Five ways media companies can take advantage of the shift to performance-based advertising

way for visitors to opt-out of providing their personal information.)

4) Talk to existing clients to find out what they want to buy. Media companies must have conversations with their existing clients. When the client shifts money to performance-based ad models, what does the client want to buy? Do they want pay per click? Pay per lead? Are they trying to generate an email list? Would they prefer to send e-mail marketing messages through a third-party and get detailed reporting information? There are many different types of performance-based ad models that companies can take advantage of, and media companies need to find out what their clients want.

5) Add measurable advertising offerings to the media line up quickly. Once the first four steps are accomplished, media companies need to add at least one performance-based ad option to their media kits as soon as possible. There is no reason to not take action quickly. If the media company isn’t ready to begin offering an option such as lead generation or search advertising on its own, there are many third-party companies that will partner to offer performance-based advertising on a split-revenue basis.

The shift to performance is already happening. With a little bit of foresight, it’s an advertising shift that will benefit both marketers and media companies alike.

Melissa Chang is the founder of Pure Incubation, an Internet incubator based in the Boston area. She blogs at 16thletter.com.

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