Going direct to advertisers?

[Kay]

I was looking through one of my sites today, and to my delight I saw the premium vendor (the best in the world!) of a related product with a highly targeted AS ad on my page. AS's idea of 'targeting' can be a bit iffy sometimes, but that one was perfect. I was talking about the product and they're advertising to sell it.

I wondered if they might have an aff prog so I went to look at their site. (Not by clicking on my own ad.) Unfortunately they don't have one, but they look to be pretty web savvy with a really nice website with all sorts of things going on - freebies, competitions, etc, etc. I would definitely like to associate my site with them and sell their products. I suppose I could leave things as they are and hope to get the AS clicks but I thought maybe I could approach them direct, along the lines of - I saw your advert on my site, I love your product, would you like a feature, site-wide ad, etc, etc. How can I approach this without being spammy?

[grynge]

If its a large company target their advertising/media/web section. You may have to give them a call to work out what they call it. Make a package for them and offer it to them give them some statistics to show it will be worth their while.

[Kay]

It's a family-run business but they're big. They're a household name for many people. They have a general "contact us" email form, and a media contact (external agency) with a name to ask for when you phone. I don't really see it as a "media" task. The guy will try to screw free advertising out of me. It's more a "business development" task. Perhaps in the first instance I could use their contact form, say I have a proposal for them, and ask to be put in touch with the person who deals with their business development. There again, since I'm only trying to flog them advertising, then maybe it is a job for their sales/media people.

I dunno. Most media people I've met can be a wee bit tricky to work with sometimes. (Maybe we need a new thread for that. LOL)

[grynge]

Yeah it's a hard one kay, if you know the right person/dept you can normally get a real response. I have used in the past something along the lines of

To whom it may concern, I am a student doing a research paper on advertising strategies. I have taken an outside look at your companies strategy and am very impressed you seem to have a healthy and growing brand. I was wondering if I could correspond with someone regarding my (term paper) thank you etc.. etc..

That has in the past (modifying it for the right type of contact you want) gotten me some hard to get contacts/phone numbers. Though it could be a strategy that works only here?

[Kay]

LOL! Why do we have to use so many sneaky tactics to do good business?

Despite the size of the company, some of the family seem to still be very hands-on in the business. One in particular writes various bits of news and articles for their site and is very active in promoting their events. (For all I know it might be ghost written, but I don't think so.) Maybe I should subscribe to their newsletter, join in, and really get to know them before making any more formal approaches. This one would be great to have on board (for more than one of my sites) so it would be silly to go into it like a bull in a china shop.

Edit: They also seem to be quite into Twitter and FB. I suppose I could follow them on Twitter and hope they might notice me, but I really hate Twitter. Dave tweets for me from time to time and that's about it.

[grynge]

LOL! Why do we have to use so many sneaky tactics to do good business?

Because of all the scammers that have tried to scam money out of businesses before you get to them.

Despite the size of the company, some of the family seem to still be very hands-on in the business. One in particular writes various bits of news and articles for their site and is very active in promoting their events. (For all I know it might be ghost written, but I don't think so.) Maybe I should subscribe to their newsletter, join in, and really get to know them before making any more formal approaches. This one would be great to have on board (for more than one of my sites) so it would be silly to go into it like a bull in a china shop.

Edit: They also seem to be quite into Twitter and FB. I suppose I could follow them on Twitter and hope they might notice me, but I really hate Twitter. Dave tweets for me from time to time and that's about it.

That could be a good way to go about it, is it to your advantage to have them follow you on twitter/FB, could you maybe suggest a deal first? Like a competition,

Our readers love your product we are going to be running a campaign for our readers and would love to use your product as prize/bonus etc etc we could incorporate this with maybe a survey about your products (or some other enticement?)

.

[Kay]

Thanks. I've no desire to have them follow me on Twitter. I've no idea who already does or how many of them as I never use it. I just thought that maybe they might notice me if I followed them, or perhaps even wrote a tweet about their company. Is there not some kind of thing where if you mention a company, then they get "alerts" or is that just about monitoring what's been said about you on G?

I could do a blog post about them, no problem. That would be like giving them a free advert, but it's a case of giving before trying to take. That might break the ice so I wouldn't be cold calling. TBH, while I would like to make money out of any deal, I can see a lot of opportunities for mutual benefit. I'm sure they would give me freebies to give away to our visitors and things like that. I just need to get my foot in the door and I hesitate to go trying to barge in.

[ClaytonL]

Have you looked them up on LinkedIn to see if any of their marketing staff are listed there?

[Kay]

Wow! That produced a few seriously good leads for me to follow up tomorrow! Thanks. Very nice. Why didn't I think of that myself? Probably because I'm a dinosaur when it comes to all this linking, tweeting, liking stuff. I really will have to get more into the habit of looking at all this stuff. It's just that so much of it is all about self-promotion that it makes me want to run a mile (after I've puked).

[leadegroot]

The other thing to bear in mind is that contacting advertisers is against the adsense TOS:

3.Communications Solely With Google. You agree to direct to Google, and not to any advertiser, any communication regarding any Ad(s) or Link(s) displayed in connection with Your Property(ies).

https://www.google.com/adsense/v3/localized-terms
I'm not sure how you would get caught out doing it, but just be aware.
Perhaps wait until they aren't advertising on your site?