Beyond the Lunch n’ Learn: Next Steps to Building a Relationship

In the digital industry, the main way to sell your site and offering is to set-up a brief meeting or a classic lunch n’ learn. As you walk away from the meeting, quite often you are feeling good and can already see the RFP’s coming throughYyyyy, but then you ask yourself, “what’s next?” At Centro, we usually meet with 10-15 different publishers nationwide each week, so we have seen it all. For that reason, I wanted to share a few tips on what to do after the meeting.

Follow-up within 24 hours after the meeting
You just met with the team and your offering is fresh in their minds, so let’s expand on what was presented. Follow-up as soon as you can with supporting material, including unique case studies, media-kits, site-lists, one-sheeters and a competitive analysis to showcase how you stand out against others. Also, agencies might have other offices across the country so feel free to send an introduction to your counterpart in other markets to keep the communication open.

Touch base quarterly
Planners typically receive emails all day long, which is why publishers need to respect their inbox. Reaching out quarterly is the way to go. Within the context of the email, tailor it to the agency or client and include an attention-grabbing update or a new product offering. Do not send a generic email asking “Do you have any RFP’s for me?” or “Is anything coming through the pipeline?” These types of emails just end-up in the trash folder.  To expand your relationships, reach out to a planner you have worked with before and try to set-up a call or short meeting and encourage them to bring another coworker. This way, you can grow your audience.

Be a thought leader first, seller second
At Centro, we have over 15,000 publisher partners. So how does one stand out against the others? They stand out by offering knowledge and insight into the particular digital landscape they specialize in. By being a thought leader in your vertical, whether it is mobile, video, local, social etc., you will let peers and colleagues view you as a resource beyond the media you are selling. Showcase that you are a leader by sending out whitepapers or distinctive industry articles or by leading an educational webinar.

Ask questions
Beyond the day to day that is digital media buying/selling, we all want to learn and grow together to have a stronger, united industry. Agencies are your partners, so feel to ask what trends they are seeing from their clients, what has been successful in the past and what hasn’t. In return, take the insight you gather from these conversations and bring it back to your team to help develop potential new offerings and products.

At Centro, the Publisher Relations team is here as a resource for you. So please feel free to contact publishers@centro.net if you have any questions.