Salespeople: Don’t Be Quitters

 

June 22, 2018

0

 

By Lisa Thal) Exceeding budget every month can be a daunting task. We all face account attrition, local business going national, rating dips, and roadblocks to new accounts. My advice to you is: don’t quit now.

In a recent sales meeting, we discussed those words, “don’t quit now.” I asked the team what those words meant to them. The following are some of the thoughts they shared:

Keep fighting for the appointment by finding new ways to get in front of the decision-maker.

Don’t quit sharing the power of radio with advertising agencies and direct accounts.

If you’re falling short of budget for the year, don’t give up on your year.

Don’t stop prospecting for new business.

Don’t stop providing solutions to your clients’ needs!

Do you find yourself or your team giving up too soon? When you look at the words “don’t quit now,” you may also see: “DOn’t quIT NOW.” We need to DO IT NOW! What needs to be done right now to move your business forward? Start removing all the excuses for why you’re missing revenue goals and start doing what needs to get done to achieve budget now.

Here are three principles you can apply to do it now:

1. Make a list of 10 new accounts you can target. Create a substantial business reason why they should put you on their calendar. What idea or solution have you discovered that could improve their bottom line? Is there a recruitment opportunity the company needs, or perhaps a new product or service line for which they need to create awareness for the consumer?

2. Make the call now! If you don’t make the call, you’re opening the door for your competitor to meet with them first. Once you have identified these essential targets, you need to schedule time on your calendar each day to make the call to schedule a meeting. I recommend you develop a plan you can implement with various touchpoints every two days until you book the appointment. You can look for LinkedIn connections for an introduction. Call, e-mail, or send a letter to the client explaining why you want to meet, or create a short video showcasing how you can help. We have so many creative avenues we can implement to earn the appointment with the customer.

3. Let go of the accounts on your list that you’re certain will not have the budget to use your media effectively. It has been my experience that the smaller accounts end up stealing the most time. So shift your thinking into investing your time with larger accounts that can achieve better success using radio to reach their current customers or bring awareness to new customers.

The following is an instance in which we applied the principles and achieved success:

Traditionally, insurance companies have used television, print, direct mail, and very little radio. If they add radio to their marketing campaign, it tends to be on an AM format. I manage a station that is hugely successful in targeting women 25-54. The business opportunity for the insurance company is to reach busy working women who own a home, have disposable income and a family, or who own a business. These women can be targeted effectively by using radio. We discovered that the insurance company we were targeting had a women’s initiative. After meeting the decision-makers and learning more about their needs, we created a marketing campaign using an influencer activation with our on-air talent, social media, and a podcast to help tell their story.

Radio can tell an advertiser’s story, with emotion, better than any other media. That is the strategy we created for their campaigns. We had the talent share their personal stories of why insurance is important to them and their families. They touched on the resources available to plan for their children’s future and how to prepare for retirement. We wanted women to feel more empowered by understanding a category that can be overwhelming. We shared these stories via Facebook as well.

Finally, we created informational podcasts, as we realized that we needed an outlet for women to listen to educational content when they had the time to do so. We approached this client with a “don’t quit now” mentality, and it was a process worth pursuing!

Lisa Thal is the general sales manager for Hubbard Interactive Cincinnati. She’s also the author of Three-Word Meetings: A Simple Strategy to Engage, Inspire and Empower Your Team. 

The Power Of Frequency In Advertising

By

 Bob McCurdy

 -

June 24, 2018

1

 

(By Bob McCurdy) To some the following might come off as heresy.

Let’s peel back the onion on an ad metric that flows off our tongues daily. It’s an important metric in our industry as it guides commercial scheduling, as well as the way we position our medium to advertisers and agencies.

The metric is “frequency” and most of us in radio sales take for granted that we fully understand the role it plays in advertising success. But do we?

Frequency’s contribution to ad success has been passed down from generation to generation of radio salespeople, similar to the way folklore is passed down, which is often without a lot of introspection.

It’s actually not a bad thing to occasionally analyze what we know we know, as we might find out what we know is not all its cracked up to be. So let’s walk on the wild side the next few paragraphs and put frequency’s role in marketing success under the microscope.

As it pertains to advertising, “reach and frequency” are bound together the way Lennon and McCartney or Rogers and Hammerstein are bound together musically. The importance of reach is pretty straightforward and has been receiving a lot of positive press of late, particularly as the marketing landscape continues to fragment.

But frequency, defined by Nielsen as, “the average number of times households or persons viewed/heard a given program, station or advertisement during a specific time period,” might not be quite as important as reach in contributing to ad campaign success, and in fact might simply be a byproduct of something else that matches reach in importance/impact. I am referring to affordable “presence,” as radio, more so than many other media options, due to its efficiency, enables advertisers to ensure their product/service is always “on the shelf,” in the forefront and “visible” to the consumer when the product/service is needed. Frequency is a byproduct of this affordable presence.

