Media Buying
I buy your TV, CTV, and radio. I handle the reps, confirm every spot aired, check every invoice, and hold the station to what it promised you. You don't pay me. The channels do.
Buy direct and you're on your own. With me, you're not.
Placed Since 2006
Buying TV, CTV & Radio
With Most Of Our Clients
What's Happening Behind The Scenes
They don't know the real price. There's no comparison to what competitors pay and no data to check the rate against.
Broadcast billing is confusing. Nobody expects an owner to read it like a Comscore or Nielsen analyst. So 5-week months quietly cost more.
They have no leverage to negotiate. One business is one account to a station. A buyer placing schedules for many clients carries weight a single advertiser never gets.
They don't know how to ask for proof the audience was delivered. And when the report does show up, it's built for analysts, not owners.
They don't know what's truly premium ad inventory for their category. Premium ad inventory gets sold when it may not align with the client's goals, or remnant inventory is packaged and sold as premium inventory.
They don't know the right questions to ask, or when to ask them. That costs real money.
They're told contracts can't be cancelled.
Fact
A good media buyer gets you more new customers on better channels. And it gives you back the time you don't have to spend managing reps, campaigns, make-goods, and the data behind all of it.
The Work
I handle all of it.
You stop dealing with ad reps, contracts, and billing. Period. You run your business. I run this.
I stop the emails and the phone calls.
Every rep trying to sell you something new goes through me first. Your admin never has to tell a rep you're in a meeting. I keep you looped in on what the rep had to say, and you never talk to them. Once the reps know to call me, the calls to your office stop.
I read the bills so you don't have to.
You've probably paid for stuff you didn't fully understand. That stops.
I show you what aired.
Every week you get the schedule before it airs. After it airs, I check it against what actually aired.
I know what things actually cost.
You don't know if the price you are paying is too high. I do. That's the whole job.
I do the wrangling.
When a rep pushes, I push back. You never have to be the bad guy or get talked into something on the phone.
Leverage and relationships get us rates and added value you can't get on your own.
Rates and spots that aren't available to somebody calling in without the relationships.
I troubleshoot any issues in advance.
Contracts get read, signed right, and don't come back to bite you later.
I buy streaming with the same discipline as broadcast.
CTV is the ads that run on streaming TV apps instead of cable or antenna. It's where a lot of your customers went. It gets the same rate check, the same delivery proof, and the same make-good rules. Most direct buyers get sold it as a black box.
What This Actually Looks Like
This really happened, during election season. A station confirmed a client's schedule for the 2 most important weeks of their year, then didn't air it.
I got the real answer.
The station's first explanation was vague. I kept asking until I had the real one.
I got a fair replacement, in writing.
The first offer was shorter, cheaper spots. I asked for a fair replacement and had the new schedule in writing before I met with the client.
I showed the station what it cost.
Those two weeks are when this client's customers start calling again after summer. That's what got them to act.
How It Ended
The station upgraded the client to premium ad inventory in top-ranked shows. They added over 100 bonus spots on top of it. And they committed to more once political advertising clears out of the inventory.
The stations and streamers know this advertiser has a great agent. They also know this media buyer brings them advertisers they don't want to lose.
What Clients Say
Jessica Muller · Owner
We had heard about Ray Bell and Dinkytown Media from a vendor we work with. I needed someone to take the media buying, the rep calls and the billing off my plate. Ray did all of that. More importantly, his advice on messaging and which channels to add made us a top 3 cash home buyer in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Jessica Muller · True Neighbor Home Buyers
Who You're Dealing With
In 2010 I was selling radio advertising. One of my clients was a used car dealer in a Minnesota suburb who wanted to grow his lot into a full service auto center. He believed advertising would get him there, so he spent. When it didn't work, he spent more.
I told my sales manager the man didn't need more spots, he needed someone to fix his marketing. I was told my job was to sell ads.
Not long after, I drove out to pick up a check and watched the bank tow cars off his lot while I stood there. I had sold him those ads. I had taken the checks.
That was the day I quit selling ads. Ad sellers sell ads. That's the job. What that dealer never had was someone whose only loyalty was to his business.
So that's the job I built. I sit on the owner's side of the table, and I stay there month after month.
You get a person, not a platform.
20 years buying TV, CTV & radio
Minneapolis–St. Paul · Chicago · Milwaukee
Kansas City · Des Moines · Boston
How This Works
01
You call.
Fifteen minutes. You tell us what you're spending and where. No pitch, no proposal, no homework.
02
We look at what you've got.
Your current schedules, your rates, your billing cycle. We do a complete analysis and reconciliation of your campaigns.
03
We take it over.
We contact the channels and implement our proven system to do the job you need done.
Straight Answers
What does this cost me?
Nothing. My fee is zero. The channels pay me, and I work for you.
Why would the channels pay you?
I bring them enough business that they factor in the discount before they quote ad rates. That discount is how I get paid.
Am I locked into a contract with you?
No. You can stop any time. If it's not working for you, you should.
I already have a station rep I like. Doesn't this cut them out?
Your rep still gets the sale. The difference is they're now dealing with someone who knows what the ad is worth, what a real make-good looks like, and when to say no. Good reps respect that. The ones who don't are the ones you needed protection from anyway.
Do I have to be spending a lot?
Best fit if you are spending $75K+ annually on TV, CTV, radio or streaming audio.
Do I lose control of my own advertising?
You decide what to spend and what the ads say. I handle where they run, what you pay for them, and whether the station actually delivered. Nothing gets booked without you knowing.
What about my Google and Facebook ads?
This page is about TV, CTV, and radio. If you want to talk about how those work together with your online ads, that's a different conversation, and I'm happy to have it.
Do you handle streaming, or just regular TV and radio?
Both. Streaming TV, called CTV, is a bigger piece of every buy I place each year. It's also where the pricing and reporting are the least transparent, so a buyer who knows what to check matters more there, not less.
One More Time, Because It Matters
My fee is zero. I work for you, not the station. If it's not working for you, you can stop any time.
Reach out however you like
No fee · No contract · ray@dinkytownmedia.com