How Better Ad Formats in Your Media Kit Help Win Sales

February 16, 2021

Businesses today have so many options to choose from when they advertise online, that banner ads alone aren’t enough to impress them anymore. Publishers in 2021 aren’t just competing amongst themselves. They’re also competing for ad dollars against social media giants like Facebook and Twitter, along with search engines like Google and Bing.

Two things that digital publishers can offer that tech giants cannot are personal service and non-standard ad formats. Sales reps can help clients solve problems, and that includes expanding their visibility to potential customers online and offline. Big placements and eye catching ads offer better visibility than more traditional formats, including banner ads. The best media kits will showcase the highest performing ad formats front and center.

Which Formats Actually Increase Ad Sales?

If your advertisers are requesting banner ad formats, it’s probably because they don’t know what else is available. A sales rep’s primary goal should be to drive advertisers toward the products that are most likely to satisfy, or exceed, their stated goals. 

Common goals your advertisers might state include:

• Increasing awareness
• Increasing stature
• Increasing sales 
• Increasing conversions 
• Growing an email list
• Achieving strong performance of 0.5% or higher

When advertisers articulate clear and concise goals, or sales reps do a great job of discerning those goals after some question and answer, it’s easier to build a campaign composed of the right formats.

Studies on display advertising effectiveness have found that animated ad formats have more engagement than static formats because they generate higher recall and attract more user attention. Ad formats like Broadstreet’s also create more favorability for the advertiser’s brand.

We’ve found that sales reps have a hard time selling 300×250 box ads and 728x90s. Advertisers simply don’t believe those ad sizes work.

What’s a better alternative?

Sales reps increase ad sales when they have access to big placements and eye-catching formats. Innovative ad formats like Broadstreet’s Amazing Cube and Likeable Photos sell themselves. Certain ad formats have significantly higher carryover rates than others, and that’s the case across consumer segments.

Given that 29% of people’s daily screen time is now spent looking at smartphones, and mobile commands 24% of media time spent in the United States, it’s important that media kits are designed to push mobile performance. Advertisers want to know how their ads will display on mobile devices and what results they can expect to see. A media kit is the ideal place to publish that information.

Key Takeaways

Now is the time to take a second look at your media kit. Are there areas for improvement? As you make the necessary adjustments to your media kit to increase ad sales, keep these key takeaways in mind:

• A sales rep’s goal is to solve their clients’ problems.
• If you want to be successful in selling ads, you need to promote ad formats that look like they’re actually going to work.
• Banner ads don’t look as effective as modern formats with better visibility.
• Don’t underestimate the importance that advertisers put on mobile performance.