Just Hand Over the Rate Card, and Nobody Gets Hurt!
I’ve been extremely busy the last few weeks at work and I haven’t had a lot of time to blog, or for that matter eat, sleep, exercise, or relax. Good thing I got my taxes done before I hit this time crunch.
Anyway, part of what has been keeping me so busy has been working on a lot of media plans. So, I feel the need to share my frustration with media vendors. I feel that media vendors are sometimes their own worst enemies and have processes in place that get them left off RFP and media plans. I have several pet peeves with the way media display their information, provide data & rates, and allocate their sales resources, and here they are:
- Not posting your rate card on your web site. Why wouldn’t you provide this information? I know, I know… competition. But I’ve left many a site off a plan because their sites did not offer on-demand rate information. I am often working on last minute plans, and immediate access to rates really helps me do my job. It also helps sites get on my plans. Please don’t make me work that hard when I already know I want to purchase media.
- Not including a section on Advertising on the site. Come on. I can see that you offer ads. I may even want to recommend them, so give me information about them. Every site that offers advertising (even if it just Google Adwords), should have an easy to find page dedicated to advertising.
- Not including a descriptive, about us statement anywhere on the site. Okay, This is just something that makes my life easier. As I’m putting write-ups together it really helps to have a nice bit of marketing content to start with. In all honesty, I edit the descriptions the sites provide to eliminate biases (how many sites really are the “ultimate destination for” x audience?), but when I start from scratch the site doesn’t have an opportunity to include the info they think should be included.
- Making me talk to 6 people to get to the right rep. This drives me nuts. Plus, half the time, I’ve just spoken to 5 people that are in the office and then the one person who is supposed to be the right rep, is out of the office. Can’t we simplify the process and post the correct contacts on the web site. Or even better yet, just have someone help me and stop passing me off like a hot potato.
- Assigning reps by client and not by agency. It is difficult to maintain relationships with dozens of reps at a site. It is annoying to me that each time I work on a new client, that I have to forge a new relationship with whatever rep is assigned to the account. Most sites that work this way have such a disparity in the quality of the service you receive. Some reps are great, some actually convince me to work with competitors. Media planning is easier when you have a regular rep that you work with. I understand sales organizations cannot always be structured with that much flexibility, but I think more opportunities come out of stronger relationships between media and agency.
- Non-”Quantified” sites. I really like Quantcast. They give me a good profile of a sites audience. But a lot of sites have not chosen to be quantified. This is not a big deal, but I’d love to see more publishers update their information.
- Teasing me with the targeting options. Alright, you’ve got me. Now, just please list all the targeting options. This really helps me in my research. Targeting is very important to me and I need to know how I can reach my target on your site. I hate to see “all ads can be targeted”. Targeted to what?
It’s not a perfect world, so I just have to make the best of my dealings with the media. But I bet fixing some of the above would help me out and the site’s bottom line.
What does everyone else think? Are you with me? Against me?
April 18, 2007 at 4:12 am
Hi Laura,
I wonder if the reduction in complexity and frustration that you seek can be created as a new service or offering to the clients and companies you deal with (or want to deal with). Is that even a remote possibility or is this just your professional life by design?
April 18, 2007 at 7:58 am
Hi Russ,
It’s really more of a customer service issue. The media choose how they convey their advertising products and how they allocate their sales force resources. It just that some sites are set up in ways that make them really easy to deal with and some sites are set so that it is a nightmare. In terms of offering great upfront information about their products - that is pretty easy. Many sites need to do a better job at this. The structure of the sales force might be a harder thing to fix. But ultimately what ends up being good for the media planner will be good for the site (in terms of more sales), so it is worth looking into. A lot of these frustrations are par for the course of a media planner’s life, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t get better.
April 23, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Laura…
I agree with you and your frustration over the inconsistencies in supporting the media sale.
I can honestly say that the disparity you speak of with respect to reps is something that may never go away. Having been a “sales professional” for over 15 years, it is more indicative of poor sales leadership than anything else. And on top of all that, the Web 2.0 world is actually driving great reps right out the door. Mostly because they don’t understand how to work within this new environment.
I believe that we will see a fundamental shift in the sales force thinking in the next 5 years or less. Most sales leaders are just now beginning to get it. And if they don’t get it…customers will find those who do. And in the end, it really boils down to who provides the best service.
April 27, 2007 at 4:06 pm
OK OK, it’s NOT my real name. But, I have been on the client, agency and media side of recruitment advertising and there’s no shortage of peeves. With this 360-degree vieww and in the most objective (I’ll try, anyway) way I can, here’s a point by point response.
Not posting your rate card on your web site: Any media that won’t do this is suspect, in my mind, on a number of levels. First is the obvious, what are you trying to hide? Do they have selective rate cards, or is it whatever-the-market will bear pricing? Second, if sneakiness is not a concern, then cleverness is. We all know now that your website must work as hard as it can for you and to not include information to make it easy for the customer to buy, well that’s just plain dumb. Is this an ideal partner?
Not including a section on Advertising on the site. ibid, with one caveat. I wouldn’t want to see “How to Advertise” on a media site if I were on the agency side. “About Us” is cool, but how to advertise is the expertise the agency brings to the equation.
Not including a descriptive, about us statement anywhere on the site. ibid idid
Making me talk to 6 people to get to the right rep. Yeah, I hate when it happens to me and I hate it even more when someone gets tranferred to me and says “You are the 5th person I have spoken with and I still don’t have my answer.” When that happens, I’ll tell the caller, I will get you the info even if I am the wrong person. This issue is not limited to media. (Ever call DMV?) It seems to be a problem of basic customer service, compounded by a difference in structure/nomenclature. You want info about pub x (rate/circ, etc) and they transfer you to subscriptions. They didn’t ask, you didn’t tell. Some of the blame is shared.
Assigning reps by client and not by agency. Well, when agencies assign reps by media…. Agencies assign reps by clients, too. Sometimes one media rep needs 3-4 agency reps for one issue. That door does indeed swing both ways.
Non-”Quantified” sites. Yupper. Waddya got to hide again.
Teasing me with the targeting options. This may also be an indicator of a lack of sophistication and, maybe, performance down the road.
BOTTOM LINE: Rodney King is right. If we start to understand the 3 sides of this ad triangle, what we each need and, most importantly, we all need the CLIENT, then perhaps we can let the relationship develop using client needs as the starting point. When the client wins, agency and media do too.
It ain’t just media, and it ain’t just agency. The client needs us both to win. We just need to learn to play together nicely.
June 3, 2007 at 6:39 pm
[...] Just Hand Over the Rate Card, and Nobody Gets Hurt! I’ve been extremely busy the last few weeks at work and I haven’t had a lot of time to blog, or for that matter eat, sleep, exercise, or relax. Good thing I got my taxes done before I hit this time crunch. Anyway, part of what has been keeping me so busy has been working on […] [...]