From Seattle to Sioux Falls, new advertising sales leader helps connect businesses with audiences

This piece is sponsored by Midco.

Businesses often depend on Midco for their internet needs – but Becky Martin wants to ensure that they do the same when it comes to their advertising strategy.

“There’s awareness to build. Not only that Midco has an advertising team, but awareness around everything we’re able to do for an advertiser,” said Martin, who became vice president of media sales in June.

“There are so many ways people engage with video content that it’s not enough anymore to put a message out there and hope people see it. We first identify who is the advertiser’s ideal customer, and by leveraging viewership data, we can place ads wherever, whenever and on whatever screens, streaming services and social media platforms that target customer is using to watch premium video content.”

Martin built a career honing that level of expertise with some of the biggest names in the industry.

Originally from the Chicago area, Martin’s family followed her father’s sales career around the country, ultimately leading to California, where she earned a master’s degree in film, cinema and video studies from the University of Southern California.

“I was always really intrigued by the arts and was interested in film production, but the film industry is more project-to-project. Television at that time was quickly evolving, going from three broadcast networks to four, plus the emergence of hundreds of cable channels. It was an exciting time to work in television.”

As she graduated college, the FOX television network was emerging as America’s fourth major network, “so it was an opportunity to help build something,” Martin said.

It was while serving as director of affiliate relations and network distribution at the FOX network that she first came to Sioux Falls.

“Ironically, when I was first starting out, I was the affiliate representative for FOX who helped KTTW in Sioux Falls transition from being an independent TV station into a FOX affiliate,” she said.

“I never really sought out to be in advertising, but I love building things and helping companies reach their potential. That’s what was fun about being at FOX and what is so rewarding about working with local businesses today.”

She transitioned into advertising sales at Northwest Broadcasting and then at Comcast Advertising. “As the television landscape continues to change, the focus has been helping advertisers understand the increasing value and appeal of cable network programming.”

Martin most recently served as head of sales at Comcast Advertising, based in Seattle, when the opportunity to join Midco emerged.

With Midco, “it’s such a solid company – yet always looking to grow and evolve,” Martin said. “It is rewarding to help our team of talented sellers evolve with the industry and continue to bring optimum value to our clients. Midco is a great company in a beautiful part of the county, and I’m excited to be part of it.”

We sat down with Martin to learn more about her role and the opportunities offered for advertising at Midco.

What specifically does your role as vice president of media sales entail?

I work with the five advertising sales teams across our geography, along with our full production team and Midco Sports. We work with all types of businesses in all our markets, and we specialize in helping area businesses reach their customers with engaging, creative messages running across all screens.

How do you find the consumer has changed in consuming video?

There’s a lot of chatter about cord cutting and people not watching TV, and that’s absolutely not the case. Across the industry, advertisers continue to rely on traditional TV as an anchor for their campaigns and augment with streaming and digital platforms for incremental reach – all of which we have to offer our advertisers.

Live sporting events, too, are in high demand because people gather to watch sports programming in real time, so Midco Sports is an important part of our media mix for clients. We’re pulling all that together and positioning our teams to help our clients deliver their message wherever and whenever the consumer is engaging with premium video content.

What are your impressions of Midco in your first months on the job?

I am blown away that Midco is almost a century-old company – starting with movie theaters in the 1930s – and is still growing and is such a fundamental part of our communities. Midco is visible in all the communities I’ve visited across the Dakotas, and I love that we are committed to investing in the communities we serve.  The talent and tenure of people here are remarkable. I feel fortunate, too, to be based in Sioux Falls. It’s fun to see how much the city has grown since the early days of my career, and I love that it has all the big-city attributes with a small-town feel.

How do you describe your approach to working with clients?

We are a team of trusted consultants. So much of what we do is help our clients navigate the complexities of the TV and digital landscape. If we can understand our clients’ needs and objectives, we can make recommendations on how best to reach their target audience. We are all about building long-term relationships and partnering with our clients to help their businesses grow.

Are there some new tools you’re excited to share with advertisers?

I’m most excited to let advertisers know two things: First, in addition to the great partnership they experience with our Midco Business team for driving connectivity for their business, Midco Advertising can help them connect with their customers. Second, it’s important for advertisers to know that we’re not only able to place ads on premium cable TV networks, but we also can reach customers across all screens, including digital and social platforms. Couple that with our award-winning production team, plus the ability to put their message in the best of Midco Sports, and you get a full-service advertising sales team when working with Midco.

To learn more about how Midco can help your business with its advertising needs, visit Midco.com/Advertising.