How to Save Time Managing Vendors and Invoices

Working with an advertising agency can have definite time management benefits. One thing RCG excels at that can help any marketing department perform better, is streamlining the entire vendor paperwork, billing, and invoice payment process.

Have you outgrown old processes with vendor paperwork?

Some things that are easy to manage when a company is small can end up burdensome and overly complicated when the scale gets bigger. That’s especially true when it comes to marketing and advertising. Multiple TV and radio stations, online service providers, Google ads, listings, sponsorships … managing each of these categories successfully can take a tremendous amount of time.

And, as your business scales up that time adds up, too. There are new media channel vendors, new invoices and new payments to manage. That’s assuming everything runs simply.

If you’re currently advertising, then you’re probably aware of another list of barriers to expanding the impact of your advertising investment.

• Credit applications
• Minimum spends
• Pre-payment
• Aging invoices

These administrative paperwork items can be a pain to manage. Furthermore, if they’re not taken care of, they can have a big impact on whether your advertising will reach the homeowner audience you want.

After these the initial barriers of starting a campaign are cleared, you may still face additional factors. Those factors can negatively impact your message and your money. Things like:

• Oversold Inventory – Political and seasonal ad volume can crowd out some advertisers. You don’t want to be one of them. We’ve addressed strategies to deal with that here.
• Makegoods – When a station bumps your ad or doesn’t run it in the right time frame, do you know? RCG does. And we demand they make it right with credits or “makegoods.” We have the systems in place to make this process efficient and cost-effective.
• Timely Creative – Making sure the right message is getting to your audience at the right time is important. Keeping track of creative options and media vendor deadlines and managing what runs and when can be a difference-maker.

How many of these critical factors are you managing? How much time is it taking?

There’s no question that keeping a sharp eye on all these elements can take a lot of time. Especially when advertising and managing media isn’t your primary business. Plus, it can be repetitive and frustrating when you have multiple vendors all presenting the same questions and challenges.

And even when it all runs perfectly, you’ll still face a monthly gauntlet when every single vendor reaches out for payment with individual invoices. Keeping track of payment deadlines and making sure your campaigns ran as promised is a dual task. Sometimes, invoices can fall through the cracks. And hiccups in the payment process can have a negative ripple effect. Advertisers might not accept your orders if you are late on payments. Marketing reps might not work as hard on behalf of your company if you don’t make payments on-time. Moreover, managing multiple payments to multiple vendors with multiple deadlines can make predicting cash flow a nightmare.

How can a media agency like RCG save me time and money?

Having a partner that can track and handle day-to-day vendor communication can be invaluable when it comes to saving both time and money. RCG’s process not only ensures your media strategy is being implemented, but our team provides all vendor billing in one easy-to-digest invoice package. This saves time for both your marketing team AND your AP team. As an extension of your business, we act as real stewards of your budget. Every order is fully transparent. You always know exactly where your ad dollars are being invested.

Partnering with an agency can give you the tools to level up your business by getting more leads and better sales without the incremental pain, hassle and expense of managing more and more vendors. In addition, an agency like RCG can provide valuable insights on creative rotation and performance metrics. RCG also provides specialized reporting that your team can use to make more informed decisions.

It’s time to stop drowning in paperwork and to start using more time to focus on serving homeowners! To find out how RCG can help streamline and organize your strategies, to reach goals and maximize your time, contact us today.