You are trying to sell Sponsored, Paid, Native, Special Promotion–it’s all the same thing.
To add to the confusion, there are SO many kinds of paid content published now that it’s sometimes hard to know which ones will generate the most revenue for your advertising clients. So how do you determine the right paid content strategies to offer? And how do you then sell them on it?
The most important thing to keep in mind is that sponsored content sales success is all about execution and approach!
Here’s how you do it:
- Setup a clear path for execution.
- Help the advertiser understand the path to ROI.
The plan: Since paid content is all about execution, determine the answers to these questions before you sit down with your client:
- What are the client’s specific goals with paid content?
- What are you going to offer to meet those goals?
- How can you keep it simple and measurable?
- Can your production work-flow handle it?
The approach: You are helping them capture audience share and giving them the opportunity to position themselves as thought leaders in your niche.
Work to come up with some new ideas that they haven’t tried. For example, you can get creative with online product pavilions, or even a related or themed products page. Marry this product feature with an email blast and several FB posts. Another idea is to create a sponsored video page with several helpful, interesting videos that engage your readers.
Even if your clients have not tried paid content before, you can work with them to develop a winning strategy. And because you are helping the client understand the clear path to ROI, always identify the tactics on one simple sheet. Here’s an example:
Paid Content Plan for RazrMag.com
- Up to three sponsored articles on RazrMag.com. (We can help you write the article.)
- Lead gen form on the article. Leads sent to you weekly.
- Your article featured on the main page of RazrMag.com.
- Your article will live on RazrMag.com forever.
- Three Facebook posts to promote your article.
- Two mentions in our weekly eNewsletter.
-Total Exposure: 175,000 impressions
So get creative, spell it out clearly and show your client good examples of paid content on your website. Expert execution and a solid approach are the key to your sales success!
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More about Ryan: Ryan is the President and founder of Brain Swell Media and 360 Ad Sales Training, a boutique internet revenue consulting firm with a detailed focus on ad sales training, internet consulting and media revenue generation. He is an award winning ad sales training coach, international business speaker and the author of the best selling ad sales book, Selling Backwards.
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