How to Sell Local Advertising

Local advertising requires a knowledge of the local demographics.

Local advertising attempts to reach a specific market demographic in a defined location. For corporate advertisers this could mean expanding into markets that they have yet to penetrate. For local advertisers, the focus is less on market penetration and more on effectiveness. When selling local advertising keep these two dichotomies in mind.

Things You'll Need

• Phone Book
• Information Kit
• Sales Team

Instructions

Goals and Preparation

1. Firm up your sales budget and set your target sales goal. Familiarize yourself with the media you will be selling. Create a plan for the next six months to a year. You'll need to know the amount of selling required and devise a strategy for achieving your goals. Determine fees and layout specifications.

2. Create a media kit, information kit or brochure that explains your project or publication in detail. Detail the demographic make-up of the persons you intend to reach, the frequency of your publication and lay out the fees and dimensions available. Highlight the benefits of using your advertising avenue, such as the income of the demographic group. In "Media Selling," Charles Warner says local advertisers "do not have a high degree of price sensitivity. They do have a high degree of results sensitivity."

3. Review other publications and see what industries are advertising with them. Develop a list of prospects. J-Learning, an arm of American University School's of Communication in Washington, D.C., advises: "From here, you'll want to qualify the list by focusing on those that have a marketing budget and are open to applying it" to your medium.

4. Scroll through the phone book for other ideal candidates. Start with the candidates who have larger advertisements in the phone book.

5. Hire a staff of sales professionals. Recruit them on commission if you if you can't afford to hire them on salary. Commission will help to motivate them to give their full effort.

Making the Offer

1. Send your prospects an introductory email or letter. Grab their attention by telling them exactly what they can get by advertising with you versus other sources. Advertising analyst Ed Baron of Ed Baron Associates says his evaluation of advertising mediums on frequency, reach, efficiency, environment, and behavior showed that "focusing on value rather than price gives newspapers an unbeatable advantage over every other medium."

   Ask your prospective clients if you can send them your media kit.

2. Send the prospect your information kit. Follow-up with an initial sales call. Prompt the customer to tell you what advertising strategies he is most interested in. Use his own words to transition into a conversation that allows you to present the benefits of using your advertising avenue. In "Media Selling," Charles Warner says, "On the first call it is more important to develop rapport with your prospects and show them that you care about them and their business."

3. Offer your advertising project as a solution and then ask for the sale. Offer rebuttals to any rejections and remain open to creative solutions, such as using a space that you hadn't designated for advertising. Give the customer instructions on how to take advantage of your offer. Once the deal is closed, schedule a follow-up to ensure the customer follows through with her commitment.

4. Follow-up with the prospect with a polite phone call if he has yet to follow through with sending payment or filling out any materials you've sent him. If he has already fulfilled his part of the agreement, follow-up with a thank you note. Include incentive offers for future advertising..

References

• Media Selling: Television, Print, Internet, Radio; Charles Warner; 2009
• J-Learning; Selling Advertising
• American Press Institute; Know Thine Enemy: How Radio, Cable, and Broadcast Television sell Advertising

Resources

• Media Now: Understanding Media, Culture, and Technology; Joseph Straubhaar, Robert LaRose; 2008