Six keys to money making commercials in today’s media world
The one thing every radio advertiser wants is results. It follows then that Radio’s promise to clients must be
The good old days of selling
We all have a product to sell or represent. No matter your career, position, business, lifestyle, or skills. There is some type of product that you are selling or representing. Back in the “good old days” we sold with the thought process that if we could convince people they needed our product badly enough to go out and buy it. And it worked. There were a couple of TV stations, no internet, talk radio, and the newspaper. Product reviews were rare and the trust factor was at an all time high. The “good old days” were a great time for those in the business with enough money to convince people they needed it. The “good old days” as you might have guessed are long gone. But the good old days weren’t really here all that long. Maybe from 1900 to the dot com bust. It might have even not started until the Roaring 1920’s and ended with the dawn of the internet. So how did you sell whatever you were representing before the good old days started? I mean we are talking centuries of sales here.
Print-broadcast journalism collaboration
Five years ago I attended a media think tank hosted by the management of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. The guest speaker was Bill Keller who was then the executive editor of the New York Times, a position from which he stepped down in 2011 to return to becoming a full time writer for the Times. The eruption of the financial crisis facing many papers across the nation was gaining full force at the time of Keller’s talk. The Boston Globe, which was then owned by the Times (Now owned by a group of Red Sox principals) was in particular financial stress as was the case at the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times and many smaller newspapers throughout the country. Draconian cutbacks were taking place in newspaper newsrooms, and those cutbacks and closings continue today. During the Q&A following Keller’s talk I asked if he felt a possible solution to maintaining strong print editorial departments was collaboration with television stations and local cable news channels in the local marketplace. Would the sharing of personnel allow for a bolstering of local news coverage and investigative reporting in both mediums?
Stop wasting December: 10 tips for fall sales success
The late fall, particularly around the holidays, is typically a time of year when most media sales people get lazy. The reason for this is pretty simple. Over the course of many years, most sales people have come to conclusion that no advertising decisions are made in December. While for the most part this conclusion is actually true, I have found that the season between Thanksgiving and the first of the year is actually great for building relationships, bridging decision gaps and getting my personal sales life in order. Let's discuss 10 ways that media sales people can end the year strong and use this normally slow time of the year to your benefit.
The value of broadcast in the mobile era, today and tomorrow
Nearly 70% of Americans tune in to radio every day from their homes, their cars and increasingly, their mobile phones for a host of compelling reasons. No medium can compete with broadcast radio’s widespread accessibility (regardless of economics or education levels) and its commitment to important local information on traffic, weather and all manner of conversations. It’s no wonder that broadcast radio reaches more Americans on a daily basis than the Internet, newspapers or magazines. Simply put, unlike any other medium, broadcast radio connects people to their communities.
Unabated TV violence leaves families unprotected
As we approach the one-year anniversary of the Newtown tragedy, and nearly eleven months have passed since Joe Biden’s much-touted
Ad agencies to advertisers: Go away!
As a broadcaster, your job is to make your properties a welcome place for ad agencies. That’s why it may surprise you to learn that one of the primary obstacles to your ad revenue growth may be that at the same time you are saying, “come on in!”, the message that many ad agencies are saying to the many thousands of small to medium-sized businesses that want to broaden their media buying to broadcast television or radio but don’t have mega-budgets is: “Go Away!”
Call volume vs. relationships: Who wins?
I think we all agree that media sales is a game of relationships. Meaning, it is almost always easier to close a deal when we know our client. I think we all would further agree that sales is a game of math. Meaning, that if we have a lot of activity in our pipeline we are usually going to see better success. The point of argument with management comes when sales people think they shouldn't have to make a ton of calls because the media business is all about relationships. I like to coach my clients on a gentle combination of math skills and relationship skills. Being able to understand that you need both to be a successful media sales person. If you rely solely on building relationships to make your goal, the time required to close the deal grows significantly.
Need help seeing things a little differently?
Recently, I attended my first Techonomy Conference. Beyond the awesome venue, Dove Mountain outside of Tucson, Arizona
Collecting Unicorns
Unicorns are rare and magical creatures. In the European folklore of the Middle Ages a Unicorn was depicted as a white horse or goat-like creature with a long golden horn imbued with magical properties located in the middle of its head. They were commonly described as wild creatures and symbols of purity and grace that could only be captured by an innocent soul. But, I have another way to describe them…
“The Reality”
2014 is almost here and everyone is scurrying around concerned with how they will grow their shares, hit their budgets, and bill as many dollars as they possibly can. But first we need to step back and accept reality. The reality is that TV, Radio, Print, and even Digital (digital is still traditional media if you are just selling by CPM or with banner ads) are in even greater danger and will be challenged more than ever before. Pandora, podcasts, Netflix, Hulu, etc will be brought to the forefront more than ever before.
Radio Listeners: the ultimate mobile audience
It’s safe to say we are living in the era of the smartphone. Listeners are tuning in on-the-go more than ever before and Mobile has become too big for any advertiser or broadcaster to ignore. This is a good thing for both stations, advertisers and audiences; there is now the ability to tune in with audiences wherever and whenever in a powerful, relevant way.
Using Your Benefits
One of the underused keys in radio sales is to really use your benefits of your medium and show them to your client or prospect in a way that will impact their business. I received a stat last week that jumped out at me: The use of radio in a company’s marketing campaign results in a 7.7% higher ROI than when the same companies have done a similar campaign without radio as part of their media mix.
Not that many hot Senate races shaping up
Two things are clear when looking at the 2014 US Senate election map: Democrats have their work cut out for them; but at the same time, there aren’t all that many hot contests a year out from Election Day.
Sharing the Voice
Triggering an industry paradigm shift is not a task for the faint of heart, at least, that's been my experience. Over the last decade, I have engineered an infrastructure for the brave new world of voice procurement online, with all roads and search queries leading to Voices.com. From my vantage point, I see infinite possibilities on the horizon to serve using spoken word recordings to share important messages via radio and television and to communicate stories that change lives.