Advertising and media sales questions, answered
What QuoteCloud does for media sellers, what it doesn't, and which plan you need.
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This FAQ answers the questions media owners, publishers, broadcasters, outdoor companies, media agencies, production companies and sponsorship sellers ask about QuoteCloud: media plans and estimates, insertion orders and PO numbers, signers and deposits, rate cards and approvals, make-goods, bulk send, integrations, plans and the free trial.
Media plans, rate cards and templates
What is QuoteCloud for advertising and media?
QuoteCloud is proposal, booking and eSignature software for media owners, publishers, broadcasters, outdoor companies, media agencies, production companies and sponsorship sellers. You send media plans, insertion orders, rate-card offers and sponsorship packages from your own templates, and the advertiser and agency sign online. Agency retainers, SEO and social scopes are covered on our marketing services page.
Can a media plan show placements by channel with flight dates?
Yes. A price table can group placements by channel, with flight dates and specs in each line's note and spots, weeks, insertions or thousands of impressions as the quantity. A Gantt chart block on the Business plan shows the flighting week by week. Price tables are on Essentials and above.
Can we show reach, listener or impression estimates?
Yes, as your own content. Write your audience estimates in each line's note or in a table block and label them as your estimates. QuoteCloud doesn't measure reach, delivery or results and makes no guarantee about them, so say plainly in your terms that the figures are your own.
Can the advertiser choose options in the media plan?
Yes. Optional rows, such as a homepage takeover or a second podcast, can be ticked by the advertiser, and single-choice groups let them pick one package. The totals, tax and any deposit update as they choose. An automation can add rows but never ticks options for them.
Can our rate card live in QuoteCloud?
Yes. Import the rate card into the product catalogue from a CSV, with each placement's code, channel, unit, price and cost, then add placements from the catalogue inside any plan. Costs and margins stay hidden from the advertiser. The product catalogue is on Essentials and above.
Can rate-card discounts need approval?
Yes, on the Business plan. Set an approval workflow that holds a document In Review when the discount percentage or the total value goes over your limit. The approver approves or declines it before it can be sent. Tiered or volume pricing rules aren't confirmed: a volume rate is a line or a discount the rep sets.
Is there a media plan or insertion order template?
No. The library has no media plan, insertion order or sponsorship template, so you build your own, starting from templates such as the Advertising Proposal Template or the Editorial Premium Sales Quote. One template conversion is free during the trial on Essentials, Business and Enterprise.
Can we send season or upfront packages to all our advertisers?
Yes. Bulk send sends one template to a list of advertisers as personalised copies and shows each as sent, opened or accepted. Give every copy an expiry date and use the Expiring Soon filter to follow up. Bulk send is on Essentials and above, with volume-based costs.
What QuoteCloud doesn't do for media sellers
Straight answers before a demo. These stay with your own systems and team.
No ad-server or traffic integration
No native ad-server, DSP, traffic or broadcast scheduling integration. They connect only through Zapier, Make or the API, where your system has a connector or an API.
No inventory or availability
QuoteCloud doesn't know which spots, pages or sites are free. Your team books what it knows it can run; the catalogue holds rates, not stock.
No delivery or performance tracking
Reach, impressions, downloads and passes are your own estimates, labelled as such. QuoteCloud doesn't measure them or raise make-goods by itself.
No billing per flight
One payment on signing: a deposit or the full amount. No instalments, payment reminders, or automatic or recurring billing.
No auto-renewal
Bookings and season offers don't renew by themselves. Expiry dates end a hold; next season is a new offer.
No real-time co-editing
Comments and replies on documents are confirmed; several people editing the same document at once is not. The AI Co-Worker helps staff in the editor (Business) and never writes a document by itself.
Find the full answer by topic
Each page shows the feature working inside a sample media seller's documents.
Media plans
Placements by channel, flighting and your own estimates.
Media plans & proposalsInsertion orders
Booking details, the PO number and booking terms.
Insertion ordersRate cards
The catalogue and discount approvals.
Rate cards & discountsMake-goods
Changes as a revised, signed version.
Make-goods & revisionsSigning & deposits
Two signers and a deposit on signing.
Signing & depositsUpfronts
Season packages by bulk send, with expiry dates.
Upfronts & bulk sendIntegrations
CRM, traffic sheet and accounts.
CRM & integrationsRollout
Rate card, templates, rules and training.
Implementation
Still have a question? Try it on your own plan
Free for 14 days, no credit card required. Send us your current media plan or insertion order and we'll convert one template for you during the trial.
Bookings, signing, money and integrations
Can the advertiser and the agency both sign the insertion order?