Does the number of times a consumer is exposed to a commercial automatically increase the likelihood of the product being purchased? Is advertising success that linear, simple, and predictable where purchases are directly correlated to the number of times someone is exposed to a message? Is someone exposed to a commercial three times, three times more likely to buy a product than someone exposed once? Is consumer purchasing behavior that malleable? Obviously not. Is it possible that for all these years we’ve wrongly been giving “frequency” marquee billing along with reach when it played more of a supporting role when it comes to driving advertising success?

What makes radio such a powerful advertising medium is its ability to generate large reach efficiently, with radio’s efficiency contributing to an advertiser’s continued presence, i.e. keeping an offer in front of the public. Frequency, the piling up of impressions against consumers, happens to be a by-product of this efficiency and presence, but it is “presence” brought about by radio’s efficiency that is the success driver and not the fact that someone simply heard a message multiple times.

It is continued presence which enables advertisers to deliver their message when it’s most relevant that drives results. To believe that frequency was the real success driver would require us to believe that consumers “learn” advertising the way they “learned” their ABCs or multiplication tables — via repetition. This is simply not the case. Repetition was necessary to learn that 5 x 7 = 35, but when a commercial is relevant it’s relevant, a single exposure can make the sale.

So it is actually reach x relevance (brought about by affordable ad presence) = advertising success, not reach x frequency. Splitting hairs, maybe. A subtle difference? Yes. But a difference nonetheless. Something to think about.

Bob McCurdy is Vice President of Sales for the Beasley Media Group and can be reached at bob.mccurdy@bbgi.com

Will Higher TV Ads, Retrans Fees Meet Bottom-Line Expectations?

Commentary

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, June 12, 2018

After an expected drop in TV stations' advertising revenue in 2017 versus the year before, TV stations' prospects this year look better -- thanks to political advertising.

At the same time, non-advertising sources in the form of TV retransmission revenues will climb. That's also expected. The question is: What is the unexpected for TV stations?

With regard to TV advertising, programmatic systems in particular and new technologies/businesses, coming from new ATSC standards, have long been promised -- all to help stabilize and grow revenue.
In 2017, the top six TV station groups hovered around $1.20 billion to $1.63 billion dollars per year in advertising sales, with Sinclair Broadcast Group at the top ($1.6 billion) and Tegna at the bottom of this list ($1.2 billion), according to BIA Kelsey/TV NewsCheck.

Total local TV advertising revenues were down in 2017 versus the big 2016, which included the presidential election campaign and the Summer Olympics.

Mark Fratrik, senior vice president/chief economist for BIA/Kelsey, says the answer to more advertising growth in the near-term may just be to buy your way in.

When the Sinclair-Tribune Media deals get sorted out, expect more ‘buy in’ acquisitions by groups feeling competitive pressures from advertisers and audiences.

Even without raising the cap on owning TV stations, business executives expect more permutations -- akin to the earlier practice of local marketing agreements. That's when TV stations, while not owning TV stations outright, can make agreements to operate outlets, including ad sales, and other types of station functions.

Although TV stations have long adjusted to the ups and downs of two-year ad cycles -- big Olympic/political years versus low periods -- it’s getting tougher. For example, in 2016 Sinclair pulled in $2.9 billion, which was followed by a $1.62 billion take in 2017.

Even accounting for higher retrans fees and slowly rising digital advertising sales, this isn’t enough for TV station groups. They need much more stability. Thus, you can understand Sinclair’s dogged pursuit of Tribune -- making further concessions when it comes to divesting some TV stations.
So there is this attraction -- among others -- for Sinclair: Tribune's net core advertising sales were $1.14 billion in 2017 -- down 3% from 2016.

So count on retrans revenue for the consistency TV stations always love. The big question is: When will that source of funds start its own cycle?

Agency Exec: Radio Reps Lack Training, Some Are Lazy

A good reason for station management and ownership to assure their domain is safeguarded with proper sales training for its reps....Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D.

June 14, 2018

Our week-long series on the love-hate relationship between radio and advertising agencies has stirred up quite a discussion. We’re hopeful it’s been fair and balanced and that each side is learning about the other. On Thursday, we reached out to Ashley Chase from Independent Brands, an agency in Oklahoma. Ashley’s been following the discussion and agreed to an interview.

First, some background on Independent Brands.

Independent Brands is a full-service marketing firm that specializes in local retail businesses. Currently, Independent Brands is retained by Route 66 Chevrolet, Route 66 Nissan, Bob Hurley Ford, Bob Hurley Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram, Bob Hurley RV, and Advance Alarms.
In existence since 2004, Independent Brands was started by Michelle Howard in Oklahoma City. Michelle has over 20 years of advertising agency experience in everything from media planning and buying to account service and management and all phases of commercial production services. At Indy Brands she fills the role of Chief Marketing Strategist.

