Company helps advertisers get online presence

Robyn Beder

Robyn Beder, founder of Net Margins Inc., a company that provides advertisers with cost effective access to high quality media inventory on the web, was destined for a career in mass communications.

“I studied it in school, before people even had access to the Internet,” laughed Beder. “Of course things were a little bit different back then, and I never could have predicted where my career would take me.”

After graduating from university, Beder earned a certificate in public relations from Humber College and was able to use her networking skills to turn her part-time position as a sales associate at Roots into a job in their public relations department.

“My official role was to help plan events for the company, but what I was really doing was selling stories to the press,” she said.

“I realized I was actually very good at sales, and was bitten by the bug.”

Beder left Roots and went to work for a company that sold advertisements for small-town newspapers.

Eventually, in 1995, she left print media and began a new role at a company that sold websites.

“This was a new technology and it made me a little nervous,” said Beder.

“It was my mother who convinced me that websites were the way of the future and I should take the risk.”

Of course, Beder’s mother was right. The Internet became accessible to the mainstream public, and her company was purchased by Microsoft. 

“All of a sudden not only were we selling websites, but other companies wanted to sell ads for the websites. This was a very cool time to be working in technology.”

In 2003, Beder combined the skills she had developed over the years and created Net Margins Inc. In 2009 she left her job to focus on building her own company full time.

“Net Margins [provides] a cost effective way for advertisers to get into online media,” explained Beder.

“We build relationships to help clients get their ads on the web, and make sure these ads get seen by clients.”

Beder has a long list of clients, including banks, automotive industries, retailers and packaged goods companies.

“A company will approach me and tell me their target audience, for example mothers between the ages of 25 to 34, as well as the time of day that they want to reach their audience.

“I will then find content on the Internet that matches their ads,” explained Beder.

The client will design their advertisement and Beder will match the content to the websites.

One example is when she ran an Air Canada ad for a flight to Tel Aviv in The Canadian Jewish News.

After the ad is placed, Beder will track how effective it is by monitoring things such as how many links a consumer clicked through on the website, or how many people signed up for a product.

“We can see right away if an ad is working, and if it’s not I’ll make suggestions to improve it,” she said.

Beder is constantly monitoring campaign reports to ensure that they are reaching the largest audience possible.

“I love being able to see the progress right away; it’s like instant feedback,” she said.

Beder will often have more than 50 ad campaigns running simultaneously. In addition to placing ads on websites she will also stage campaigns on other social media sites, such as Twitter.

“There are so many avenues to explore today – it’s such an exciting time,” she said.

A team of consultants works with Beder, but she meets all her clients in person and she oversees all aspects of a campaign.

“I have a hand in every project, and my iPhone is always within reach no matter what time it is,” she said.

Beder’s goal is to say “yes” to whatever her clients want. “I under promise and over deliver,” she said.

“Everyone is busy, so I want to make working with me as simple as I can. I make everyone feel important and listen to what they have to say. I will always find a way to make it work.”