Remarkable progress has been made after just two days of demo!

Demo Day 1

Demo Day 2

Here’s a video with a short walk through of the area demolished as of August 5th.

It’s nice to see the launch of our Publisher Edition product getting plenty of media coverage, most recently spending a couple of days on the home page of MediaBuyerPlanner.  Although for some reason they classified us in the “radio” section.  I understand that, because of their format, they had to classify us in a specific medium, however it’s interesting that they chose radio.  It’s also interesting that their overall format requires a media selection…one of the whole premises Balihoo is built on is that buying is moving to a more medium-agnostic approach. 

Another random note - if you need a “take it with you” sheet on Balihoo Publisher edition you can find it here.

The announcement of our Publisher Edition product was picked up several places, but I wanted to specifically point out that ADOTAS picked up the story this morning. 

I have to admit that somehow I’ve made it this far without becoming aware of ADOTAS.  However, after spending some time on their site (not just reading the Balihoo article) it turns out that they’re a great resource for interactive marketers.  Looks like another RSS-worthy feed!

Did you know?

Balihoo has teams of Media Specialists and Data Researchers who are fully focused and committed to continually improving the quality of the data you find in our platform. The Media Specialist team has been focused on improving the data quality for the top 100 products in specific media classifications. The purpose has been to gather all data available online including such elements as product description, URL, contact information, documents, demographics, coverage area, and audience information, to name a few. The following media classifications have been recently completed:

• Broadcast Radio
• Broadcast Television
• Print Magazines
• Print Newspapers
• Print Journals
• Print Newsletters
• Print Directories
• Online Websites
• Online Blog
• Online E-Newsletters

And the data focus continues….

Earlier this week, MediaWeek wrote a pretty interesting article, “Buyers Want Newspapers to Reinvent Model“. 

“Shrinking newsrooms.  Falling operating margins.  Double-digit declines in ad revenue.  American newspapers today are awash in ink - but the ink is red.  Soaring newsprint prices and stalled ad business have, in fact, led analysts to call this year the worst for newspapers since the Great Depression.” 

Interesting stuff, and fascinating to watch, but I think the real question here lies in what to do about it? 

Just yesterday the Wall Street Journal released an article, “Newspapers think locally for online ads”.   The first paragraph of that article: 

“In an effort to make up for their plunging print-ad revenues, newspaper companies have been scrambling to train their sales teams in the intricacies of selling online ads to local marketers.”

It would seem to me that this strategy, albeit quite late to the party, seems to be right-on in terms of focusing your sales efforts.  Newspapers and their corresponding websites do a great job at reaching the local market.  This chart, provided by our friends at LION Media, demonstrates that in aggregate, local newspapers have a significant reach into the market.  Beyond that, they’re highly targeted and tend to bring a more sophisticated, more affluent reader.  All traits that marketers value highly.

So, back to my recommendations for newspapers:

1. Don’t “train” your print guys to be web guys.  Realize that marketers want to reach their audience in the most affective, most creative, most cost-conscious way possible and build a sales team that drives to that goal, regardless of medium.  Acknowledge that your buying market is moving to be medium-agnostic - your sales force should also. 

2. Take the work out of the system for both the sales rep and the buyer.  Provide them with tools to quickly and easily transact the sale so they can focus on the strategy behind the buy. 

3. Give the small guys a chance.  As the market fragments you have to be willing to do a better job with the smaller, longer-tail of buyers out there.  While it may not make sense to build a salesforce to address them, other tools (like Balihoo Publisher Edition) can provide you with a method to monetize this existing demand.

Pretty exciting news today, we’ve officially launched a new product called Balihoo Publisher Edition.  You can read the full press release here.  This is a product we’ve been working on for several years, so you can imagine our thrill at finally being able to publically announce it to the marketplace. 

Balihoo Publisher Edition is basically a white-label portal solution that allows media sellers to make the full breadth of their advertising inventory available for purchase online in a publisher branded portal.  There are significant benefits to the publisher in such a solution:

• Drive efficiency into the direct sales model, freeing up sales reps to focus on high-value, high-margin strategic selling efforts 
• It gives publishers the ability to combine and bundle media vehicles for true cross-medium sales efforts
• Reach the long-tail of the buyer market with a self-service portal
• Easily capture incremental budget from existing customers  

The other exciting news (that you won’t find in the press release) is that we are currently implementing the product with a major Publisher customer and we’re only a few weeks away from it going live and announcing that to the market.  More news to come on that soon!

