Radio media sellers are always looking for ways to help advertisers get more from their marketing budgets. One often overlooked source of funds for many local businesses is co-op advertising.<\/p>\n
Co-op advertising programs allow manufacturers, brands, distributors, and other organizations to share advertising costs with local dealers, retailers and service providers. Depending on the program, a brand may reimburse a local advertiser for a portion of qualifying advertising expenses.<\/p>\n
For radio sellers, these funds can create an appealing proposition. Instead of asking an advertiser to simply increase their budget, the seller can help the business identify funds that may allow it to advertise more aggressively without bearing the entire additional cost.<\/p>\n
Co-op Funds Can Stretch Advertiser Budgets<\/p>\n
Budget pressure remains a challenge for local advertisers. Businesses have more media choices than ever, while marketing dollars must also compete with rising operating costs.<\/p>\n
Co-op funds can change that conversation.<\/p>\n
Imagine a local business has $5,000 available for a campaign. If a manufacturer\u2019s co-op program reimburses 50% of qualifying advertising costs, the advertiser could potentially run a $7,500 campaign while ultimately paying only $5,000 of the expense.<\/p>\n
The specific reimbursement rules vary considerably among programs, of course. But the principle gives radio sellers an important reason to investigate co-op opportunities before assuming an advertiser\u2019s stated budget represents all the money potentially available for a campaign.<\/p>\n
Sellers Can Bring More Value to the Conversation<\/p>\n
Co-op advertising can also help radio salespeople strengthen their position as marketing resources rather than simply sellers of inventory.<\/p>\n
Instead of asking, \u201cHow much do you have to spend?\u201d a salesperson can explore questions such as:<\/p>\n
Does your manufacturer or supplier offer advertising assistance?<\/p>\n
Are you currently using all the co-op funds available to you?<\/p>\n
When do your unused funds expire?<\/p>\n
Which products, services or promotions qualify?<\/p>\n
What creative and documentation requirements must be met for reimbursement?<\/p>\n
These questions can uncover opportunities an advertiser may not have considered. In some cases, businesses know co-op programs exist but don\u2019t take full advantage of them because the rules, deadlines and reimbursement procedures seem complicated.<\/p>\n
A knowledgeable seller who helps navigate those requirements can provide meaningful value. And sellers with access to a co-op ad financing plan database can answer some of their prospect\u2019s questions.<\/p>\n
Co-op Can Create Larger, More Effective Campaigns<\/p>\n
The opportunity isn\u2019t merely to increase the size of an order. Additional funding can help sellers recommend campaigns with enough frequency and duration to have a better chance of producing results.<\/p>\n
For example, co-op dollars might allow an advertiser to extend a campaign, increase frequency, add streaming audio or digital components, promote additional products, or support an important seasonal sales period.<\/p>\n
That creates a better conversation than simply discounting rates to fit an undersized budget.<\/p>\n
It can also open opportunities with prospects that previously said advertising was too expensive. The question becomes not only what the business can afford, but what advertising resources may already be available for them to use.<\/p>\n
Make Co-op Research Part of Prospecting<\/p>\n
Radio sellers shouldn\u2019t wait for advertisers to bring up co-op advertising. They can make identifying potential programs part of their account research.<\/p>\n
Automotive brands, home improvement products, appliances, consumer electronics, agricultural equipment, and many other categories provide some form of advertising support to local sellers or affiliates.<\/p>\n
Before contacting a prospect, determine whether the brands it carries offer co-op funds. That information can create a much stronger reason for making contact.<\/p>\n
Instead of another generic prospecting message about reaching the station\u2019s audience, a seller may be able to approach a business with a specific idea for leveraging available marketing dollars.<\/p>\n
Turn Available Dollars Into Advertising Results<\/p>\n
Co-op advertising isn\u2019t free money. Programs have eligibility requirements, approved-media rules, creative guidelines, deadlines, and documentation requirements. Sellers should verify the details of each program and make certain campaigns comply before promising reimbursement to an advertiser.<\/p>\n
The extra effort can pay off.<\/p>\n
When radio sellers understand their advertisers\u2019 co-op opportunities, they can potentially uncover additional budget, build larger campaigns and demonstrate a deeper understanding of the customer\u2019s business.<\/p>\n
In a competitive local media environment, helping advertisers discover money they may already have available could be one of the smartest ways to grow radio sales. The fall is a perfect time to discuss co-op advertising funds as many plans expire at the end of the calendar year.<\/p>\n
C. Lee Smith is the CEO and founder of SalesFuel, a sales and marketing research firm, and a certified behavioral analyst. Founded in 1989, SalesFuel has a proven track record of offering a SaaS-based portfolio of sales tools, training, and intelligence, providing thousands of sales and media sales teams nationwide with the power to Sell Smarter\u00ae. Smith created these tools, including AdMall<\/a>\u00ae, which is the premier advertising sales intelligence platform for digital media, social media, streaming, and emerging media sales professionals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Radio media sellers are always looking for ways to help advertisers get more from their marketing budgets. One…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":863438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,7056,216,3],"class_list":["post-863437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-free","tag-music","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=863437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}