Yes. A document can have several signers, each with their own signature block, and nobody needs an account to sign. Each signer signs in their own browser, and the signed document carries a certificate of authenticity and an audit trail. eSignatures are legally binding, eIDAS compliant and included on every plan.
Where does the agency's PO number go?
Add it as a data item that your team, or an automation through the API or Zapier, fills in before the order is sent. On the Business plan you can also put a Forms block field in the order, so the buyer types the PO number while signing. QuoteCloud doesn't create purchase orders or invoices.
Can we take a deposit from a new advertiser?
Yes, from the Essentials plan. Set a deposit as a percentage or a fixed amount, or ask for full payment, and the advertiser pays through Stripe or PayPal straight after signing, into your own account. Account customers can sign with no payment step.
Can QuoteCloud bill each flight or month?
No. QuoteCloud takes one payment on signing: a deposit or the full amount. It doesn't bill per flight or per month, set up instalments, send payment reminders or take automatic recurring payments. Invoice the balance and later flights from your own accounting system.
How do we handle make-goods and changes to a booking?
Revise the order. Revise Last Version creates a new version with the change, such as missed spots re-run the next week at no charge, and the agency and advertiser sign it again. Version history, which keeps every earlier version, is on the Business plan. QuoteCloud doesn't track delivery, so it never makes a make-good by itself.
Will we know when a plan is opened and signed?
Yes. Tracking shows when each document is opened, signed and paid, from the Essentials plan. Slack and Microsoft Teams alerts cover document updates, comments and actions, not specifically an open, a signature or a payment. Comments let the buyer ask questions inside the plan.
Does QuoteCloud connect to our ad server, CRM or accounts?
Ad servers, traffic and booking systems connect only through Zapier, Make or the API. HubSpot, Zoho and monday.com connect through Zapier, and Pipedrive is native on Business. Xero and QuickBooks Online are native on the Business plan, otherwise via Zapier. Zapier, Make and the API are on Essentials and above.
Which plan does a media seller need?
Essentials ($39 per user a month) covers price tables, the catalogue, templates, payments, bulk send, expiry dates, Zapier, Make and the API. Business ($59) adds approvals, Gantt charts for flighting, content locking, version history and native CRM and accounting integrations. Prices are in US dollars.
Is there a free trial?
Yes. QuoteCloud has a free plan and a 14-day free trial of Essentials or Business with no credit card required. During the trial QuoteCloud converts one of your existing templates for free on the Essentials, Business and Enterprise plans, and paid plans include a 45-minute training session.
Everything a media seller sends
Every page of the QuoteCloud advertising & media microsite.
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Media plans & advertising proposalsPlacements by channel, flight dates and rates in price tables, a flighting chart, and audience figures labelled as your own estimates.Explore
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Insertion orders & booking confirmationsThe booking signed by the advertiser and the agency, with their PO number, material deadline and cancellation terms in the order.Explore
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Sponsorship packages for clubs & eventsBronze, silver and gold as one choice, add-on assets the sponsor ticks, and the season signed and part-paid in one document.Explore
- Rate cards, placements & discount approvalsEvery placement in your product catalogue at rate-card price, and any discount past your limit sent for approval before it goes out.
- Creative & production quotesPre-production, shoot and post as phases with a Gantt, cutdowns as options, and a deposit to lock in the shoot days.
- Print, digital, radio & podcast ad salesOne proposal across your masthead, website, stations and podcasts, priced per spot, per insertion or per thousand impressions.
- Outdoor, billboard & signage bookingsSites and faces by week, print and install as their own lines, site photos in the proposal and the booking held until its expiry date.
- Make-goods, changes & revised bookingsA missed spot or a changed flight sent as a revised version of the booking, with every earlier version kept and signed again.
- Signing & deposits for new advertisersAdvertiser and agency sign in their own browsers, and a deposit or prepayment is paid by card or PayPal on signing.
- Season & upfront packages, bulk-sentNext season's packages sent to every advertiser as their own copy, with an expiry date and a list of who opened and accepted.
- CRM, traffic & accounting integrationsYour CRM, booking or traffic sheet and accounts through Zapier, Make or the API, with Pipedrive, Xero and QuickBooks native on Business.
- Advertising proposal templatesReal QuoteCloud templates for advertising proposals, social and PPC campaigns, and editorial-style sales quotes.
- QuoteCloud implementation for media sellersYour rate card in the catalogue, a template per document type, discount rules set up and the sales team trained.
Your next booking, signed by both sides
Free for 14 days. No credit card required.