The headline over today's post references an old saying in direct marketing. "Selling is like shaving," the accountable direct response ad seller would say. "If you don't do some of it every day, you're a bum." It was a handy way for DR sellers to contrast their work with that of the ad sellers out there peddling branding - which they dismissed as no more than a con.
But today the slogan takes on a deeper meaning for all ad sellers, publishers, tech and marketing service providers. The jig is up, the news is out, the fatted calf has been picked clean. For generations, we've organized our businesses and revenue models around the premise that our jobs are to help the advertisers and their legion of agencies spend their money... perhaps a little more accountably, responsibly, efficiently or viewably than the next guy. We've all been citizens of the ad business, and we spoke its language and observed its customs. But no more.
Fundamental change doesn't always break down the door. Often it creeps in on tiny cat feet. And while we were busy arguing and negotiating over how much of that big pile of ad money would go to digital or TV or something else, marketers have been undergoing their own fundamental change. They've been under siege from direct-to-consumer competitors, a collapsing retail channel, online shopping and more. In the face of this existential crisis, they've fallen out of love with advertising.
Well....to put a finer point on it, they've fallen out of love with advertising for the sake of advertising.
Which leads me back to the new premise. Today we must all help the marketer sell - we must attach ourselves to business outcomes, become co-marketers...lest we be dismissed as bums. To survive and thrive in what used to be called the ad sales business we must all go back to school and become fluent in the language and customs of marketing. Someday soon our talk of rating points, viewability and attribution will sound as anachronistic as the Latin mass.
The 21st century ad seller is a business problem solver. She doesn't wait for budgets, she helps create them. She avoids the watering hole where the herd gathers for RFPs and planning cycles. She hunts alone. She knows more about how the client's business works - how he sells his products, who he sells them through and what gets them bought - than anyone but the client.
She sells. Every day. But she doesn't sell ads. She helps the customer sell product.
