Local Advertising Sellers Expected To Drive Performance

Local advertising sellers face growing expectations to sell more digital ad inventory and demonstrate higher performance on campaigns, according to a new study from Frequence, a provider of advertising sales automation and workflow software. The report, which surveyed 471 local-market digital advertising and marketing professionals, found that 72% said their organization expects them to deliver more results with fewer resources.

“Every day new advertisers enter the local market as barriers to entry fall and outcomes improve,” said Tom Cheli, CEO of Frequence. “Projections for future ad spend grow more optimistic by the day, and the excitement and growth have led to even greater expectations for performance.”

The survey found that 72% of respondents felt recent changes to the digital advertising industry — like Apple’s recent AppTrackingTransparency feature — have led to a negative effect on their organization’s performance. More broadly, 70% feel like they struggle to keep up with all of the new strategies and technologies changing their industry, which include the rise of programmatic, streaming and attribution changes.

Valuable digital advertising talent is available to those companies willing to invest in automation to support them. A shocking 72% of respondents in the Frequence survey actually reported considering leaving their job for a competitor because of a lack of technology support.

Among other findings from the survey:

• When asked what creates the most stress when working with clients, 33% cited gathering and analyzing campaign performance data as the biggest driver.
• 29% cited pressure to sell more third-party ad inventory.
• 19% cited managing and adjusting campaigns in flight.
• 18% cited determining an optimal mix of omnichannel campaign tactics or building a personalized proposal.
• 37% say reporting ad / campaign performance or results is the most difficult part of their job; 27% say tracking in-campaign performance; 16% say drafting proposals and determining the right omnichannel strategies; 14% say adjusting strategies while campaigns are in flight; and 6% say coming up with and managing creative assets.
• 82% of respondents wish their organization provided them with more software to do their jobs.

“As the industry navigates this period of rapid change, one thing is clear: local-market media professionals need support to meet mounting challenges,” Cheli said. “Technological tools and greater automation can help immensely, and success awaits the companies that invest now to give their employees the tools and resources they need. Local-market advertising is a resilient, adaptive industry, and with the right strategies the future for media companies will remain bright.”