Brian Gorman, co-founder of iPublish Media Solutions, presented automated BIY vertical solutions at the recent Borrell Media conference in Miami, Florida. In the new remote-first business environment, his take seems especially relevant.
Gorman made several key points. While Borrell & Associates aptly described the size of the opportunities in major verticals, he said the key challenge for media today is how to reach and sell these verticals.
BIY Advantages
BIY platforms have clear key advantages. A sales department can be open 24/7, 365 days a week – so you can literally sell campaigns from home, even while you sleep. Now, in light of the changing business environment, reducing the amount of in-person selling and in-office process management has become mandatory.
What many media don’t understand about the self-serve, multi-media sales platform is that the automation is not just BIY but also creates an end-to-end process. You do not need human, in-person sales people or an ad design team since that too, is fully self-serve and managed by the client. Fulfillment on the iPublish platform is then fully-automated via integrations with DSP, Google ad manager and Facebook, along with print front-end systems.
“I’ve talked to organizations that have 15 people doing these things for one order,” Gorman said.
A hands-free process also creates a win-win in other ways. “You can have a very low price and still make 50% profit, even on $99 packages,” he said. “Ad broadcast can now sell into any vertical category,” he pointed out. “Whichever vertical you need, we can make a platform for it.”
“We use your rules and your packages.” The platform, interacting solely with the client, handles the prospecting, selling, creative, and proofing. “We close the sale and fulfill it,” he said. “Although you may want to still do the final proof.”
Proven Results
An example of a vertical solution created by iPublish Media Solutions was developed for The Bay Area News Group media company.
“They wanted a fully automated way to sell online only packages to realtors,” he said. The new platform, called Leadhax, has now delivered 8,000 fully automated transactions to 1,000 agents in the past 2 years. “We packaged the audience. No one touches anything. The campaign is designed and goes out to Facebook” and programmatic, plus re-targeting. The result has been $1 million in real estate business, and, paradoxically, the ability for sales people to get more appointments.
“We can create a solution page linked into your website, that goes through the automatic workflow. From $99 make a $50 profit.”
Sounds like a great solution in a work-from-home environment.
Resources:
> Watch the presentation from Borrell Conference
> Leadhax case study
> Schedule a demo