How to approach potential advertiser

advertiser is present on competitor website, how to approach?

[zoltan]

Company A is advertising on Site A, which has the same content as Site B (MySite).
I would like to approach Company A and offer them advertising (banners, CPM, CPC, newsletter ads, etc.) on my site. What is the best way to approach the advertiser? E-Mail? Phone? Fax?
If e-mail, are there any standard e-mails I can use and customize?

Any feedback is appreciated.

[figment88]

Depends on scope - you talking $20, $20,000 or somewhere in-between?

For small things, I usally just send an email - "I noticed you were advertising on site blah blah blah."

For larger items, I get on the phone.

Note, though, even these highly targeted, very-specific emails will likely be considered SPAM by the recent wave of legislation. You could find yourself liable for criminal and civil penalties.

[jim_w]

And if you phone, make sure you check the DO NOT CALL list.

[zoltan]

No, I'm not talking about $20-25 banners. I'm talking about 500,000 impressions / month on a B2B network. What is the best approach in this case?

[figment88]

phone

[ytswy]

Definately phone. If possible, try to find out who the person is who would be responsible for the decision and ask for them by name (not "the marketing manager" or "the owner"), you're much more likely to get reults that way.

If the phone doesn't work then a letter might be worth a try, again personally addressed if possible.

[zoltan]

OK, phone... but how to offer our services? Can anybody explain a simple process like:

1. Start talking about your site.
2. Talk about traffic.
3. Offer a free or discounted period of advertising (?)
4. Convince them about the endless possibilities by advertising through your website...
etc.

Maybe some kind of ebook would help me more. :)

[figment88]

As ytswy points out do some homework to find the right person. Once you find the right person, cut to the chase - "I notice you advertise on {INSERT COMPETITORS WEBSITE}, so I wanted to see if I could get you to spend some of your budget on {INSERT OWN WEBSITE}. Are you familiar with {INSERT OWN WEBSITE}?"

Notice you ask a simple question right away that people won't have a problem answering. This begins to establish rapport. Since you are in a specific industry that they advertise in, chances are they are already familiar with your website. This provides a great lead-in to discussing its advantages - "You're probably aware then that {INSERT OWN WEBSITE} is a leader in the field of {INSERT INDUSTRY} in fact we are the {NUMBER 1 VISITED WEBSITE, TOP RANK IN GOOGLE, ETC.}.

One thing to watch out for - if you are in a very specific industry than they might be advertising on your competitors site because the person you are talking to is a buddy of the site owner. Careful not to give away too much info about your site if it doesn't lo9ok like they might buy.

[Tigrou]

After you phone decision-maker at Company A you'll need to follow up with information by email. This email should include docs (or links to docs) that (s)he can print out to hold in their hand while they think about this. They also probably need this to properly justify their new budget allocation to their management during weekly meetings.

What kindof thing are we talking about?
Case studies of sucessful advertisers (get approval first)
Testimonials from happy advertisers
Key Statistics in easy to read format on one page (don't include your specific client names - unprofessional)

Makes decision-makers' life easier, and increases your chance of a sale.