Balihoo Launches Marketer Edition [Ad]

AdLab's sponsor Balihoo launched their Marketer Edition product. In a nutshell, the product provides national brands the ability to consistently implement distributed demand-generation efforts by centralizing the management and execution of all local marketing activities. Functionality highlights:

• Local dealers can customize corporate-approved creative on-the-fly to create personalized but on-brand advertising and marketing materials across all mediums.
  
• Local dealers can plan and buy local advertising with a few simple clicks and leverage the corporate buying power of the national brand.
  
• National brands drive demand generation and brand consistency at the local level.
  

Click for more information on this franchise and coop marketing product.

Showcase Your Ad Inventory with Balihoo Publisher Edition

A few months ago, I shared a few thoughts for entrepreneurs who plan to bankroll their start-ups through advertising. One of the tips was about removing friction from the ad sales process, and a good place to start would be to drop a media kit into an easy to find spot online. If you think this not-so-groundbraking idea makes sense, take a look at the new product introduced a couple of weeks ago about by one of AdLab's sponsors, Balihoo. Balihoo Publisher Edition is "a web-based application that enables media owners and publishers to position and sell the full breadth of their inventory directly to media buyers and advertisers." Below is a video promo from TechInsights that is launching its ad sales site built on Balihoo Publisher Edition in September.

Former Time Publisher on Media Changes

Jack Haire, the former publisher of Time Magazine and president of Fortune/Money group who last week joined Balihoo's board of directors, talks about industry chaos, advertising networks and the movement of media dollars [emphasis mine].

"In spite of the challenging economic times we're in, I like to think of the media business as one of the sectors showing the greatest innovation and development. The media pie continues to grow, even though the ad spend mix is shifting. At the moment new technologies are the rage providing new levels of customization and accountability. Share, and in some instances, absolute dollars have shifted away from broadcast TV, magazines, newspapers and radio to the web, cable TV and outdoor, which has shown an exciting ability to reinvent itself using technology to better target and deliver value. When you think about all the new interactive brands, both new and associated with traditional media, it's pretty exciting."

In some ways, I think of this shift from traditional venues to online as a swing of the pendulum to a new more accountable medium, and the need for marketers to test and refine their approach. But as the pendulum finds middle ground, the one constant will be that great brands will draft off this competitive threat and get stronger or be marginalized. I am often reminded of how efficient and effective traditional media is at getting the word out to a large audience of readers and viewers. And they do this in very clean uncluttered, effective environments that are time tested at generating efficient results. The web is only one piece of the pie."

On online ad networks:
"I'm not a huge fan. And it is interesting to note that really strong web brands like espn.com and Martha Stewart are eschewing them because they realize that they are the crown jewel brands that advertisers want and will pay for. In essence they are the lead brands that "legitimize" the network. As an advertiser, I'd want to make sure I know where, and in what environments my ads will appear in. As a publisher, I'd worry about being commoditized by being a part of these networks. That said, with new behavioral and contextual targeting available, these networks do give you a way to reach your targets efficiently. So if I'm looking for an efficient way to reach hand raisers, I'd have them in the mix. One of the huge benefits of these networks, is that they are an efficient way to buy multiple sites. Balihoo can help marketers be far more efficient, and still allow them to buy brands they know and trust."

More about Balihoo on AdLab. Balihoo provides a platform for media planning and buying, and is AdLab's advertiser.

Balihoo: The Bottom Line [Ad]

Click image to view full size.

"This week’s post is the last in our series on Balihoo – the only on-demand media buying and planning platform that provides intelligent software-PLUS-services to media professionals across all mediums.

We’ve walked through:

- How Balihoo helps create better media plans by making it easier to find and evaluate advertising opportunities across all mediums;
- How Balihoo streamlines the RFI/RFP process, allowing media professionals to increase return on invested time and effort; and
- How Balihoo reduces costs and creates more effective media plans, by centralizing knowledge and providing easy access to historical data.

The bottom line: Balihoo exists to make the lives of media professionals easier. With a passion for solving real problems for our customers, we offer software and services that do just that.

