Advertising inventory management software is not a new concept. However technological advancements in the advertising industry over the past 10 years have added so much complexity and fragmentation to the ad tech ecosystem that ad inventory management solutions have become increasingly necessary in order to reach optimal levels of sales in the most cost-effective way. Publishers and media companies want to run their business in a smarter, faster and more efficient way, in order to stay ahead of competitors and a step ahead of customer demands. Effective inventory management software solutions can help bring benefits to companies of any size giving smaller businesses the ability to stay competitive while also helping larger companies with their more complex daily operations.
We look at 5 key benefits of implementing advertising inventory management software for media companies and publishers of any size.
1. Simplified Ad Inventory Management
Sales strategies are becoming more complex as digital advertising becomes the core of ad sales. Overlapping audience targets, new device platforms and programmatic selling have complicated the process of quantifying, pricing and selling digital inventory. The most immediate benefit of using inventory management software has got to be that it makes the process of managing your digital and traditional inventory a whole lot easier, saving you time, money and quite frankly, sanity. Leaving behind the tired and trusted industry favorite of managing inventory across a number of elaborate data spreadsheets speeds up media inventory management generally and brings huge benefits in terms of data accuracy & accessibility.
2. All Key Ad Inventory Information In One Location
The challenge for effective ad inventory management is the current fragmented nature of the ad tech industry. Sales reps generally manage products in a CRM or on spreadsheets and Ad Ops departments manage products across a number of delivery channels including multiple ad servers, social media platforms, exchanges and more. This fragmented approach is time-consuming and error-prone as data is transferred from one or more spreadsheets to multiple systems. A modern inventory management system can become your single source of truth, replacing outdated spreadsheets with cross-functional records. For example, all your pricing & rate information can be stored alongside historical orders in a multi-functional CRM with integrations to external systems for booking and automated data syncing.
3. Ad Inventory Management Software Drives Greater Cost Savings
Poor inventory management can cause significant revenue losses, driven by avoidable issues including human error and double-booked inventory. By modernizing your inventory management processes you can effectively eliminate the likelihood of double-booked inventory with real-time availability information. Perhaps the biggest cost saving comes from automation, which can remove the costs associated with human error. Good inventory management software saves time that could be spent on other activities. Removing manual steps from your Sales Reps or Ad Ops teams daily routine through automation will speed up their daily tasks and increase data accuracy across all stages of your advertising sales process. This frees up employees’ time to spend on value-added tasks such as responding to RFPs and data analysis.
4. Optimal Inventory Sales
When it comes to managing your inventory manually tracking the status of available ad space can be extremely difficult and time-consuming. Inventory availability across your portfolio can change frequently as advertisers reserve, book and cancel planned campaigns. Being able to rely on up to the minute availability information offered by inventory management software is crucial to avoid double bookings and to optimize sales. With a clear picture of available and sold inventory, sales reps can be confident in their discussions with advertisers when offering unsold inventory, speeding up the sales process and increasing overall customer satisfaction.
5. Make More Profitable Business Decisions
Effective inventory management software can provide invaluable sales data, allowing for more data-driven business decisions. As an example, a more informed understanding of historical advertiser demand trends helps to forecast sales trends, providing you with a competitive edge. This kind of information could also be used to create and test product bundles to achieve a higher return on underperforming inventory by bundling this with more popular inventory types. With access to reporting features and revenue forecasting, inventory management systems equip you with the tools needed to make data-driven strategic decisions.
Increase Advertising ROI Through Optimization and Automation
Implementing an inventory management system for your advertising media space brings huge benefits to both small, and large media companies. Publishers and media companies must leverage technology to gain a competitive advantage over rivals. Ad inventory management software uses automation to speed up deal time, remove inefficiencies, and enhance data accuracy & accessibility to benefit all functions of your business from sales to senior management. With easier access to accurate data and more time to review this information in-depth your sales & ad ops teams can prioritize optimize inventory sales to drive even greater results and quickly provide a return on investment for your chosen advertising inventory management software.
Originally published at www.advendio.com on October 29th, 2020
