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June 2003
Ask, Then LISTEN
A marketer who knows far more than anyone around here once said, “Give customers more of what they say they want and less of what you think they need.”
The same message has been communicated (undoubtedly to all industries) in endless variations. So, when will we get the hint and respond appropriately to what our customers seek? Does a mechanism exist for customers to systematically talk to us and how do we distinguish amongst the thousands of messages we receive?
Sure, the obvious answer is via market research, but let’s pretend for a moment that such a resource didn’t exist. What else is there?
There’s not a newspaper in the land that doesn’t have a telemarketing operation? All papers have telephone lines or web sites that provide a channel for customer communication. And, most importantly, we all have “feet on the street” in the form of talented salespeople and reporters that can be invaluable in touching, influencing and LISTENING to what ALL our customers (reading and advertising!!) have to say.
This last point is a genuine competitive advantage – no other medium can leverage such numbers! In some cases, there are markets in which MULTIPLE media don’t have as many sales and newsroom people as does the daily newspaper!
We recently participated in a discussion on the lack of national advertising on newspaper web sites. A couple of points emerged that bear repeating:
- The challenges we face now are eerily familiar to those facing newspapers fighting for national print advertising a decade ago. The common refrains were lack of standardization, discrepancies, rate, single reps handling multiple markets and simplicity.
THEY ARE STILL COMPLAINTS…just the platform is different.
- An entire industry was spawned by newspapers’ unwillingness to say “yes” to legitimate advertiser requests that now represent more than a Billion Dollar business - All the 3rd party buying services. Fortunately, and rightfully, most are “friends” to the newspaper world. Are we going to let something similar happen in the online space? There are already organizations claiming to “rep” any and all web sites. With what legitimacy?
- Are we selling with the goal to serve advertisers, or are we selling what makes sense to us? Excluding classified upsells (typically between 70 – 90% of a site’s revenue) we’re NOT doing a very good job of selling online advertising. Most sales are a function of an existing relationship or contract or legacy technology.
- What appears to be the best approach so far (for the advertiser!!) is to limit inventory, increase the space of the online ads, be sure the content drives navigation to those ads and strive for frequency. Ahh, like the way that sounds!! Best news of all – this represents real revenue for the site… you can charge more!
We must duplicate the “readers looking for advertising success” of newspapers (always a top content goal and unique amongst traditional media) in the online space.
Belden interacts with clients in a host of ways. During the design process, there’s an enormous amount of give-and-take to be sure the questionnaire we field is assured of obtaining the desired objectives. That takes place in-person, via telephone and email. We’re listening, and hopefully acting accurately and quickly all the time.
The same thing happens as we zero in on a presentation. In some cases, multiple constituencies (advertising, circulation, editorial, marketing, and even customers) are involved, so, once again, we are careful to create exactly that which articulates the research findings, but sometimes circumvents any political issues (shall we say) that might compromise the newspaper cause. Nevertheless, the “messenger” sometimes does take a bullet.
We even encourage client feedback via a post engagement survey that can be filled out anonymously. We want to hear from you! It is via this short instrument we “hear” some of the most interesting reactions…
- Specifics about how the design process worked, what the findings are being used for, if and what changes have been implemented, what other research and consulting companies a paper has worked with, how our services compare, and even some direct feedback on officer or project director performance!
- In the past 6 months, sales force automation platforms have been loaded with market studies, new promotion schemes developed, content tweaked, directed in-paper promotion executed, brands altered, and we’ve even heard the most beautiful of all terms, “…expensive but worth it!”
We love it. Know we’ve mentioned before, but there’s one Publisher with the goal to be the biggest “pain-in-our-backside” we deal with each and every year. It’s a worthwhile goal.
What he’s really doing – as far as we’re concerned – is giving us every chance imaginable to meet and exceed his expectations, no matter how lofty they are. Guess what? That’s the best of all worlds.
So, we thank you! Keep on communicating, attempting to shoot the messenger, asking for more, demanding no less and questioning all that we do. We’ll be better partners and serve your customers better as a result.
And, be sure to offer readers and advertisers every bit as much opportunity to do the same. They’ll appreciate it and you’ll improve service to both!!
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