Marketron Integrated Media Specialist empowers NRG Media to triple their third-party digital ad revenue
NRG Media had a healthy digital business but saw room to grow. As beta partner for Marketron’s Integrated Media Specialist program, their sellers gained the confidence to start digital conversations and sell bigger, longer-term proposals.
Sellers lacked digital expertise, slowing third-party digital growth.
Marketron’s Integrated Media Specialist program, with a 90-day training roadmap.
Third-party digital grew to a much larger share of digital revenue.
The challenge
Lack of digital expertise slowed digital advertising revenue growth
Before engaging with Marketron, NRG Media had a healthy digital advertising business. While they were hitting their budgets, they realized there was still a significant opportunity for growth.
They faced obstacles in engaging advertisers with their entire portfolio of ad options, often because there wasn’t a “digital expert” in the market. Some sellers didn’t have the confidence to present these solutions to advertisers.
What their account executives did have were relationships. “We work in small and medium-size markets, where our AEs meet with clients every day who are looking for solutions,” said Erica Dreyer, director of integrated media.
The solution
The IMS program was a perfect fit, based on a long-term relationship
In the IMS program, a dedicated media specialist embeds into an organization, delivering:
- Cross-channel sales training related to the sales cycle and in-depth digital tactic knowledge
- Client strategy and support through one-on-one meetings to prospect, propose and present to advertisers
- On-demand resources for continuous learning
- Turn-key, white-labeled marketing material
“Due to the long-standing relationship and trust with Marketron, we didn’t consider anything else,” Dreyer shared. NRG Media was the beta partner for the program. “Our specialists came in with a 90-day roadmap for training. Everyone knew what to expect.”
AEs gained more “comfort and confidence to start a digital conversation,” and now offer integrated campaigns that tap OTA and digital. NRG Media used the IMS resources to build its own Digital Acceleration Program training for onboarding new sellers.
The biggest wins we’ve seen with the program is our ability to sell long-term and higher-value proposals.
The results
Third-party digital now accounts for a much larger share of digital revenue
Since the program launched, third-party digital has grown to 40% of NRG Media’s total digital revenue, up from less than 20%. “We’re only halfway through 2022, and our third-party revenue is already three times higher than all of 2021!” Dreyer said.
“The biggest wins we’ve seen with the program is our ability to sell long-term and higher-value proposals. They are able to identify needs better and create strategic multiplatform solutions for our clients.”
NRG Media is pivoting to a train-the-trainer model to scale faster within each market, and was recently awarded an RFP for a multimillion-dollar building materials company.
- Third-party digital grew to 40% of digital revenue
- Longer-term, higher-value proposals
- Numerous deals with new advertisers