If you’ve followed our posts (whether the entire series or not), we hope we’ve piqued your interest in what we’re doing here at Balihoo. If you’d like to learn more about our solution hit our site. If you’d like to learn more about who we are (and have a dialogue with us!) check out our blog. "

Centralized Knowledge as a Competitive Advantage [Ad]

Balihoo fosters knowledge sharing by archiving your company’s activity history with specific media properties.


This is the fourth post in the Balihoo series, in which Shane Vaughan explains how the product suite helps counter brain drain in media organizations through information sharing.

"Our last post focused on how Balihoo can bring efficiencies to the RFI/RFP step in the media buying and planning process. Now let’s see how Balihoo benefits media organizations by countering the knowledge drain of employee turnover and the knowledge compartmentalization that occurs when information isn’t shared.

Let’s face it, media buyers don’t stay put for very long and when they leave for greener pastures or a higher rung on the ladder essential knowledge leaves with them. That knowledge includes details on past and current campaigns that are critical to the organization’s success… both present and future.

A less obvious intellectual capital issue is simply the lack of data sharing within and across offices. Ironically enough in this age of ubiquitous communication channels, it can still be difficult to disseminate critical information throughout a company in the form, and at the speed, it’s most needed.

Balihoo offers users centralized knowledge via two features: campaign dashboards and company activity histories. Campaign dashboards allow all users within your company to view details including that campaign’s consideration set, uploaded documents, RFIs/RFPs created or released, worksheets, and internal notes; all critical data for campaign management and analysis. Company activity histories allow users to save (and share) internal notes/tips about interactions or processes for any given property in our comprehensive media database. Additionally, these histories automatically list RFPs related to the property as well as any Quick Requests (a request of owners to update their listing in Balihoo’s database).

This functionality yields shared critical knowledge and institutional memory. Both of which are essential for developing a wiser, more agile organization. That translates into reduced costs by mitigating the training burden and impact of employee turnover; and more effective media plans resulting from easy access to historical data."


Users throughout your organization can view all campaign details (including uploaded docs & any internal notes) via Balihoo’s Campaign Dashboards.

$10 Amazon Gift Card for Balihoo's Survey [Ad]

Balihoo's Shane Vaughan writes:

"This week we’re going to depart from our usual posts to reach out to media planners & buyers for feedback on their workflow processes. At Balihoo we think these processes could use a little help. The administrative burden is heavy and inefficiencies abound.

That’s our take, but we’d like to hear from you. So if you are a media planner or buyer please take a few minutes to give us your thoughts via this very short survey.

A completed survey from you equals a $10 Amazon gift certificate from us!

Click here to access the survey.

Next week we’ll return to our series of posts on Balihoo’s suite of media planning software and service tools.

Thanks for your feedback. We are definitely listening."

Balihoo’s RFI/RFP Module [Ad]

Cutting Inefficiencies out of the Process

This is the third post in the series. Today, Shane Vaughan explains Balihoo's RFI/RFP management features.



Balihoo’s step-by-step RFI/RFP builder allows buyers to easily create fully-customizable requests.


"My last post focused on building a consideration set. Today let’s talk about the next step in the media buying and planning process: the RFI/RFP.

Media buyers know the RFI/RFP step in the planning process is where they’d like a wormhole to appear and shorten the journey from request to fulfillment. The administrative burden is heavy and inefficiencies abound. Today information is often gathered via email with the requisite Excel attachment. Numerous emails are sent, some disappear into the ether, while others spawn responses yielding carpal-tunnel-inducing hours of cutting and pasting. Here’s where Balihoo earns the moniker “Advertising’s Best Friend”.

Whether it’s a request for information or a formal proposal, Balihoo offers a step-by-step process to build a fully-customizable RFI/RFP. Buyers can send along budget information or upload documents to accompany their request. Proposal grids within the tool allow for greater organization of data. Another time-saver is the ability to save RFIs/RFPs as templates for future campaigns; no more creating requests from scratch.

