Ask any 10 media buyers what their biggest problem is with ad networks, and at least seven of them will tell you that networks are undifferentiated from one another, and that their biggest problem is telling them apart with respect to what they do.
Networks can take up different positionings, be known for certain superstars on their sales staff, and have aspirations for being the market leaders in one thing or another. But when an RFP is ready to go out the door, if you decide to send it to one network, you might as well send it to 50.
I have a handful of networks that I believe are good for fulfilling certain strategic roles for clients, based on past experience and a belief that there is something distinct about their ad offerings. The rest of them might as well use their company names interchangeably.
This means that for the ad networks currently swimming in the sea of "me too," there is just one thing that is capable of making one company seem different from another -- service.
It would be easier, and even preferable from where I sit, to be able to tell networks apart by the quality of their technology, or by their approach to addressing certain types of marketing challenges. But for the vast majority of the networks, it comes back to service.
Service is most important when it comes to fulfilling RFPs. The agency and advertiser have a legitimate need and are putting money on the table to address it. I don't want to re-hash the common arguments around the typical agency RFP process -- it's counterproductive. What I do want to say is that networks really need to shine, and there are a few things they can do in order to stand apart through their service.
Many agency RFPs have a tight timeline. Much of the time, network partners (and even the agency) don't fully understand everything that is going on behind the scenes. There is a marketing challenge, and various marketing-related disciplines might be in competition to address it. PR, sales promotion, advertising, social media -- many disciplines might be struggling to put an approach to paper, and possibly using an even wider array of agency and consulting resources in order to do so. If the timelines are tight for a digital RFP, it might be because TV buyers can put together a plan to address the challenge in a single afternoon, and in order to get serious consideration the digital approach needs to be considered within the same timeframe.
While RFPs are going out and proposals are coming in, here's how networks can deliver superior service:
- Acknowledge that you've received the RFP, and that you're aware of the deadline. If you wait too long to say "message received," you might get frantic calls from assistant planners who are looking to clarify which networks are going to be able to respond. This pulls them away from other things they could be doing in order to flesh out the idea.
- If the RFP offers up insight into strategy and tactics, please read it. I've put out RFPs and taken time to explain what we're trying to do for the client, and received responses that made it clear the network sales team didn't read what I wrote. The information is there to make sure nobody wastes time going down the wrong strategic path. Ignore it at your own risk.
- If you can't fulfill, tell the agency. I have great respect for network sales people who call or send email right after they've read an RFP to tell me that they're not going to be able to put together a compelling response and why. I've also had sales people try to hammer a square peg into a round hole. Guess which approach works better for everyone concerned?
In the end, if it all comes down to service for your ad network, you really need to deliver. And there's no better time to deliver than during the RFP process.
Tom Hespos is the chairman and president of Underscore Marketing and blogs at Hespos.com.
On Twitter? Follow Tom at @THespos1 or @_MarketingLLC. Follow iMedia Connection at @iMediaTweet.
