“OMG YouTube is so awesome.

Why don’t agencies give us more money?”

@markpollardMy digital lives here: http://www.markpollard.net

Now with the bonus, limited-time only cursory tale:

How not to sell to a strategist

So if you’re so awesome why is

it so hard?This is not a rhetorical question

Why should they choose you?

Well, answer this:

This is not a rhetorical question either

The typical online display sales pitch

1. Lots of engaged users (yes, in the content – not ads)

2. Slightly different formats (well, sort of)

3. We have an email database – put a banner in our EDM

4. Because we like you we’ll throw in millions of impressions

5. Here are case studies of banners that beat the industry average

6. X% of time is spent online so give us X% of your budget

I don’t believe in online display advertising

The big issue with this sales pitch

and I’m not alone(although I am being slightly dramatic)

Many people were surprised that you were

becoming like them

So, when YouTube recently unveiled new advertising options

What them does really well

1. Mates with the media agency CEOs – since they were kids

2. Big, annual deals with discounts and pocket money

3. Sometimes, global deals even (eg Bing)

4. Lunches

5. Helps them hit numbers with one buy (ie makes it easy)

6. Dinners

7. Gives them adequate performance

In other words

They understand what makes people tick

People will choose the option that most easily

delivers adequate business results with maximum

personal benefits

And to complicate things

The agency world is nowat its most complicated

And the big challenge

The ultimate decision-maker is the client but they nearly always only make decisions based on what’s presented to

them by the media agency

What I’d do if I was you(which I’m not - just in case you were wondering)

1

Get closer to clients without putting the agencies offside

* (business vested interest: deals and relationships) *

* (personal vested interest: being the smartest in the room) *

2

Get closer to the agencies – but it will take time and

possibly a different culture

3

Make it easier to buy both more and more effective placements on the web

(You do this already though, right? Through one contact point?)

4

Show how your brand uniquely benefits brands – and isn’t just a cool brand

for a marketer to buy

5

Own the elephant in the room: talk about the

best mix of PAID and UNPAID involvement

with YouTube

6Even better than the previous point:

Provide bigger solutions for online content or online video out of YouTube

(eg video syndication)

7

Prove against competitors that money on YouTube leads to better outcomes

8

Create different advertising models – the ones we’d

expect from Google

9

If you can’t do any of the other points then you have

to win on value

“OMG YouTube is so awesome.

Why don’t agencies give us more money?”

My answer

There isn’t currently a compelling business or personal reason to give you more money

So, if we started here:

1. Get closer

2. Show tangible brand & results benefit

3. Differentiate with models and formats

4. Stop faking about unpaid: it’s sampling!

5. Otherwise: win on value

What I’d do about it

And now…

How not to sell to a strategist

Strategy at its simplest is an informed and measurable point of

view (opinion, even) about where a company needs to go in the future

(not always to go brilliantly)

At a high level, in the agency world

Brand strategy Channel strategyWhat a brand is about

and for whomHow a brand behaves and how people can

interact with it

Brand strategy at its simplest takes something unique and motivating about a brand

and connects it to a human insight (an unspoken human truth)

so that people relate to the brand and feel they need its products

Brand strategy

Problem

AudienceGoal

Insight

Proposition & Proof

Creative idea

Back to the point

How not to sell to a strategist

Answer: Sell to a strategist

What we needRelevant and local statistics

Case studies

Really creative examples (that worked and are affordable) for the creative teams

Help managing the ‘newness’ of it all with clients

A reason for the media agency to recommend it

More marketers talking about it marketers convince other marketers better than anyone else

I’m finished now

But my opinions live on at @markpollard and www.markpollard.net