Cable Nabs a Bigger Slice of Political Pie

Medialife Magazine (For Media plannersand buyers) By Bill Cromwell July 10, 2012 Broadcast television will still get the vast majority of political spending this year. But cable is poised to see the biggest gains, behind only the internet. After broadcast, cable will get the second-most political ad dollars this year, $938.8 million, according to a forecast by Borrell Associates, the Williamsburg, Va., local advertising tracking firm. That's double the $468 million spent in 2008. This year cable will account for 9.5 percent of all political ad spending, just ahead of No. 3 radio at 8.3 percent. Cable has lagged well behind broadcast in political spending largely because spot TV allows for more narrow targeting. Political spending is nearly always based on geography, and cable networks have fewer minutes per hour of local advertising than broadcast networks. That has often made them an afterthought for both local and national campaigns. But cable is getting more creative in its approach to woo political advertisers. Just yesterday ESPN struck a deal that will increase the amount of political ads appearing on its network this fall. The network put aside some of the inventory it had planned to sell during the upfront and instead sold that time to ad sales firm NCC Media. NCC Media, in turn, will sell that time to super PACs, candidates and political parties at an undisclosed mark-up. The agreement includes inventory on "SportsCenter" and "Monday Night Football," cable's No. 1 program. It's the sort of innovative deal that could be copied during coming elections by other cable networks, which are eager to get in on the windfall gained by broadcast networks every two years. Borrell predicts that total political spending on broadcast TV this year will be $5.64 billion, up 31 percent from $4.32 billion four years ago. This is the first presidential election following the Supreme Court's decision lifting a ban on political spending by corporations, and the dollars flowing into the super PACs and candidates' own coffers has been astounding. Mitt Romney's campaign raised a campaign-record $106 million last month, more than double what 2008 Republican candidate John McCain raised during June four years ago. And while President Barack Obama's fundraising efforts have lagged his 2008 efforts, he still brought in more than $130 million the past two months. Not all of that money will go to television. Online will see the biggest growth of any media, up 516 percent to $159 million. And newspapers will be fourth behind broadcast, cable and radio with just under $700 million. Political Ad Spending 2012 Forecast ($ Millions) Media 2012 Projection....Media name will be followed by predicted ad dollars for 2012 followed by percent change number when compared to 2008. PhilipJay LeNoble, Ph.D. Publisher of LeNoble's Media Sales Insights %Change ('12 vs. '08) Newspaper $699.5 28.1% ____________ Other Print $174.9 79.4% ____________ Broadcast TV $5,640.3 30.6% ____________ Cable $938.8 100.6% ____________ Radio $819.2 48.3% ____________ Out of Home* $377.4 52.8% ____________ Direct Mail** $285.3 25.4% ___________ Online $159.2 615.6% ___________ Telemarketing $744.8 48.8% ___________ U.S. Totals $9,839.5 40.9% * Includes Cinema ** Postage and handling only Source: Borrell Associates, 2012.

To Sell More, Focus on Existing Customers

Harvard Business Review 10:00 AM July 5, 2012 by Rick Reynolds | Strengthening your relationship with your existing customer base is one of the best ways to increase sales. Your company's account management and operating teams play critical roles in making this happen. If they're not performing at their peak, the door opens for competitors to step in. Seeking new sales without strong account management and operating teams is like pouring water into a bucket with a hole in it. Identifying and fixing the holes — the gaps in customer satisfaction — can help your company retain existing accounts and increase new sales. Research from the AskForensics Knowledgebase reveals that there are four gaps business-to-business companies need to address to achieve best-in-class performance. These gaps were identified through in-depth, qualitative sales and account forensics interviews with prospect decision makers in accounts generating at least $15 million in contract revenue for Fortune 1000 companies: Improve Training for Frontline Staff Employees who have daily interaction with customers often leave more of an impression than your sales team. As a result, your frontline teams are vital to expanding and retaining existing customers. These teams need to be trained in client protocol and procedures, your company's internal processes, and how to effectively interact with on-site client stakeholders. Provide Timely Responses Being responsive to your customers' concerns is a clear indicator of your company's desire to meet and exceed expectations. If there are deficiencies in how effectively and quickly you respond, your customers will question your commitment. This is true at all levels of your company, not just for the teams in direct contact with customers. Being responsive, though, is only part of the equation. The other is to communicate what has been done to address the customer's need or problem. Offer More Proactive Ideas As a service or product supplier, customers look to you as the expert. They rely on you to perform important tasks they cannot do themselves. This places more emphasis on you, as the provider, to be proactive. When you are not proactive, value erodes. Understand Requirements This is account management 101, right? Well, it doesn't always happen. In every account there are needs that are not being adequately addressed. Even if they are peripheral needs, not addressing them leaves you vulnerable. When attempting to generate a sustained increase in sales, the first place to start is with existing customers. Your selling investment is lower, you have an existing relationship, and you can leverage your efforts from other services and products you already have in place with your customer. This all works to your advantage if you are delivering best-in-class support. If you are not at this level, take the steps necessary to close the gaps. Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D. and Michael Guld,author of The Million Dollar Media Rep: How to Become a Television and Radio Sales Superstar"..in their System 21 sales and management training solution have a Sales Service Agreement, enabling each sales professional to stay up-to-date on their client's satisfaction level. The process by TV and radio station reps, called Portfolio Managers, are averaging over 86% renewal rates among all client types.

