Adbiz

What shape is your sales process in? Does it need tweaking? How well do your sales reps follow it? Is it the most effective way to get to a sale? When is the last time you updated the steps or tasks? These are questions expert sales trainer Barrett Riddleberger tackles in this latest column.

It's been well established that auto insurance specialists are among the top users of spot radio. Now, fresh Media Monitors data show the category is red-hot by spot count at cable TV.

The latest Media Monitors Spot 10 Radio report shows The Home Depot is still a dominant leader. At the same time, a big health care provider is seen -- as is a government agency.

As Matt Sunshine, Managing Partner for the Center for Sales Strategy sees it, one of the most important things to do in uncertain times is to raise our expectations on what radio and TV can expect out of its sales team's performance. This observation came alongside lots of helpful advice in an exclusive Hispanic Radio Conference LIVE virtual presentation held Thursday.

"We provide sales solutions with an efficient cost structure focused on your station’s year-end growth." That's the pitch from Jose Villafañe, who has opened the doors to a new national ad rep firm consultancy. He tells RBR+TVBR that it will eventually serve the total market, but will first seek Hispanic market partners.

Marketers love to talk about the customer experience, but maybe this sort of thinking needs to change—or at least, expanded, argues Tom Kaneshige, Chief Content Officer at the CMO Council. In his view, "They should be delivering a human experience."

Independent audio advertising sales network AdLarge Media has secured a deal with boostr, an omnichannel customer retention and order management platform for media and advertising companies. boostr integrates directly with AdLarge’s podcast hosting and advertising platform partner, Megaphone.

There's little movement in the latest Media Monitors Spot Ten report for radio, with podcasts and iHeartMedia-owned stations plugging away its parent's promotions and events. However, there's one new entrant that's making some noise. It just better not be a loud, scary sneeze.

Last week, the Media Monitors Spot Ten Cable report saw Domino's and Taco Bell appear as key quick service restaurants using the media to connect with consumers. They have a bit of company in the latest report. For the week ending Oct. 4, two other national chains -- one big on beef and another known for its pizza -- made a big entrance.

The newly formed Clear Media Network offers Adult Contemporary, Country and Adult R&B 24/7 formats expressly for independently owned radio broadcasting companies. It was created by Salem Media Group and Radio One alumnus Gary Spurgeon.

As promised, the Independent Broadcasters Association (IBA) is giving members of the newly created organization exclusive access to national advertising through the formation of a team managed by Gen Media Partners.

FreeWheel and FastPay have forged a partnership that extends FastPay’s media payments platform to users of FreeWheel’s Strata application. This partnership provides the 1100+ agencies using the Strata platform with options to automate and streamline their media payment processes.

Advertisers now have a way to incorporate over-the-top (OTT) advertiser analytics within multi-touch attribution models. It's thanks to a new set of capabilities added to LeadsRx's marketing attribution platform.

How important are "over the top" platforms -- including increasingly important "AVOD" options -- and Connected TV channels for those seeking to win their respective political races in November? Just ask video ad platform SpotX. It's seen more than a 900% increase in political advertising spend across its platform of OTT and CTV channels since April 2020.

What do the GEICO gecko and the Democratic candidate for President of the United States have in common? No ... it's not a joke from the GOP War Room. Rather, it is a legit query with a great answer for broadcast TV.