Advertisers are tired of cookie cutter presentations from digital advertising reps. They want to know that the technology they are considering is more than just effective; they want to know that it is effective for their business.

That’s why the sales rep that creates a custom proposal “just for roofers” is going to have more success than the rep that uses a generic proposal that “also happens to work for roofers.”

Here are four strategies you can use to customize your pitch for that roofer – or any other vertical you’re pitching.

ONE: USE CUSTOM IMAGES AND/OR GRAPHICS

Most good sales proposals are a mix of words and images. When an advertiser sees images that represent his products and services, he’s going to feel that the strategy being pitched is specific to his industry.

It’s a little thing really. But it can be powerful. Let’s say you’re sharing how Site Retargeting can drive users who have previously visited the advertiser’s website to come back to the site. Using a screen shot of the advertiser’s own website in your presentation shows that you took the time to personally customize the proposal and that Site Retargeting is a good strategy for their website.

When you pitch the dentist on Keyword Search Retargeting and your presentation features a mom and her smiling kids surfing the web*, it helps the dentist to better imagine his prospect taking that action in real life.

It’s rare when advertisers take the time to read your proposal word for word, so complementing the pitch with images can visually sell the concept that your technology is ideal for their particular business.

* Be sure to use photos and graphics with permission from the copyright holder or use those that fall under the CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license.

TWO: USE RELEVANT KEYWORDS AND LANGUAGE

Use the things you learned about the business during your research and your customer needs analysis to customize your pitch.

You will of course use words like “home improvement” and “remodeling” in your pitch to the hardware store. But imagine also presenting a robust list of keywords of the products he sells and the projects people are doing as a way of showing him how you can target such a specific audience.

Saying, “We can target users who are doing home improvement projects” is fine, of course. But saying, “We can target users who have recently searched for or read content related to home improvement, remodeling, how to build a deck, adding a sunroom, landscape installation, shovels, deck screws, power screwdriver, granite epoxy, hardwood floors, circular saw and thousands more relevant keywords” is going to be a whole lot more impressive to that customer.

THREE: USE POWERFUL STATISTICS

I’d like to demonstrate how powerful this strategy is by sharing a few statistics that I recently found while preparing to speak with a B2B (business to business) advertiser:

• 90% of B2B researchers who are online use search specifically to research business purchases.
• B2B researchers do 12 searches on average prior to engaging on a specific brand’s site.
• Over the past two years, growth in B2B researchers using smartphones throughout the path to purchase has grown by 91%.

Source: Google/Milward Brown Digital

Certainly you could get away with sharing a generic pitch that highlights the value of your advertising technology with your B2B client. But can you see how much more impressive it is to include industry-specific stats in your proposal?

It shows that you did your research. It shows that Search Retargeting and even Geo-fencing are great solutions for the B2B client, in a way that a generic proposal simply can’t.

You can do this with any vertical. Just do a web search for what you’re looking for or check out www.thinkwithgoogle.com/search for great statistics.

FOUR: INCLUDE CONQUESTING STRATEGIES

Business owners love the idea of placing their ads in front of prospects that are looking at their competitors. (Have you ever seen a billboard for the Ford dealer on your way to the Chevrolet dealer? Not a coincidence, I promise!)

So when you show a business owner that your technology can reach users who are searching for their competitor’s, they get really excited. While explaining how Search Retargeting works, include a list of competitive keywords, encompassing the competitors names, as well as the products and services they offer.

Example: “We can target users who are searching for Dave’s Chevrolet, Blue Springs Ford, and Kansas City Kia, as well as makes and models like Silverado, F-150 and Kia Sedona.”

Follow this up with a cool stat like: “The first brand auto shoppers search for is the same brand they purchase only 22% of the time. – Millward Brown Digital and Polk”

Don’t just tell your prospect that the technology can be used to target their competitors. Show them exactly how it works.

YOU WILL BE THE EXCEPTION
Follow these strategies, and your proposals will be customized in a way that most business owners have never seen. Having a custom pitch can go a long way toward proving that your technology is custom, that you’re not going to provide another cookie cutter solution – and that you aren’t another cookie cutter sales person.