By  Dean Horowitz

https://www.pubexec.com/post/trade-print-dollars-for-digital-lincolns-by-rethinking-ad-value-engagement

 

For the past decade, or more, we have listened to so many media executives say, "I can't afford to  trade print dollars for digital dimes." And that sentiment, my friends, is why traditional media companies are going out of business.

Then there are publishers who have embraced digital, but only as a means to retain print advertising dollars, not as a robust revenue stream in its own right.  "The dollars are in print and not digital. " Digital should never be viewed as a "value-add." Access to an audience, in a trusted environment, is not worthy of being "value-add." I've witnessed publishers have more concern over their print share of market than the long-term viability of their business.

How to Value Digital Ads

How do you trade "print dollars for digital Lincolns?" It is more straightforward than you may realize.

1. Take your CPM for print. Subtract your printing/postage/production costs. Use that number as your digital CPM starting point. If you are only reposting print stories, then lower it more because the model isn't delivering your audience unique content for the digital experience.
2. Review the performance of each of your digital ad positions. The highest performing ad position is the highest cost (a percentage above the determined CPM), and then lower the CPM by performance from there. Just because a leaderboard is easiest to sell by your sales team - "it's adjacent to our brand" - doesn't mean it deserves the highest CPM. Performance is what matters.

If it works, advertisers will buy more. If it doesn't work, you will quickly know and move your client's ad spend to the areas that do. And then, the client will escalate that spend for years to come. I have made this argument for over a decade, yet I have experienced a lot of pushback from sales associates.

The counter-arguments: "Advertising is about ego, not performance." "Sell digital based on leasing agreements for space." "Sell 1/3 of the rotation and don't make it complicated by linking spending to deliverables." "Don't provide analytics; if you force us to, they will never buy from us again!" "Our CPM is $10 because Google ads are cheap so ours should be, too." What!!!

Digital advertising is about connecting with a specific audience, the level of engagement that occurs, and the action they take as a result. That hasn't changed. Pick up a 1950s direct marketing book, and you will read the same point.

I encourage you to resist the objections you may face internally or else face a dire fate. The companies I've heard make these objections, have either been sold for "digital dimes," filed for bankruptcy, or folded.

Sell Digital Ads Based on Engagement

An advertising dollar spent must yield a clear ROI. But so many publishers justify ad spend like this:  "If you want to speak to engineers, you need to speak to their interests. Our staff knows how to speak to engineers because they have been serving them valuable content for 50 years. "