Banking Offers Wealth Of Sales Opportunities

TVNewsCheck, June 29, 2012 11:11 AM EDT Savvy stations will target banking institutions for sales calls. Competition in the industry is fierce — there are more than 6,400 commercial banks, 1,100 savings banks and 7,200 credit unions competing to get the customers. Remember to focus on these five areas — key product, customer, partners, timing and budget. And make sure you're putting together a fully integrated program including broadcast, digital, mobile and social where appropriate. Philip Jay LeNoble,Ph.D.of Executive Decision Systems,Inc of Littleton,CO says, "Many financial institutions are local-direct accounts and offer great opportunities to help them compete with the large banking firms." By Susan Novicki The banking industry represents combined annual revenue of approximately $700 billion and this translates to a tremendous opportunity for stations to garner revenue. It was the fourth highest spending ad category in 2011. Competition is fierce — banks and financial institutions are going after everyone from individual consumers to small-, medium- and large-size businesses to obtain their business. And there are more than 6,400 commercial banks, 1,100 savings banks and 7,200 credit unions competing to get the customers. Each bank is focusing on targeting a specific customer so it is important that we understand that in developing an interactive program for them. Story continues after the ad The banking industry has been through a major transition during the last few years starting in 2008 with the mortgage crisis. But the industry has been recovering, with earnings in 2011 of $126 billion, up 47% from 2010. The problem for 2012 is that the loss reductions that have created the earnings have run their course. The main engine of bank revenue — interest income — is under pressure from low interest rates and sluggish growth dynamics. If interest rates and loan growth stay low, net interest income could conceivably fall 13% in 2012. Other limiting factors on bank earnings include difficulty in raising fees, a volatile global economy and increased overhead as banks absorb the costs of new regulatory compliance requirements, specifically with the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. With this, bank profits could fall by 7% to $117 billion for the full year. The economy is very slow to rebound so consumers have not been aggressive to get loans. As with every other industry, consumers are in the driver’s seat. Last fall when Bank of America tried to create new fees there was a huge viral social media blitz that forced the bank to backtrack on administering the fees. But with the loss of interest income, banks will have to attempt to recover lost revenue by introducing new fees; requiring higher minimum balances on customer deposit accounts; and providing incentives for customers to use credit cards. However, these attempts to grow fee revenue will contribute only marginally to noninterest revenue. Everyone is aggressively working on gaining market share in this volatile industry. The No. 1 priority is to increase their financial institution’s lending portfolio. They hope to do this by cross-selling mortgages, auto loans and credit cards to existing customers. But the lending market and the entire economy is not cooperating. As stated, there aren’t enough consumers brave enough to apply for credit right now and only a handful of these meet lenders’ new stricter requirements. With limited avenues for growth, the market will be hyper-competitive over the next 3-5 years. In this environment, it will be critical for each bank to be very clear on how it is going to compete in win in this market. Adroitly targeting specific customer segments; creating products that go beyond deposit and checking accounts; and delivering these products through highly competitive (physical and virtual) sales forces will be competitive necessities. With the digital influx, there is the opportunity to further personalize offers, market to customers and build loyalty. Eighty-four percent of financial institutions have said that they are either going to maintain or increase their marketing budgets for 2012. This represents opportunity for us. It is important to understand the industry and the factors affecting it when we work on potential prospects. We also need to do research on the bank, credit union or other financial institution we are calling. Remember that different types of companies have different initiatives. •Credit unions, for example — each institution decides who they will serve, their rates are usually lower than traditional banks, they serve their customers with products similar to banks but they are not for profit. The surplus revenue goes back to the members in the form of dividends. Ninety one percent of banks in the U.S. are small community banks and focus on local families and small businesses. •Commercial banks represent 80% of the total banking revenue. Financial literacy is a hot button for banks, yet the biggest concern is customers switching banks and the majority of people switching are moving from the large commercial banks to savings banks and credit unions. Most of the time this is because of new fees being introduced. However, shopping for banks is an opportunity for us to create promotions to drive the business. Trends to discuss with decision makers include mobile banking and social media. Digitally, there is growth in many areas, especially because of the increase in smartphone users, e-reader users and tablet users. With this, online video ad spending will reach $53.1 billion and is the fastest growing segment of online advertising. Don’t forget that both banks and credit unions want to align themselves with the community and differentiate themselves in doing this from their competitors. Do you see the opportunity yet?