Are you interested in growing your publication, through advertising revenue? Is your current advertising program underperforming? Do you need a new and effective approach to advertising sales?

If you answered yes to one or all of these questions, outsourced advertising sales could be the answer. According to AdBoom Advertising, research has shown that outsourced lead generation provides 43 percent better results than in-house.

Here are 3 benefits of outsourced ad sales:

1. Dedicated advertising sales team

Begin by conducting an analysis. Do you have a dedicated ad sales manager? An entire sales team in house, who have the time to focus just on advertising sales? Without those critical components, you will not achieve the desired results.

There are companies that staff employees, who solely are focused on advertising sales and building relationships on your behalf. They work synergistically to quickly develop and implement sales programs that will maximize ROI. Although there are costs associated with hiring an outside company for advertising sales, you don’t have to actually hire and train those employees, which is a cost savings.

One of the other benefits of outsourced advertising sales is the ability to tap into experts, who have contacts across a myriad of industries.

2. Full-service offerings

Advertising sales is a multi-faceted process, which requires a variety of tools that a sales team will need to sell ads effectively, in addition to the creation of ads themselves. As such, there are many benefits to working with a company that has full-service offerings, including an in-house design studio. Depending on the size, scope, target audience and industry, those tactics can range from print ads and digital ads and email campaigns to collateral such as brochures and media kits.

The advantage of working with a company that has a sales team and design studio under one roof includes having the ability to create memorable key messages. These messages run throughout all advertising and marketing communications materials, so your sales team will be talking the same language as your sales kit materials and advertisements. This will increase the chances of those messages being heard and resonating with your target audience, to motivate action.

The advertising sales process also comprises details like sales summaries, invoicing and billing for advertisers. When you outsource advertising sales to a company that has full-service offerings, this is all part of their day-to-day advertising management, not yours. This will free you up to focus on running your business or association.

3. Sales and marketing expertise

When conducting research on outsourced advertising sales solutions, look for companies that not only have sales expertise, but also are marketing experts. Marketing experts need to work closely with sales to refine a target audience and recommend opportunities. This involves reviewing circulation, metrics and advertising products. Based on the research, those marketing experts suggest and implement changes to advertising units, pricing, design, content, circulation and frequency. They also monitor and report on a campaigns’ analytics and performance, as well as react quickly and adjust, to optimize success. In addition, marketing experts manage all advertising creative.

CMA created and launched Card Manufacturing (CM magazine)—which started as a newsletter, Transaction Times—for the International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA). ICMA is the leading global card association for card manufacturers and personalizers, supported by suppliers and other industry participants.

For nearly 30 years, CMA has been managing the editorial, advertising sales and production of ICMA’s official publication. It’s recognized world-wide as the premier publication in the transaction card industry.

Additionally, each issue is distributed via email to thousands of industry professionals. e digital version of CM Magazine links the advertisements directly to advertiser websites. There also are separate banner ad opportunities on the ICMA website.

Card Manufacturing, recognized world-wide as the premier publication in the transaction card industry

CMA also relaunched an industry publication, IMARK NOW, for IMARK Group. It’s a member-owned marketing group made up of more than 830 independently owned electrical distributors throughout the US. The objective was to provide more editorial for their members by successfully increasing the advertising revenue to support it.

CMA manages the advertising sales and other logistics for this 100+ page publication. As part of the relaunch, CMA created a digital edition, which is additional real estate for advertising.

IMARK NOW, 100+ page publication for independently-owned electrical distributors throughout the US.

Recently awarded the Trenton-Mercer Airport advertising contract, CMA launched Destination TTN, to sell transit advertising on behalf of Trenton-Mercer Airport. As one of only three commercial airports in New Jersey, Trenton-Mercer Airport averages approximately 85,000 take-offs and landings each year. The airport has been providing a convenient, safe mode of transit to the Mercer County Region for more than 80 years. The advertising sales campaign includes billboard and banner advertising, in addition to digital board available advertising throughout the airport. CMA also launched social media marketing, to further enhance awareness of the airport and its advertising opportunities.

Through my experience at CMA, working with businesses and associations of all sizes, I’ve seen many advertising sales scenarios. They ranged from underutilized advertising space and unsold placements in existing publications, to undiscovered digital and print sources waiting to be monetized. Whether you want to launch an advertising campaign, sell advertising space in your print or digital publication, or grow revenue from advertising, outsourced advertising sales could be the solution.

Jeffrey Barnhart is the President and CEO of CMA, a full-service communications, marketing and association management firm, which has provided its clients with award-winning and proven results for more than 30 years.