The Association Non-Dues Revenue Experts

A long time client, the American Massage Therapy Association hired The Townsend Group in 2009 as the sales representative for all print and digital assets as well as exhibits and sponsorships for their two annual events. Over the years, we’ve provided AMTA a full turnkey sales solution. Our scope of work has grown to include a full suite of services such as research guidance, media kit and prospectus design, pricing strategy, sponsorship ideation, on-site rebook and more. Most importantly, we continue to leverage our cross-platform experience and work closely with AMTA to optimize the sales process and increase revenues. We’ve grown the business year after year. With six months left to sell, we’ve already sold as much business for 2016 as we did for all of 2015.  

A loyal advertiser and sponsor of the National Apartment Association, The Home Depot wanted to explore fresh and creative ways to connect with apartment industry professionals. To meet The Home Depot’s objective, our sales and editorial teams collaborated with NAA and their design team to develop an exclusively sponsored e-newsletter called Partner Perspectives, which featured prominent sponsor recognition and content position that delivered relevant information to NAA members. In addition, we deployed a custom research survey to gather data related to NAA member preferences for maintenance, repair, and operations suppliers and products. The final product was well recieved by NAA and its members and positioned The Home Depot as a thought-leader in the apartment housing industry. What’s more, The Home Depot used the research data to inform their advertising schedule, in which they increased overall spending and the frequency of their custom content placements.  

Analytics aren’t just for IT teams and senior analytics directors. Editors should also have a knowledge of and expertise using web analytics, because it can give them deeper insight into their audiences and enhance their publications.

With advertising agencies under extreme pressures to turn profits and to leverage the latest trends, clients are getting the short end. We’re now experiencing an industry wide trust problem.

While print undoubtedly still delivers engagement, it has to be part of a multi-channel approach, where the customer is now at the center.

There are near universal advertising sales hurdles as business information providers morph from publishers to media companies. There are famous examples of companies like Penton, Source Media, Randall-Reilly and others who have already gone through this. One constant in those flagship stories is the need to change company culture, often requiring significant turnover in the sales department. I talk with plenty of companies who are still figuring out digital products and sales. Yet as I sat down to write I wondered if this might sound like we’re only talking about small publishers. Most B2B publishers who undertake this transition don’t have the organizational size, or private equity money those mentioned have, to absorb such wholesale transition and recruitment costs. Last week’s news about Time Inc. reminds me otherwise. You have probably read they are killing the publisher role. By any name, what Time is doing is overhauling their ad sales procedures. It was the lead story in every media trade newsletter and the perfect reminder everyone is still learning best practices in media sales. When I recently heard Ryan Dohrn suggest publishers should appoint a Director of Advertising Integration, it resonated with me. I see many publishers grapple with the concept of selling banner ads versus selling well-packaged online ad programs. I am convinced the latter is the path to success. That title Ryan suggests sounded like it addressed this need. Dohrn has 25 years of experience selling ads and managing ad sales teams. He is a widely respected ad sales trainer and consultant and founder of Brain Swell Media. Dohrn sees many publishers struggling to sell digital advertising. A common problem is how sales organizations are structured as publishers transition from print-centric to multi-channel media companies. (Or at least as they try to sell more online advertising.) Many simply add online advertising to a rate card and send the heretofore print advertising sales staff off to sell both. Of the hundreds of sales reps he works with, says Dohrn, “I know two (former print-only) reps who do this particularly well.” He sees salespeople wondering, “‘Why am I going to sell a $500 digital ad* when I can sell a $5,000 print ad?'” It surprised me Dohrn still sees a substantial number of publishers who deploy one team selling print and separate salespeople selling digital advertising. It is an attempt to hold onto salespeople who have deep ties to a given industry and the ad buyers, without having to make them digital ad experts. “It creates confusion and it’s annoying to the buyers to have one more meeting” about the same media brand, says Dohrn.   The Digital Liaison Enter the Director of Advertising Integration. Dohrn refers to this role as digital liaison, regardless of title. He says it is not necessarily full time at first. He suggests cultivating someone in your organization who has knowledge of social media and digital advertising, from a technical and/or generational perspective. She or he becomes the go-to person working with ad sales, answering the sales team’s