This article presents tremendous points of consideration on entering the space. Points that many of the newspapers I have spoken to never thought of or considered.

Reading Chris Lee’s comments on how DDM positions these services is a great example of how it should be done and how it fits in your sales model – feed the O&O goods. Greg Walls comments are examples of why you may not want to get into Digital Agency services – high sales & staff churn which is very costly in terms of dollars and customer satisfaction.

Given the low profit margins of vendor supplied products Digital Agency services only makes sense if they can be delivered at scale – something that cannot be done with feet on the street. As BIA/Kelsey noted in another article, “This point was underscored with data from BIA/Kelsey’s Local Commerce Monitor showing the majority of SMB prefer to deal with a premise (outside) sales rep.”

Before you even consider this path do you know the answer to these question?

What is your online inventory in-market/out-market split?
Do you have an audience segmentation plan that addresses this split?
What is your sell-through rate?
What is your average unit rate?
What is your retention rate on non-OTO business?

If you cannot answer these confidently and quickly you have some serious house maintenance to do. After you have maximized the O&O revenue potential then look outside for other opportunities and scale.