In 2016, Ashley Chase joined Independent Brands as Senior Marketing Consultant. Ashley has over 10 years of sales and advertising experience. Her expertise is in developing brand awareness for customers who have little or none, leveraging media partners for multi-layered promotions to benefit her clients, media buying, scriptwriting and directing, new business, social media planning and management, and all aspects of digital marketing.
Here’s our interview with Ashley on the topic of radio.

Radio Ink: What are your thoughts on the ongoing debate you’ve been reading about on our website this week?
Ashley Chase: It’s been intriguing! I’ve been really tuned in because I understand both sides of it. The one thing I will always caution radio managers or owners to remember is that, there are always options out there. I don’t HAVE to buy your stations, there is usually a way to buy around anyone. So just as agencies are accused of buying on ratings only, I can accuse stations of resting solely on ratings. That won’t always get you the buy.

Radio Ink: Why is their such a disconnect between radio and agencies?
Ashley Chase: This is actually an easy question for me to answer, because I was guilty of it. I don’t think radio reps and managers understand what truly goes into running an agency. I think the idea that we get 15% commission for doing “nothing” is commonplace among radio stations. I was one of them! I used to think “Is it really that hard to call me back? Even if the answer is no?” The sad reality of my job is that, yes sometimes it really is that hard. If the answer is no, or I’m not doing business with you, then you are low on my list of priorities. I’m busy putting out client fires or placing buys on the stations I am doing business with etc. Especially with the way we run our agency, we do it all, so I’m always writing scripts, negotiating, working on cause marketing for my clients, placing buys, or pulling research. The list goes on and on.

I also think there is a common misconception that agencies don’t like radio and only want to run on TV because they make commission on TV production. If your agency is running on TV just to pad their pocketbooks, they are failing miserably. We only do what is best for our clients, end of story.

Radio Ink: Why do agencies ask for value added?
Ashley Chase: It is our job as the agency to get the client the most for their money, no matter what that looks like. This does not mean we don’t see the value in your stations, we absolutely do, but when I’m sitting in front of a client who is giving us hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend, I’m going to make sure I get them what they deserve. This also doesn’t always have to be spots! Too often a rep thinks that some bonus rotators are what I’m looking for, and that’s not always true, I just need to help my client stand out. How can you as a station help me do that?

Radio Ink: Are agencies only interested in ratings and buying CPP?
Ashley Chase: Absolutely not. Do ratings matter? Yes and no. I understand that when I’m looking at ratings it represents a very small portion of my market, so I look to many other factors when making my buying decisions. I like ideas and creative ways to make my clients stand out. I want large-scale promotions that integrate my clients with the market and the causes that are near and dear to the clients and stations alike. When I’m looking at ratings, quite frankly, I’m looking more at cume and TSL depending on the client. I’m trying to find the listeners in the most efficient way possible and then connect with those listeners.

Radio Ink: Why are agencies slow payers?
Ashley Chase: I can only speak for my agency, as this is a bit of a presumptuous question [laughs]. I usually get the station invoices by the middle of the following month and then begin the auditing process which can take some time. Once I am finished auditing and comparing to my buys, I then send the invoices to the clients to pay directly. We do our very best as an agency to make sure nothing is paid past 30 days. My guess would be, most agencies are waiting on the client to pay them first which would cause a delay, but that’s just a guess.

Radio Ink: You used to be in radio, when reps call on you, do you get the feeling they are properly trained?
Ashley Chase: Not at all. I’m fairly fortunate to have a few good reps, but I also have some pretty bad ones and have been called on by some pretty bad ones. The training process seems to be non-existent, honestly, and I can speak from experience on both sides of that fence. I believe that too often managers don’t want to train, they don’t want to put the time and effort into someone the way they should. I believe we lose new radio reps way too often because of lack of training. I saw it first hand at a station group, the AE would spend their first week watching training videos and was then immediately thrown out there to start selling. I’ve even seen managers get angry with new AEs when they make mistakes, mistakes that could be avoided with proper training. The turnover in radio could be much lower if training was a bigger priority. There’s also a horrible misconception that if an AE has been in the business a long time, they don’t need training. I think it’s the exact opposite. The radio world, the TV world, and the advertising world are ever-changing, so why wouldn’t you be training to keep up with those changes? I’ve also seen managers delegate the training to “seasoned AEs” and expect them to do the training for them, which would be fine, I suppose, if those AEs weren’t working a list and trying to hit budgets of their own. If I were a radio station owner or GM, I would have a dedicated trainer position for AEs.

