Selling multi-platform advertising presents a number of challenges for news media companies. New products don’t always fit existing sales channels or sales staff skill sets, and there is the ongoing challenge of managing selling costs and sustaining relationships with customers.

Here are the top reasons why news media companies should adopt business-to-business e-marketing:

1. When you can’t afford to sell what you are selling.
   
   Often times the price points for new digital and print advertising offerings are so low they can’t justify the expense of personal, face-to-face selling. News media companies already use “inside” sales (phone) staff to reach out to small businesses with targeted advertising opportunities, but reaching business people at their businesses during the day can be difficult, time consuming, and expensive.
   
   E-marketing provides a low-cost option for reaching prospective advertisers with messages sent from assigned inside sales staff. In addition to providing contact information for inside sales staff, messages include links to landing pages, where advertisers can request additional information or purchase advertising packages. Information requests are immediately sent to inside sales staff for follow-up.
   
   E-marketing provides news media companies the opportunity to “blend” cold calling with qualified online leads to improve inside sales results and lower cost per advertising order.
   
   
2. They use digital to buy digital.
   
   Small businesses are actively searching online for ways to grow their businesses and there is no shortage of advertising options available.
   
   News media companies need to use digital to sell digital, yet few companies have created advertising portals that provide prospects with an overview of print and digital advertising products and services. Others have created advertising portals but have failed to actively promote those sites on an ongoing basis. How many times have your sales reps been asked: “Can you share a URL?”
   
   Creating an up-to-date advertising portal with current print and digital products and multiple response options is just the first step. Targeting small businesses with relevant information with links back to the advertising portal on an ongoing basis to drive traffic and response is the critical ongoing step for generating qualified advertising leads at a lower cost.
   
   
3. You have to walk the talk.
   
   There is no better way to build credibility for your advertising channels and platforms than to use them to market your own products and services. The goal is to be asked: “Can you do that for my business?”
   
   Integrating e-marketing into your existing advertising sales process provides the opportunity to match limited resources where they’ll generate the greatest return on investment. Business-to-business e-marketing provides the capability to time and target advertising sales messages across channels (phone, postal mail, e-mail, advertiser portals) and drive the volume of lower value transactions at a lower cost to generate profitable revenue.

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