New challenges in ad sales

In 2023, more than 7,500 magazines are listed in the American advertising industry’s reference source, SRDS — 2,839 consumer magazines and 3,814 business publications.   Magazines produced by associations may fall into either category.  The Elliott Company sells advertising and sponsorships for publishers in all three of these categories.  We are reminded daily that no one sales approach can work for all of them.

Today, in the US, and I suspect around the world, selling advertising and sponsorship has become much more complicated than ever before, requiring more skills and more knowledge than just a few years ago.  The proliferation of advertising vehicles can be overwhelming to advertising sales teams unless they are constantly learning and evolving. 

Competitors are no longer limited to similar media and categories.  Magazine publishers must compete for dollars not only with other magazines but also with other mediums; newsletters, podcasts, video, social media, other digital products, and in-person events such as exhibitions, conferences, and summits. 

There are many ways to reach a buyer of goods and services today, and astute salespeople learn as much as they can about all of them.  Many publishers have broadened their offerings to include additional opportunities.  Of course, sellers need to understand how to compete against elements introduced by other media brands. Sellers must know how all the opportunities created by publishers they represent can work together to maximize value to advertisers and sponsors. 

There are so many ways to reach buyers — and so many different sellers representing them — that potential advertisers can be overwhelmed and distracted. Sellers must ask questions and listen so that they fully understand exactly the marketer’s goals and the best vehicles to help them reach those goals.  

One of the most effective approaches our sales teams offer is brand studio work.  Advertising is tailored to fit the content in which it appears.  Some publishers allow their editorial staff to work with advertisers; others have different writers.  The key is for the marketing product developed in the brand studio to mesh with the editorial. 

Selling advertising has gotten more complicated, and it promises to become even more so.  Artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, just now becoming popular, will allow mass customization of outreach.  A recent white paper by the data company MediaRadar points out that artificial intelligence will dramatically multiply the number of advertisers a sales team can contact.  The benefit is that AI will reduce the time required by ad sellers to do their preparation for marketers and agencies.  The downside is that every competitor will have access to similar tools and the volume of “relevant” messages aimed at each marketer and agency will grow exponentially.

Successful sales organizations will need to find answers to challenges like artificial intelligence, just as they are finding solutions to the problem of proliferation of advertising and sponsorship opportunities.  Publishers will need to hire salespeople with the curiosity and motivation to stay abreast of constant innovation and the skill sets that enable them to sell in the changing environment. 

As Rishad Tobaccowala, Senior Advisor to Publicis Groupe says, “the future will not fit the containers of the past”.  Nothing could be truer in the world of advertising sales.

Jim Elliott, President, James G Elliott & Co., will be speaking at the Indian Magazine Congress. IMC is all set for a comeback as the flagship event of the Association of Indian Magazines. It is slated to be organised on March 24th at the Oberoi, New Delhi.