Last week, we released a free whitepaper titled, “Local Media Sales 2020: Platforms, Profits or People?” written by our own Greg Sterling with Neal Polachek, industry observer at vSplash. Greg and Neal discuss the importance of restructuring and innovating around sales and sales automation today. They believe that traditional media companies that fail to do this will see a further erosion of market share tomorrow.
The report also features a variety of opinions on the topic from executives in the space. Regardless of the precise mix of people, data and platforms, the report finds that movement and change are essential. You can download a copy of the report for free by clicking here.
Here are some highlights from the report:
- Shifts in consumer behavior and advertiser demand, along with intensifying competition and pressure from investors, have compelled local media companies to focus increasingly on digital sales.
- Automation, data and technology will continue to expand and play a larger role in sales over the next five years, with “self-service” gaining a larger share of the SMB market.
- Because of bad experiences, dubious claims and often unfulfilled expectations, trust has become a major issue in local media and marketing sales.
- Potential avenues of differention include brand, trusted relationships, industry knowledge and specialization, trusted supplier, provider of core operational services, and pricing.
- Skilled sales and service professionals will remain essential, to manage the processes and relationships that are difficult or impossible to automate.
Be sure to check back next Friday for our next edition of Top 5 Local Ad Stats of the Week. Have a great weekend!