Social Media Uses for Successful Traditional Media Sales – The Globe and Mail Newspaper

In May 2012, I was asked to present opportunities for traditional media sales people (newspaper media sales, digital media sales and integrated media sales) at The Globe & Mail Newspaper, to use social media to gain competitive insights and increase sales revenue and volume of inventory sold.

While most of the professional sales people I presented to have been in media sales, and even with The Globe and Mail for many years (I worked with them previously as a media agency buyer), they were almost all new to the idea that individually they could use social media to support increased media sales achievements:

• gain insights about client brands and their competitors through their social media communities
• develop closer professional relationships with the media buyers at agencies by “friending” them on Facebook and participating in their professional social media activities on LinkedIn and Twitter
• identify and present insights to media buyers to allocate client budgets to support app launches

The first two points are pretty basic social media use – part of preparing for a sales call so that you can be successful in consultative sales is to know everything about your proposed purchase brands and their competitive marketplace pressures.

Using social media to develop a closer relationship with media buyers at ad agencies is also a basic activity, just like throwing launch parties or taking buyers out for lunch > the more time you can spend with them, the more you develop a professional relationship of trust, that the buyer also enjoys, the more time they’ll have for you and the more valuable constructive feedback they’ll have when you want their time for a media sales pitch.

The third point is the one that really excited me > most brands and businesses who spend millions annually on advertising media are also planning to, have already, or are at least considering the value of creating their own branded mobile app. Most app development budgets are significant and they take months to produce (since the brand already spends millions annually on media space, channels), but unfortunately they also subscribe to the incorrect belief that “if you build it they will come”.

Regardless of how much you invest in building your app or how much existing brand equity, or marketplace dominance you have, you still MUST invest in marketing your app in order for it to be deemed a success > achieving a minimum number of downloads and users.

It was during my research for the presentation that I found this valuable infographic that triggered the opportunity thinking for me > how many client brands are investing in app production but not marketing? In order to launch successfully, any brand, product or service would need awareness and marketing support, and traditional media despite diminishing profits still pack a powerful marketing punch, for those clients who can afford the cost of advertising space.

App Marketing Success – “Wake Up Call” Infographic

Here is the slideshow of the presentation I created for The Globe and Mail, through the digital marketing expert training professional Maura Hanley of Big Reach Learning.

What do you think? Do you know of any apps that have launched successfully with ZERO dedicated marketing support either through a community manager or traditional advertising media & campaign purchase?