Marketing Mistakes Made by Media Companies

The advertising industry continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Global ad spend is in the billions —and growing! Most leaders at media companies are busy trying to figure out how to attract more and better prospects, how to keep their sales funnel full, and how to diversify their marketing solution offerings. 

What might not be top of mind (or even considered at all) is your B2B marketing. By that, we mean the marketing for your advertising brand. Marketing that attracts potential advertisers and helps fill that sales funnel. 

So, whether you're already all-in on a B2B marketing initiative and using lead generation to drive new business, or you're new to the concept, there are some key marketing mistakes made by media companies that we see most often, plus some helpful tips to help you correct course. 

4 Media Marketing Mistakes

1. Not Having a Blog

B2B blogging has many benefits that you could be missing out on if you’re not posting regularly. Not only does blogging establish thought leadership, but it can also be repurposed in other marketing channels, like social media. 

Consistent blogging also helps your sales team engage with prospects and advertisers, gain valuable insights about their interests, and keep them coming back to your website. 89% of content marketers used blog posts in their content creation strategy in 2020, so not having a blog will only give your competition a boost.   

2. Underutilizing LinkedIn

Here’s a staggering statistic: 78% of salespeople engaged in social selling are outselling their peers who are not.  

We often see media sales teams underutilizing LinkedIn, when it offers a great opportunity to establish thought leadership, network with others in your industry or beyond, and connect with prospects.  

Salespeople can build their personal brands — and get more sales — by connecting their personal profiles to your organization’s blog publishing schedule to auto-generate content into their feeds. LinkedIn also loves it when you share posts, and it often increases your visibility on the platform further positioning you as a trusted expert.   

3. Not Creating Video Content

Users average six hours and 48 minutes per week watching online videos. However, 66% of marketers don’t make videos because they think it’s too time-consuming. 

Conversely, 84% of video marketers say video has helped them generate leads. So, what kinds of videos should you be creating? The most common types of videos made by marketers are presentations (65%), followed by ads (57%), and explainers (47%).  But we'd also throw in case studies and testimonials as important types of video to be thinking about too. 

One thing’s for sure: you need to be creating video content to keep your brand relevant in 2021. 

4. Not Having an Optimized Website to Funnel Leads

It's our belief that every media company should have an online presence and space for communicating with and educating current and potential advertisers. If they can't find your B2B brand online then they're going to find your competitor instead who is there. 

When thinking about the best B2B website to build for your station, we recommend keeping lead generation top of mind. Here's some key elements you should have in place: 

• Information about your company and the different marketing solutions you offer

• Optimized landing pages 

• Forms on high traffic pages

• Clear CTAs 

• Responsive design 

• Quick load speed 

• Regularly updated blog content that educates local advertisers 

• Gated content, such as eBooks

• Webinars 

All of these elements help you guide prospects through their own buying journey by providing relevant information at the right time. 

You should be asking yourself if your salespeople could benefit from new, high-quality leads? Are you making these mistakes with your B2B marketing by not having a strategy in place at all? What impact could lead generation and thought leadership have on your business? 

All these questions and more are what we help media companies answer and build a plan around.