Media Partners
This is a platform that allows small and medium sized business, across the nation, to buy pre-packaged radio, TV, direct mail, newspaper and other local, traditional, and online media packages via our media marketplace.
"A web based vending machine for ALL local advertising, not just online."
Many media companies won’t even consider investing in a sales effort when it comes to millions of small companies simply because the companies are so small that the investment doesn’t justify the effort. The small companies may not spend a lot on an individual basis. They may be hard to get meetings with. There are a number of good reasons why an internal, direct-sales strategy just can't be cost-justified.
However, collectively, these small businesses could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in "new business" to media companies who would like to crack the code on selling to them in a cost effective manner.
We have built the InstantExpert(sm) platform to bridge the gap between effective SMB (Small and Medium Business) sales and meaningful ROI (Return on Investment) for media companies small and large.
What is it? A Way to Buy Advertising That Makes it Simple For Buyer and Seller:
InstantExpert(sm) Inc. provides a cost effective, new sales channel for media companies to sell pre-configured advertising packages through our Trade Association Partners who represent thousands of industry-specific SMBs (small and medium businesses) members on a local, state, and nationwide basis.
Our Media Marketplace allows Media Companies and Advertising Agencies to showcase their pre-packaged advertising proposals to these SMBs in such a way as to allow them to actually make their purchase directly, from you, online, through our web-based platform, much the same way they have learned to manage their online banking, shop for loans, or order office supplies.
Your Advertising Reach, Our Customer Relationship and Lead Processing Services.
InstantExpert(sm) combines your advertising tools with our CRM (customer relationship management) system, response tracking, inbound call-center for call processing and appointment setting services, to create the world's first end-to-end, Ad-purchasing and management platform for SMBs.
Trade Associations: The Missing Link Between SMB Ad Sales and True Media ROI:
Trade associations are staffed, and resourced to provide legislative and educational services for their members. However, members often look to them for business development and marketing direction as well. Most can only respond with poll and research data, and perhaps, occasional editorial content.
When it comes to individual member advertising strategies, budgets, creative design or measurement recommendations, associations are simply not capable to assist their SMBs, leaving SMBs on their own to decipher what little data they can find and to take action on that data by themselves.
"Turn-Key" Business Development Services:
InstantExpert understands that when it comes to advertising, one size doesn't fit all. For example, a media mix that works for a chiropractor may be very different than what works for a mortgage broker, auto dealer, or pest control company.
The InstantExpert(sm) system is powered with industry-specific expertise culled from trade organization assisted research, category marketing experts, media partner recommendations and our peer-reviewed Ad campaign & creative strategies, resulting in media-mix and budget strategies preconfigured and developed with the highest probability for effectiveness for participating members.
All of this advance work is done by InstantExpert (sm) at no charge to members, Trade Associations, or Media Partners.
How Media Sales Departments Can Participate:
The Request for Proposal (RFP) Stage. You may soon receive an RFP from us, consisting of two parts;
1.Targets: Customer profiles based on household level data filtered in such a way as to create for our Media Partners a list of Industry Specific Consumer Targets established through Trade Association member-level research. (Likely based on the Claritas Prizim system or similar data mining technology)
2.Offer Suggestions: Since you are requested to offer complete media packages, your proposal will need to link your advertising to an industry-specific offer. Realizing that traditionally, this is most often provided by the individual advertiser, we have created Offer Suggestion Templates for you to use as a guideline when packaging an offer for sale on our platform.
Complete details will be contained in the actual RFP; however, it will be common for media partner packages to contain the following elements:
•"Ready to go" Creative: Turn-key, offer-based, and not requiring customization. You will need to provide for us an actual example of the piece they will purchase. (Simple concept for a direct mail house or publication perhaps, however, search engine marketers, and other non-traditional advertising companies will work with our Industry Producers by vertical to define creative example methodology.)
•Target Audience or Mailing List logic description/strategy: Based on the target audience information described in the RFP, and keeping in mind the offers typical of the specific industry, how have you packaged your offer to best insure a positive response to your audience or mailing list recommendation? We will need you to describe this in the way your salesperson might. (For search marketing companies, email marketing companies, and other online media sellers: Which keywords might be used on which search engines covering what geographic territory or radius? What day parts are recommended? Ad copy approach Etc.)
•Offer Description: Understanding that all Advertising Packages will be created to drive response based on a Specific Offer (of your choosing or using any of our suggested offers contained in the RFP), you will also be asked to provide a Consumer-perspective text description of the offer. (Again, for print-based media companies, this can simply be a variation of the copy found in the Advertising Piece itself. Search marketing and other non-traditional media companies will need to stretch a little here and consider the offer text a consumer will see after the click or when visiting our custom landing pages for more information, as we will use this copy to create "Living Landing Pages" online for each campaign purchased by every advertiser.)
Revenue share for Associations:
Just as they do now, these business owners will purchase the advertising they select directly from participating media companies, but they do so through our online interface.
In an effort to fully engage our Trade Association partners in the active marketing of this service to its members, we have established a Co-Op Marketing Fund that our Media Partners are required to participate in. Unlike the traditional advertising agency rate of 15% (or more) we waive any claim to agency commissions from our Media Partners and require instead that at the co-op commission of just 3% of advertising purchased by association members (if qualified) be paid to the participating Trade Association.
In order to remain eligible to receive these co-op funds, InstantExpert (sm) Industry Producers monitor association outbound marketing and promotional efforts provided by association for our platform, on a regular basis, insuring that our media partner packages receive the highest degree of participation attention that can be expected.
Our Revenue Model:
InstantExpert(sm) only charges a fee when the advertising you sell to our members produces a call or inbound request for more information (Web, Email, Instant Message, Etc.). Obviously enough, we call this a lead.
Our fees for this service, depending on the particular industry, can include;
•Appointment setting,
•Credit application processing,
•And complete customer relationship management input services.
We average $7.00 per lead processed. Additionally, given our unique position of being the sole lead-processor for inquiries produced by all media channels for an individual client, we also provide complete advertising performance tracking and reporting based on the one metric that really matters to direct response advertisers - the actual cost per lead.
Summary:
Utilizing InstantExpert's (sm) Ad Management System as a new sales channel for your media provides you with:
•A very low-touch pre and post sales environment
•Reduced commission fees as compared to traditional adverting agency relationships
•Zero friction, no-cost access to new business channels
•A highly scalable solution through the use of pre-packaged media solutions that enable you to
create hundreds or thousands of new contracts with zero variation. This final service allows our
Media Partners the luxury of viewing our clients as very low-touch pre and post sales
opportunity.
2008 Local Advertising Sales: Report Supports Need for Local Media Companies to Develop More Efficient Sales Channels to Stay Competitive.
"Next year will be a perplexing one for local media companies trying to tackle the Web.
Most yellow pages publishers, cable companies, newspapers,
radio stations and TV stations are still pinning their hopes on their traditional sales reps being able sell online ad packages.
But there is increasing evidence to support the idea that a greater investment in an independent
online sales force will be necessary to continue the growth these properties have enjoyed for the past few years.
The growth rates for most
local media operators have slipped well below the overall growth rate for local online ad buys – which means these properties are losing market share.
Much of that share is being captured by pure-play Internet companies hungry for the growth they see in the local market, although they are seeing
benefits to partnering with local media companies to supplement their own efforts.
InstantExpert(sm) Solves This Issue for Traditional Media Companies in a Way No Other Service Can do.



