Introduction
One of the most exciting aspects of our current media environment is the number and quality of "emerging media" platforms that are being launched -- new media with the capacity to drive real change in the way brands connect with audiences and tell their stories.
But if one of these incredible new opportunities is your brainchild, or if you work on the team of one of these platforms -- or even if you're a marketer looking to encourage a brand's adoption of a new, promising platform -- you know it can be a real challenge to get the people with ad dollars to engage with emerging media. Indeed, whenever two or more people from emerging media companies get together, there's usually some discussion about how difficult it can be to make planners and buyers break old habits and try new things. "They want innovative, yet proven," is a commonly heard sentiment.
I'd like to offer a different interpretation of the buying environment. When I talk with people in the planning and buying community, I hear that they are very anxious to experiment; what they find challenging is that most emerging media companies expect them to do the heavy lifting required to forge a business relationship. I asked a few buyers about this issue, and the responses I received were very consistent:
- "They expect me to accommodate them. It's like they are trying to make it difficult for me to work with them."
- "They pitch at me instead of listening and responding to what I need."
- "Many try to change the chessboard, introducing some weird new way to buy, or a new payment model, or a proprietary reporting platform. It's not that I don't like ideas, but it shouldn't be my job to make their job easier. They are selling to me."
Naturally, it is any buyer's responsibility to capitalize on great opportunities as they become available. That's why clients engage with agencies. But it is also critical that an emerging media company understand buyer needs and accommodate them as part of the selling and account management processes. And for marketers who would like to see their brand buy into an emerging platform, they need to evaluate prospective vendors' business processes to ensure smooth integration with broader company and campaign goals.
With that in mind, here are seven ways that emerging media platforms (and the marketers urging their adoption) can succeed in getting more consideration from the folks with money to spend.
