Question
I'm preparing to launch a marketplace that will promote SaaS products and services. This marketplace is an extension of an existing product that launched a month ago and is slowly building up.
Our site doesn't have much traffic yet (1k unique a month), but we expect this will go up significantly over the coming months.
Is it silly to think I can sell some early advertising packages to SaaS vendors (pre-launch), to help bankroll growth of the marketplace?
I had mulled over the idea of offering something like 2 to 3 months of prominent product placement in their respective categories for really cheap (e.g. $250 - $500) while we work to build up traffic.
Since the traffic is low right now there won't any ROI guarantees, but I wonder if sharing the product and marketplace vision with them (which I believe will resonate) and offering a cheap package might convince them it's worth taking a chance? Or is this a pipe dream?
Answer
I would offer them the deal for 4 months with the option to get the same deal for the next 8 months. In the first 4 months they won't be getting a great deal but in the second and third periods they would be getting a really good deal since you would have more traffic and so there would be more value for them
Example: 1st Period (4 months) @ $100 with a total of 4k views based on 1k per month. Avg 2.5 cents per view.
2nd period (4 months) @ $100 with a total of 8k views based on 2k per month. Avg 1.25 cents per view.
3rd period (4 months) @ $100 with a total of 12k views based on 2k per month. .Avg 0.8 cents per view.
They would not be obligated to purchase the 2nd or 3rd period but I would make sure they have to make that decision 15 days prior to the end of period 1.
I hope this helps you. Feel free to contact me for more details. I have done ad sales from $100 to $50k ad contracts.
