In Borrell Associates bi-annual survey of media buyers earlier this year, agencies and direct media  buyers were asked several things: what they spend on advertising, what types of media they bought, what they are buying in 2022, and what qualitative comments had they regarding media’s approach to them. 

The Borrell survey makes certain points that stood out for me, namely:

• Local buyers are still novices: 53% are classified as novices, meaning they likely have questions and need advice. They are looking for partners who can assist them. 
• The “master” (big) agencies also need help: 87% of agencies are classified as master marketers but see traditional media companies as partners. 
• Not much media elimination is prevalent: While two in five agencies plan to reduce spending on “something,” only 1.5% of advertisers area actually eliminating something altogether. 

And from a qualitative point of view, what caught my eye was this comment, which seems typical of many others:

“Speak in clear language. We don’t know all the jargon and acronyms. Provide follow-up and regular feedback on how the advertising is doing. We almost never hear from anyone after the sale is made. It’s nice when partnering with media companies as I don’t generally have the time to stay updated on the latest/greatest marketing strategies.” 

To me, the conclusion of that survey was that we all need to learn from the above. Be more consultative, keep a constant stream of communications going, be a resource of knowledge and insights, get the mix of offerings right, and get to be trusted by our agencies and advertisers.

The Borrell survey gives us a very accurate pointer to my top five strategies, which wrote about here.

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