“It’s not worth the price.”
“That’s a bit steep.”
“It costs an arm and a leg.”
There are 101 ways advertisers can phrase a pricing objection, and they’re using them all in today’s economy. In fact, 74% of major advertisers said the economic downturn is influencing their 2023 budget decisions.
Advertisers in apparel (down by 21% YoY), real estate (down by 36%), insurance (down by 35%), and software (down by 35%) have all decreased spending through April.
Meanwhile, others are spending.
For example, travel advertisers increased spending by 6% YoY to $1.5b as people geared up for their long-awaited vacations. At the same time, film advertisers increased spending by 26% (to $1.1b), while food advertisers did so by 8% (to $2b).
The spending ebbs and flows will continue in 2023 as advertisers grapple with the uncertainty. Something else that’ll remain constant: pricing objections.
Whether advertisers are eager to spend or cut back, these words will remain on the tip of their tongues: Your rate is too high.
Here are 5 steps to help you overcome pricing objections and turn “I need a better rate” into “That’s a done deal.”
Rates are top of mind for advertisers across industry lines. Full stop. It doesn’t matter if they’re currently spending big or tightening their belts—advertisers are keeping a watchful eye on their bottom line.
That said, taking a pricing objection at face value isn’t wise because the dollar sign may not be the true sticking point—or at least the stickiest one.
To navigate pricing objections, your first step is to figure out if the price is actually what’s holding your buyer back.
In reality, the buyer’s hesitancy could be tied to a host of factors:
These objections are common, and the current economy amplifies most of them. For example, many advertisers will embrace more reserved strategies to minimize risk, making them less likely to switch vendors (this assumes they’re objecting due to being resistant to change).
Either way, ask the right questions to truly understand the buyer’s mindset and come up with a plan of attack to make them comfortable with the price tag attached to your audience and offer.
Pricing is a valid objection, but the dollar amount may not be what’s tripping your buyer up; it could very well be the perceived value they get from that amount. They’re more concerned about your audience’s value or return on investment (ROI) than anything else.
Nine times out of ten, you can overcome a pricing objection—at least in some part—by highlighting your audience’s unique value:
As you highlight the value of your audience, stay zeroed in on your buyer’s pain points and what they care about today. Your audience may stand shoulders above the competition, but if it doesn’t shine bright to that buyer, their pricing objection (or some other objection) is unlikely to fade.
You already explained how your audience is different, but what are other ways you can stand out? Pricing options (and flexibility) and an intensified stance on brand safety are two solid options.
Pricing options:
Remember: Money talks.
Just because a buyer balks at your initial price doesn’t mean they won’t agree to another one—or the same one presented differently.
Brand safety is another potential talking point. The past few years have been riddled with concerns from big brands about where their ads were showing up online, especially on social media and YouTube.
In 2020, Marc Pritchard, Procter & Gamble’s Chief Brand Officer, said, “Social media is about 5% of P&G’s marketing spending, but it’s 150% of our problems.”
In December of the same year, Unilever said it would return to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter in January after taking time away due to concerns about how the platforms were managing harmful content.
Brand-safety concerns aren’t going away, either.
About 40% of decision-makers from media providers said their concerns about brand safety and suitability would rise in 2023.
Alleviate these concerns by explaining how important brand safety is to you and the comprehensive approach you’ve put in place to protect it, including the selection of suitable advertising platforms, the proper use of ad-placement technology, third-party verification, and continuous monitoring to prevent ad misplacement or association with undesirable content.
If you have access to advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), talk about how they can help with real-time content analysis and proactive blocking of unsafe environments.
People have been saying some form of “actions speak louder than words” for hundreds of years. Some people have traced the saying back to a sermon by St. Anthony of Padua in 1200.
More than 800 years later, embracing the saying can be one of the best ways to overcome a pricing objection. At the end of the day, when you’re dealing with an advertiser worried about your rate, nothing will speak louder than hard numbers that provide irrefutable proof that your audience is worth every penny.
You can do this in a variety of ways:
Put yourself in their shoes. What data or talking points would sway you if you were on the fence about an investment?
It’s that simple. Price your audience at a point you know they’ll buy.
How can you pinpoint that price point? Even simpler. MediaRadar’s CPM Insights tool.
With MediaRadar’s CPM Insights tool, which uses real invoices into pricing by product category and brand, you can get instant access to powerful data on ad pricing trends, helping you construct compelling arguments against price objections.
Our tool’s ability to recommend specific CPM ranges eliminates guesswork, while its insights into competitor pricing for premium inventory allow you to confidently position your offer in the smartest way possible.
It’s natural to counter a pricing objection by lowering your rate—and that may be in the cards.
But don’t default to that, even if the economy is unstable.
Instead, overcome the pricing objection by building a relationship (this isn’t a one-time thing), clearly understanding the buyer’s concerns, reframing the discussion to focus on ROI, showcasing your audience’s unique value, and suggesting a rate they can’t refuse.
Check all those boxes, and pricing objections will fall.
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