, making it a worthwhile focus for your digital advertising strategy.
Instead of selling one-time sponsorships, aim to bring sponsors on with longer-term contracts. For newsletter ads this could mean selling one ad per month for a quarter. For display ads, you can sell 3-month and 6-month packages. With larger sponsorship opportunities, sometimes year-long or even multi-year contracts are appropriate.
You can also create advertising bundles by combining email, display, and social media or content advertising into discounted packages. Bundles can simplify the process of managing ads and sales for both you and your advertisers.
Here are more ways to increase your retention rate:
- Showcase New Opportunities: Keep existing advertisers informed about new ad formats or placements.
- Promote Seasonal Opportunities: Suggest campaigns tied to holidays or local events.
- Leverage Testimonials and Case Studies: Use success stories to demonstrate your value in direct advertising.
Regular Reporting to Sponsors
One of the best ways to increase your renewal and retention rates is to show your advertisers the return they’re getting. Impact reports should be sent to sponsors:
- After a one-time ad runs or at the end of an ad campaign
- If it is a longer-running campaign, send a mid-campaign report and include suggestions on how to improve engagement
- After an event or program
A simple report sent to advertisers that includes a thank you, some metrics, contact information, and an offer to rebook should be sent out regularly. For a one-time advertiser, this should be done within three business days of the ad running. For longer-term advertisers, sending a report out once a month is a good option.
How to Measure the Success of an Ad Campaign
To ensure advertisers see value in their investment, measure the success of their campaigns effectively:
- Newsletters: Track the number of recipients, open rates, total opens, and ad clicks. Calculate the click-through rate (CTR).
- Website Display Ads: Monitor impressions, clicks, and CTR. If using tools like Indie Ads Manager, provide detailed breakdowns of impressions (total, eligible, and viewable). Offer advertisers the option to include a tracking pixel for deeper insights.
- Real-Time Metrics: If your platform allows, give advertisers login access to view performance metrics in real-time. Understanding how to put ads on your site and present clear metrics can solidify trust with advertisers.
Handling Underperforming Ad Campaigns
When an ad campaign underperforms, turn it into an opportunity to strengthen your relationship with the advertiser:
- Educate Advertisers on Best Practices: Many underperforming ads fail due to poor design or unclear messaging. Offer guidance on improving ad effectiveness.
- Add Value: Consider running a free, limited-time campaign using optimized ads. Use the results to show how better practices lead to better performance.
- Share Insights: Report on the difference between the original and optimized campaigns. This not only builds trust but also ensures future campaigns perform better.
For example, you have a regular advertiser whose newsletter ads underperformed due to heavy text and unclear messaging. You can offer to design and run a free campaign using best practices. The results were significantly better, and the advertiser became more informed and satisfied with future campaigns. This approach can transform ads and sales into a collaborative effort that benefits both parties.
In conclusion, if you’re on the journey to learn strategies on how to sell ads or how to increase ad sales for your publishing business, it’s important to start with the basics. By creating a regular sales routine and tracking your progress, you can build relationships with advertisers. This will help you see better results in your ad sales.
📌 A strong ad sales routine is just one piece of the puzzle—see how it connects with pricing, formats, and more in our website and newsletter ads guide.
Indiegraf has helped over 120 publications across North America start, grow and manage an independent news business. Interested in joining Indiegraf’s growing network? We are happy to answer any questions!