Getting an RFI/RFP to the right person and obtaining a timely response are obviously critical. To that end, Balihoo contains contact information for each property in our database. And if a buyer’s go-to rep (or property, for that matter) isn’t in the tool, they are easily added. As for responses, Balihoo’s data research team works with sellers to get your requests the attention they deserve. As those responses come in, data flow into an online worksheet for easy analysis. There’s no need to aggregate data from disparate documents into one – Balihoo securely manages the data for you.

Media sellers save resources and time by using one interface with prepopulated standard data fields. Balihoo makes the communication of necessary data easier and more efficient for sellers and buyers alike."

[This is a post by AdLab's advertiser]

Using Balihoo to Build a Consideration Set [Ad]

[This is a post by AdLab's advertiser]


Balihoo’s vertical search engine helps you find relevant advertising opportunities faster.




Product details in Balihoo help you choose your consideration set.



Balihoo provides campaign details in one easy-to-access location.


This is the second post in the series where Shane Vaughan explains how to use Balihoo's tool to build a consideration set:


"My last post introduced Balihoo as the only on-demand media buying and planning platform that provides intelligent software-PLUS-services to media professionals across all mediums.

I mentioned how Balihoo allows media professionals to build a consideration set, execute more efficiently, and centralize knowledge. Today we’re going to dive into building a consideration set with Balihoo.

Media buyers know building a consideration set can be a hair-pulling experience – ever-increasing choices for advertising opportunities accompanied by heightened scrutiny of targeting precision. Buyers need to efficiently find opportunities which meet their campaign criteria. Balihoo streamlines media research and selection and aggregates that information into one easy-to-use location that’s sharable across your organization.

Media sellers also face the challenge of cutting through the clutter so buyers gain visibility to their unique offerings. Balihoo offers sellers exactly that, one interface to communicate property details to all buyers at once and enhanced visibility through promotional opportunities.

Balihoo offers the largest collection of cross-medium advertising opportunities that’s searchable via geography, keyword, or medium. Whether you want to use your “go-to” properties or find unique opportunities previously too difficult to find, Balihoo can help. Our database is constantly fed by a variety of data sources (see attached graphic). This comprehensive database allows buyers to cut steps and time out of the process and ultimately make better media plans with increased return on invested time and effort.

For our next post we’ll examine how Balihoo takes users from a consideration set to powerful RFI / RFP modules where even greater efficiencies are gained."

Balihoo: Media Buying and Planning Platform

Some time ago, I came across and posted a quick note about Balihoo, a tool for media planners and buyers, then still in beta. The company now is back to AdLab with a series of guest posts by Balihoo's Shane Vaughan explaining how to use the tool's many features. The first installment follows.


What is Balihoo?

Balihoo is the only on-demand media buying and planning platform that provides intelligent software-PLUS-services to media professionals across all mediums.

So what does that mean?

Balihoo makes the lives of media professionals easier.

Media buyers use Balihoo because it streamlines the media research, selection, and request-for-proposal processes and then aggregates that information into one easy-to-use location that’s sharable across their organization.

Media sellers use Balihoo to communicate with buyers in one standard interface and increase sales through enhanced visibility of their media properties.

Balihoo is designed to take the frustration out of managing the exchange of data between media buyers and sellers and reduce administrative burdens: no more wading through an overwhelming choice of advertising opportunities, cutting and pasting from several documents into one, and time-consuming attempts to harness data.

Balihoo allows media professionals to:

• Build a consideration set by searching the world’s largest collection of cross-medium advertising opportunities
  
• Do more with less. Fully-customizable RFI / RFP modules provide a common interface for data gathering; responses auto-flow into online worksheets for analysis; Balihoo’s on-call data services team acts as an extension of your organization
  
• Centralize knowledge and securely store data for sharing across teams and offices for improved decision making and reduced turnover costs.
  

Balihoo’s comprehensive media database, robust efficiency tools, and data archiving capabilities increase return on invested time and effort; test-drive it now.

In the next post, we’ll discuss Balihoo’s solution in greater detail. Stay tuned.


[The above is a post by AdLab's advertiser.]