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How Ad Tech Startups and SMBs Strategically Invest in Training

How Ad Tech Startups and SMBs Strategically Invest in Training

Every day, ad tech ecosystems are becoming more competitive and complicated, and one of the biggest challenges that’s surfacing is the lack of a level playing field. While large organizations and publishers have the luxury of extensive training budgets and internal professional development resources, smaller organizations often find themselves struggling to keep up with all the changes in the marketplace. How can new entrants to the market gain the knowledge they need to provide real-time, in-the-moment value to their clients?

Consider the case of Tighe Wilhelmy, Vice President of Operations and Business Development at Local Lawyer Guide, a company that provides advertising and lead-generation services to private attorneys, as an example.

“The legal industry is one of the most competitive industries around,” says Wilhelmy. “Without a sophisticated digital strategy, we would simply be just another marketing company. Every day our team focuses on executing opportunities we’ve identified and explored over the previous weeks or months. Digital advertising is developing at an accelerated rate and that’s exactly how it must be responded to.”

To stay competitive, Wilhelmy and his small team have participated in several training programs, including IAB Certification for sales, ad operations, and data as well as programmatic classes, to give Local Lawyer Guide a professional edge in building lasting relationships with and profitable growth programs for customers.

Here are four areas ad tech startups and small businesses can focus their internal education to maximize their often lean training budgets.

Media Attribution

How Ad Tech Startups and SMBs Strategically Invest in Training 2One of the biggest challenges the ad industry faces is how to link ad spend with performance. Startups and small businesses are in a strong position to bridge gaps and give their customers a deep picture of their media spend.

“Digital advertising is infamous for the obstacles that exist with attribution,” says Wilhelmy. “Not to mention, our company works with an industry that expects concrete evidence for having generated business for their firm. It’s a scenario where everyone is fighting for that last click, because without it you have failed your client. And for this reason, we’ve spent many resources developing our attribution modeling.”

A strong foundation in attribution modeling has given Local Lawyer Guide’s value proposition as a business.

“It’s ultimately resulted in our company having a competitive advantage, and I’m grateful for that,” says Wilhelmy. “I’m certain this issue impacts a majority of other small-business owners as well. Whether you are providing or purchasing digital advertising services, attribution is always one of the primary topics of conversation.”

Strategic Industry Expertise

Campaign managers need guidance, according to Wilhelmy. That’s why ad sales reps at small ad tech companies should always maintain a broad view of the market.

“Small-business owners are dealing with option paralysis, in my opinion,” explains Wilhelmy. “They know digital advertising is a hot topic and can be very successful. However, there are a significant amount of educational resources and tools that exist regarding this topic and the various facets under the digital advertising umbrella.” Industry resources, best practices, and standards are often the best places to start.

As Wilhelmy points out, it’s tough to remain up to speed on all areas of digital advertising. And the wealth of resources online doesn’t help, necessarily: small-business owners and marketers have limited time to focus on growth initiatives. They need access to tried-and-true strategies proven to spark growth.

“This requires either a fully invested business owner or reliable employee to whom these responsibilities can be delegated. In other words, ad tech requires commitment,” says Wilhelmy.

Client Education

To gain a competitive advantage, ad tech and marketing companies need to focus on providing services to an often niche clientele. The big question is how. One solution, according to Wilhelmy, is for ad sales leaders to pass down their own learnings and provide more guidance and education to their own customers. With new issues every quarter from ad blocking to fraud, there is a lot of information to pass off to your client.

“I’d strongly recommend being transparent with your clients,” says Wilhelmy. “This was something that truly allowed our company to establish itself in an industry full of giants. Our clients were frustrated with how little they truly understood about the opportunities that existed. Yet, they were instantly fascinated when educated about the nuances of what we were doing for them.”

“Failure to provide client transparency is one of the most critical mistakes I’ve seen across the board,” says Wilhelmy. “We no longer live in a society where that is an acceptable type of business practice. With transparency comes trust. And with trust comes longer-lasting business relationships.”

Finding the Right Training and Resources

For advertising and media professionals at smaller companies, access to real-time, in-the-moment trends is a must. But information and consumer behavior move at a rapid pace. While larger companies have internal training programs, how can already busy digital leaders focus their attention?

“Digital advertising may seem daunting, but that’s because it is,” says Wilhelmy. “Do the work others won’t and reap the benefits those people therefore can’t.”

Wilhelmy encourages fellow sales and marketing leaders to participate in IAB Certification programs.

“These programs attract executives from numerous industries to discuss their experiences and thoughts on current technology and best practices,” says Wilhelmy.

“This is information a small business would not otherwise have made available to them. Moreover, there are programs for everyone from entry-level to advanced. I’ve not only used various tactics learned from IAB to improve our company’s digital strategy, but I’ve also established a number of personal relationships that have resulted in friendships or business partnerships for the company. I highly recommend using IAB Certification as a resource.”

Learn more about IAB Certification and Learning Classes here.

Authors

Author
Ritika Puri