Growing numbers of media companies are choosing to streamline their operations by implementing self-service ad portal technology. As the industry landscape continues to become more complex, publishers are turning to self-service solutions to increase efficiencies in their business and deliver an enhanced customer experience for advertisers.
If you’re on the fence about whether this technology is right for your organization, these 5 signs can signal that it’s time to adopt a self-service solution.
You’re looking for quick wins in cost and time savings.
Empowering your customers to book their own classified and display ads with you through a self-service portal eliminates the need for your staff to oversee this work. This speeds up the process for your customers and drives savings for your business.
Selling directly to advertisers through a self-service portal automates manual work such as creating and sending insertion orders, and even eliminates the need for communication around ad placements. This reduces your administrative costs related to ad bookings, ultimately decreasing your average cost of sale.
You need to be more competitive with Google and/or Facebook.
Search and social content conglomerate giants Google and Facebook continue to dominate the digital advertising market. While this may concern you as a publisher, there are steps you can take to remain competitive, including implementing a self-service ad portal.
One of the reasons marketers sometimes prefer big tech is that it’s simple to book PPC ads through platforms such as Google Ads. Offering your customers a self-service option makes it easier to do business with you and makes you a more valuable advertising partner.
Many of your advertising orders are single advertisements.
Investing in a self-service ad portal could be a smart idea for your business if many of your current customers book small campaigns or standalone ads with you. These single ad placements are often low value, but bear a high administrative cost.
This also applies to customers who book a single set of creative that runs multiple times. A self-service ad portal can easily automate these types of campaigns.
You want to prioritize large, multichannel accounts and campaigns
If your sales reps are currently managing many small accounts, implementing a self-service solution can free up their time to get into the field and begin courting large brands who could bring longer term or more complex accounts to your roster.
It will always be important to provide excellent service to all of your clients, including smaller customers. However, the reality is that it takes the same amount of time for a sales rep to steward a large account as it does a small one. Self-service ad portals drive automation and efficiency so that sales teams can focus on the customers who bring in the most revenue.
Your customers have asked for one
While digital advertising teams are especially accustomed to booking their own advertising, all customers can benefit from the self-service model, where they have direct access to their campaigns for maximum control and flexibility.
Convenience is a major benefit to the self-service model because it allows customers to book and manage campaigns anytime. This is especially important if you have customers in different time zones, because it enables you to be open for business 24/7, rather than requiring your customers to plan around your team’s availability.
Getting started with self-service
If you want to explore this technology further, check out Lineup Systems’ Ad2order product. This solution provides advertisers with customizable branding and ads, templates, automation, and options for upgrades and packages. Your customers will have real-time access to account information and discounts, and they’ll also be able to view audience segments, target by location, choose when they want their ads to run, view budget information, and pay directly in the portal.
