5 Things I Learned at Locable's Office Hours

During my second and third week here I listened in during Locable office hours. Brian and Ryan hold office hours once a week for Locable affiliates and I can see why the office hours are helpful. As a newbie, I found them informative and easy to follow especially if you're like me and not familiar with tech terminology.  Here are the 5 things I've learned from office hours and my first two weeks on the job:

1) The Importance of Leveraging Business Relationships

In any field or form of business leveraging business relationships is important but delivering value to each person is how you really make them worthwhile.

2) Media Kits/Rate Cards

I saw some really good examples of rate cards and media kits like the one at Mansfield Magazine. Media Kits are a great way to share relevant information and statistics but it's also important to post your rates and packages online in a way that is readable by search engines.

3) Selling to New/Existing Advertisers Is About Variety

There is a lot more to sell than just banner advertisements. Social media promotions, email newsletter sponsorships and directory upgrades are all in play. Here is a more comprehensive list of revenue opportunities.

4) Why Focusing On Your Audience Is Relevant

Beyond the fact that it is your audience, not traffic, that you should be selling, your audience is partially made up of current and potential clients as well. This is typically only true with local publishers and gives you a competitive advantag.

5) Audience Extension

I learned that audience extension is a way for digital publishers to create revenue by extending their web traffic beyond their site and is a nice way to address any questions about lower traffic.

This week I'll begin administering a research study to determine how publishers and businesses view the future of local marketing. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the results.