Interesting article on MediaPost today:  Audience Fragmentation Challenges Media-Buying Process. 

 Naturally this article struck a chord, as the concept of “media fragmentation” was one of the primary reasons Balihoo was founded to begin with.  We’ve been covered several times in this vein: 

Get more relevant with niche media

A Media Planning Solution for a Fragmented World

The angle that I think is missing from this article is the concept of cross-medium planning and buying.  As ad platforms become more sophisticated, it’s critical that we as technology providers allow seamless cross-medium planning and execution.  While medium-specific tools are still valuable for the vertically-organized media group, more and more the industry is moving towards horizontal buying and planning organizations that are responsible for reaching a customer across their media consumption habits.  As a major media organization, or even a small shop, I would seriously hesitate to invest in any ad planning/buying technology that did not enable true cross-medium functionality. 

Balihoo is continually dedicated to streamlining the manner in which the media planning process is carried out. For both parties involved in the process (buyers and sellers) there seems to be an ever-escalating need for heightened efficiency in the RFP/RFI (Request for Proposal/Request for Information) process. The Balihoo Worksheet is one component of our system that seamlessly and effectively conducts and manages RFP’s and RFI’s for you. Resulting in accurate, rapid and customizable data (which undoubtedly results in fewer migraines for you) the Worksheets are equally valuable to both the buyer and the seller.

 From the Seller’s Perspective - Balihoo’s Worksheets 

The Worksheet jumps into action when you receive a RFP.

The Worksheet offers you an efficient, online and centralized location where you can respond to the RFP’s you receive from Balihoo. The responses that you enter will automatically flow into the buyer’s Worksheet, thus ensuring that the number exchanging process goes flawlessly.

In addition, the Worksheet allows you to save responses. By offering a tool that allows you to quickly respond with “standard” responses you are able to focus your attention on what’s really important:  the strategic components of the RFP process.

From the Buyer’s Perspective - Balihoo’s Worksheets

The Worksheet jumps into action when you begin to receive responses to your customizable Request for Proposals (RFP).

When you issue a RFP the responses to that RFP automatically flow into an online worksheet. The great thing about our worksheet is that it is completely customizable and was built on the premise of simplifying the comparison process.  With the Balihoo Worksheet you no longer have to tediously copy/paste section after section in an attempt to compare responses; the system filters and files your customized RFP responses automatically into an easy-to-use spreadsheet. The Excel-compatible worksheet allows you to easily identify and compare the information that you need, thus allowing you to spend more of your valuable time focusing on the strategic components of the RFP process.

Just another reason why Balihoo truly is the media planning professional’s best friend.

We’ve outgrown our current office space, and we’re starting construction on 11,000 square feet. No more 2 page directions to our office- we’ll be right outside the elevator on the 3^rd floor. Check back for construction progress and pictures!

Almost 20 years had passed since I actually owned a bike, but on Father’s Day this year I got a new bike from my kids. I live in Boise – officially the City of Trees, but to many the Biking City due to its many accolades for the abundance of biking trails in and around town. Despite the myriad biking opportunities, both on trail and off, in town and in the foothills, I had never biked in Boise. I do plenty of outdoors stuff, but so much that there was never room for another hobby like biking.

Well, last Wednesday morning I decided to bike into work. The ride was about 6 miles each way, and I was able to bike the entire way along the Boise Greenbelt – a paved walking and biking path that runs continuously along the Boise River. I was immediately struck by a few things:
- First, the sheer number of people along the path – proves what an outdoor-oriented place Boise is. People of all ages were walking, jogging, riding bikes, walking dogs, walking with kids, etc…
- The serenity of it all – there were no traffic lights, cars, or cacophonous noises like on a road. Moreover, you pretty much see the river the entire way and lots of wildlife.
- The weather – Boise gets hot during the day, but the mornings are amazingly calm and cool. Unfortunately, the afternoons are significantly hotter, but the greenbelt’s shade made it pretty comfortable.

These combined factors make for a great spirit and mindset coming into work each morning. Moreover, it’s really amazing to live in a capital city and have such amazing access to the outdoors right in the center of the city. Here are a few pictures of the sights you see along the greenbelt:

Certainly one of my motivations for biking is to save a little gas money. I’d imagine that the number of people on the greenbelt has increased because of gas prices, but Boise has always been a biking town. Proof positive of this is the number of bikes parked outside our office entrance every day! I don’t see biking replacing my other outdoor passions, like fly fishing (see previous blog post), but it’s definitely a great way to start the day.