Automation is shaking up the publishing industry, and media companies should welcome the disruption.
Exciting advances in tech — and especially AI — are letting publishers explore new ways to automate everything from content translation to video editing.
Lately, automated processes like robo-journalism, where AI writes content by itself, are stealing the headlines — like when the Guardian published a piece titled “A robot wrote this entire article. Are you scared yet, human?”
That said, publishers should really consider how to improve less-flashy internal operations with automation. In particular, managing ad orders with automation has incredible upside potential for media companies.
It’s easy to get caught up in the hype surrounding the new frontiers of tech on the content side — and many publishers are. Forty percent of newsrooms cite AI-based reporting as a priority this year. However, here are four reasons to channel that enthusiasm for smart technology to ad management:
1. It’s where the money is. Digital subscriptions are soaring, but advertising is still a top source of revenue in the media industry. In fact, digital ad revenue soared by 35% last year, the biggest annual leap since 2006, according to a joint report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Ads remain a pillar of the publishing business model, so any improvements to related workflows — and that’s what automation is really about — can pay off in spades.
2. Managing ads “by hand” is tedious. Ad sales is a dynamic and often unpredictable field, but it also involves its share of cumbersome tasks, work that basically amounts to data entry.
The good news? Automation excels at those kinds of tedious assignments, so much so that one programmer automated their own job (there was some disagreement about whether they should tell their employer).
3. It’s a low-risk investment. The technology is relatively new but has gained considerable traction, so publishers should be confident that it’ll hold its own. Major media-industry players, including Vice Media, have started toying with automating order management. On the other hand, robo-journalism’s future is a lot less clear.
4. There’s already a solution built specifically for publishers. Some publishers already take advantage of automation with Adpoint OMS, Lineup’s order management system designed by media specialists, for media specialists.
In particular, sales teams are using the Lineup OMS’s Adpoint Workflow plugin to work smarter.
Adpoint Workflow is a customizable plugin that lets publishers introduce automation from the moment a sales order is created.
The plugin is capable of evaluating orders based on predetermined rules of your choosing. At each stage of an order’s journey, Adpoint Workflow can verify that the standard operating procedures (SOPs) are met, letting the item quickly move along the pipeline.
When human sign-offs or other actions are needed, Adpoint Workflow sends notifications to the required users. For example, many sales teams use the plugin to automate copy chasing because Adpoint Workflow can be set to remind the right person when advertising copy is due (check out nine other popular uses).
The time spent setting up Adpoint Workflow for your unique needs pays off. For instance, you’ll only need to set the SOPs once for each channel you sell across, but you’ll benefit from that effort every single time an order is placed afterwards.
Here are five advantages of using Adpoint Workflow (and automation) for order management:
1. Improved accuracy: Human error is inevitable when entering data by hand. Even with small spreadsheets, the probability of human error is between 18% and 40%, one academic paper found. Adpoint Workflow substantially reduces the need to type in entries manually.
2. Lower overhead: Small clerical errors can get expensive, whether it’s a typo or sending an email to the wrong address. Failing to meet a client’s urgent request because certain files got lost in the shuffle might cost a publisher their hard-earned business. Adpoint Workflow’s ability to automate important notices and approvals can save publishers money.
3. Satisfied customers: By removing many manual processes, orders are also fulfilled faster. That leads to a better experience for advertisers, establishing stronger customer relationships for a publisher.
4. More accountability: Management can set Adpoint Workflow to flag delayed or forgotten tasks. These notifications help foster a culture of accountability, where all sales teams are aware of their responsibilities and issues can be addressed openly (the prompts are another way to improve customer service as well).
5. Increased productivity: When sales teams aren’t buried in repetitive admin tasks, they’ve got more time to focus their energies on complex or custom orders — and those tend to generate more revenue, too.
When it comes to order management, no automation restricts, good automation regulates, and great automation — the sort that Adpoint Workflow enables — frees up employees to be more creative and productive.
To start incorporating Adpoint Workflow automation to manage your media company’s orders more efficiently, book a call with Lineup today.
Neil Rigby has been with Lineup since 2011, where he worked in the deployment team and as digital SME, before becoming the OMS & Digital product manager, bringing his considerable experience to the role.
