Five things to do when giving an advertising discount
In the competitive world of online advertising, having a smart and flexible pricing strategy is important to attract and retain advertisers. First, setting the right ad rates for your specific website is important. Second, you need a good ad server to ensure you have the suitable metrics and reports to back up your ad rates. However, even the right price and the best ad serving technology might not suffice to attract and retain your advertisers. The market changes fast so you need to be flexible. Advertisers likely receive many offers from your competitors. Therefore, effective strategies like discounts and promotions are necessary in encouraging new advertisers to place their first ad on your website and recurring advertisers from switching to another advertising program. With that being said, these are five things you should do when giving advertising discounts:
1. Mix it up
The discounts should be provided in several ways – or as we informally say, just mix it up – so that customers will always be on the alert for the next big deal on your website and do not get bored from repetition. For example, use varying types of discounts like a percent off the original price, a dollar amount discount, and freebies.
2. Use an effective Call-to-Action
The discount should be offered for a limited time with a specific expiration date to increase its appeal among customers. Be sure to add an effective and direct call-to-action to encourage customers to take action as soon as possible. For example: "This coupon is only valid for the next 5 days." Any discount without a clear expiration allows advertisers to have second thoughts or delay them from making a buying decision.
3. Provide clear discount terms
Keep in mind that nobody likes to be duped with misleading advertisements. The discount terms should be clearly stated in an easy-to-understand fashion so that advertisers can make on-the-spot decisions to place their ads on your website. Your goal is to describe the discount as simple and concise as possible so there is no confusion. For example: get a 20% discount on all ad placements in December.
4. Monitor results including return on investment (ROI)
Even when the campaign seems successful based on the number of advertisers using the coupon, you should implement an objective monitoring system to measure and evaluate the actual return on investment. This helps you determine the success of your promotion keeping in mind that on occasion, a low ROI can be acceptable in order to gain new advertisers.
5. Offer discount for prepayment or contract term
Two offers that are often overlooked consist of providing a discount for prepayments and providing a discount for a long term contractual agreement. Such discounts are good for existing advertisers and new advertisers. They also have the added benefit of customer retention as prepayments and contractual agreements guarantee some sort of long term commitment.
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