Hispanic female leaders in the digital content monetization industry

In the digital industry nowadays it’s really common to talk about content monetization. For the Merriam-Webster Dictionary to “Monetize” means “to coin into money”, which in simpler terms would be “to make money”.

Digital content monetization plays a major role for mass media owners. One could say it’s almost an art and a science to work within the field since it’s the area in charge of selling the advertising space to advertisers.

There’s an abundance of blogs, digital newspapers, games, videos, etc. on the Internet, but they often lack a clear strategy behind them with an in-depth understanding of the audiences that consume their content, the formats that adapt better for each advertising space in line with the advertiser’s goals, works for the brand’s security, and preserves metrics transparency, etc. Digital monetization would be barely profitable or effective and would lack a specific business model that would work for the specific media and the advertisers.  

It’s noteworthy to find that most of the leader profiles that work in this industry are women, and for that reason we wanted to interview several female experts, who know the digital monetization strategies for companies and media with Hispanic content; that way they could tell us a little bit about what kind of job they do, the biggest challenges or difficulties they face, and what kind of advice they could give to companies like us which are interested in monetizing content.

We talked to Alicia López (Webconsultas from Spain), Guiedani Nogueda López, (GINMedia from Mexico), Denisse Caballero, (Mobvious from the United States), Prisca Dumas (Summon Press from Spain) and Natalia Garza, (Multimedios Digital from Mexico).

1. Transformation, adaptation to change and continuous learning

Alicia López (Advertising and Marketing Director at Webconsultas – Spain).

The first big challenge I had to face was the rapid transformation of the media to the digital environment. The advertisers stepped carefully into this new reality and were suspicious when it came time to divert their budgets to the new digital environment.

There have been various challenges but I would highlight amongst them all, the necessity of continuous learning and adaptation to change, in an environment that changes every day. This could become stressful, but in reality, it’s fascinating. At Webconsultas, we face the daily challenge of creating strategies based on generating content relevant to the user, ensuring safe brand ecosystems and achieving KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).

2. Quality of the content and caring for your users

Guiedani Nogueda López (Ad Operations Manager, GINMedia – Mexico).

Taking very good care of the quality of your site’s content and specially of your users: it’s all about the trust chain. If your content is good you have a faithful audience, and if you have a quality audience, you have something better to offer to your advertisers. In the end, advertisers seek digital media they can trust.

There have been various challenges but I would highlight amongst them all, the necessity of continuous learning and adaptation to change, in an environment that changes every day. This could become stressful, but in reality, it’s fascinating. At Webconsultas, we face the daily challenge of creating strategies based on generating content relevant to the user, ensuring safe brand ecosystems and achieving KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).

If you measure your platforms and your partners’ performance you will be able to make decisions based on what might be working better; besides the income, you should verify that you are making the most of your inventory, that it doesn’t affect your website’s performance or your users’ experience. You shouldn’t be afraid of trying because each site and audience is different and the way to know whether a format or technology will generate income is trying it out. It could be the case that what works for others doesn’t work for you and vice versa but you have to make sure to try one at a time so you can analyze the results.

3. The new monetization models and measurement systems pose interesting challenges

Denisse Caballero (Director of Membership, Mobvious – United States and Latin America).

The appearance of new monetization models and measurement systems have posed interesting challenges in addition to the exponential growth of the industry.

In that respect, the strategies and action plans change constantly, and adaptability implies a new and different process every time. Non-standardized metrics such as Engagement, Viewability, and the emergence of new monitoring and verification companies turn out to be important factors that affect both the advertisers and the media before the challenge of transparency and the KPI’s reach.

Another factor is the establishment of programmatic monetization platforms and solutions that seem to dominate the world market. Such automation has been a true revolution in the purchase of media, offering a way for massive purchases that would be unattainable through the manual purchase of ad space…which was the origin of media buying. 

4. Eagle vision and humility

Prisca Dumas (Head of Digital Monetization Team, Summon Press – Spain).

It is imperative to develop a sense of eagle vision. I am all for specialization, but there are two aspects that I consider key to achieve success. The first is to develop a knowledge network wide enough in all areas or departments that your team should work with. It’s not about knowing about everything but to develop an understanding of the language and to be able to communicate with professionals with distinct abilities that differ from yours or your team’s. The second skill is the continuous exercise of humility, which will allow you to surround yourself with and to recruit great professionals who are even better than oneself.

5. Initiative, negotiation, creativity, teamwork, honesty

Natalia Garza (Commercial Coordinator at Multimedios Digital – Mexico).

There are several skills you should develop in content monetization, but I’m going to focus on five of them: Initiative: to be able to deliver a specific proposal of good quality to the client. Problem solving skills: even though there could be very good campaigns, this environment is an ever changing world, and a creative commercial could fail, or the following tag of a campaign, etc. So you should have the capacity to renegotiate or reach an agreement to be able to continue with the collaboration.

Creativity is important to be able to develop new formats and new methods of working.  Monetization is something in which you don’t work on your own. You have a whole team behind you comprised of programmers, salespeople, operators, etc. Teamwork will lead you to get good results.

Finally, honesty between you and your client is the most important thing to be able to develop trust and to work more easily and to develop a successful campaign.