Radio Ink: Should the radio reps go direct to the client and develop relationships there?
Ashley Chase: Absolutely! With the permission and respect of the client’s agency. I have no problem setting up meetings with reps to meet with my clients. I understand the importance of that, and I also understand that things change and if my agency (god forbid) was fired tomorrow, those AEs need that relationship. However, I expect my AEs to discuss with me first, let me set up the meetings so the client isn’t bombarded with reps, and to respect my relationship with the client.

Radio Ink: What is your biggest pet peeve with radio reps?
Ashley Chase: I absolutely hate it when a radio rep tries to sell me a “sales package.”  If in your Monday sales meeting your manager hands you a “package” to sell, before you come to me in the hopes that I will buy it, ask yourself if it makes sense for my client. I want a radio rep who really understands what makes my clients tick and what makes me tick as an agency.
Do your research first, find out what the client is passionate about or is already involved in and then come up with a unique idea that can complement what we are already doing well.
Handing me a “sales package” is just lazy. I also can’t stand scared sellers. If I come back to negotiate with you, don’t just drop the price $10 per spot, for one, that just makes me mad because you should have given me the lower rate to begin with.

Radio Ink: How do radio sellers develop a great relationship with an agency?
Ashley Chase: I think it all comes down to respect. Respect my time, respect the relationship I have with my client, and respect the end game. We ALL want our campaigns to be successful for the client or they won’t keep us retained or spending on your stations. We are not the enemy, we all have the same goals here. Listen to what our needs are, ask us what our expectations are of you, and then follow through on everything we need and expect out of our reps.

I will add this one thing that goes back to the training piece of radio. This could very well be just a Tulsa market issue, but I see it time and time again and even saw it when I was a radio seller. Radio stations have too many tenured employees. There are far too many lazy AEs that are just working a list, that is not growing. I used to tell my managers, can you imagine if you took a $800,000 billing list and split it into two lists… give each $400,000 billing list to a new HUNGRY AE and watch them grow those lists by $250,000-$300,000 in a year?

Can you imagine the growth of a radio group? I almost doubled my billing in my first year of radio by selling over $350,000 in new business and before radio I sold door hardware! I was always in sales but not media. I think managers are too afraid to look outside of the industry for the tenacious, hungry, hard workers. Don’t be afraid to lose an AE who has worked for you for 20-plus years but consistently goes backwards in billing. You will never grow if you are afraid.
Ashley Chase can be reached at ashley@indybrandsllc.com

Sook Hints at Suit if FCC Adopts 50% TV Cap

Speaking on a panel Thursday, Nexstar Media CEO Perry Sook, among those who want no cap on station ownership, said if the FCC adopts a proposal to limit coverage at 50% of U.S. households, said: “There might be some folks that would advocate for elimination of the cap that would … sue and say, ‘Let’s take another look at this.’ “No victory in Washington is ever final; no defeat is ever fatal.”

By Harry A. Jessell

 June 15, 2018 5:48 AM EDT

If the FCC votes this summer to set the national TV station ownership cap at 50% of U.S. TV homes as some broadcasters are advocating, other broadcasters who favor a 78% cap or no cap at all may go to court.

So says Nexstar Media CEO Perry Sook.

Speaking on a panel Thursday at the annual S&P Global TV & Radio Summit in New York, Sook, among those who want no cap, said: "If the cap is set at 50%, which I think is unlikely...there might be some folks that would advocate for elimination of the cap that would … sue and say, ‘Let’s take another look at this.’

“No victory in Washington is ever final; no defeat is ever fatal.”
After the session, Sook declined to say whether Nexstar would bring such a suit itself or leave it to other like-minded broadcasters such as Sinclair Broadcast Group or one or more of the networks.
The Obama FCC set the ownership cap at 39%. But last fall, under the chairmanship of Ajit Pai, the agency eased the rule by restoring the so-called UHF discount.

That had the effect of creating a different cap for each group ranging from around 50% to 78% depending on the group's mix of UHF and VHF stations. The coverage of UHF stations is halved in calculating the group’s total coverage.

The FCC is expected this summer — possibly at its July 12 open meeting — to set a new cap that would treat all groups the same, regardless of what kind of stations they have.

Sinclair and Nexstar want no cap. Reflecting the consensus of the entire broadcasting industry, NAB has asked for a 78% cap. Eight groups led by Hearst and Scripps have called for a 50% cap and, according to sources, are gaining traction at the FCC with the relatively modest proposal.
If the FCC adopts a new cap that is any higher than the Obama-era 39%, it is likely to be challenged in court by interest groups opposed to media consolidation.

So, if the FCC sets the cap at 50%, it might get blitzed in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington — from the 39 percenters on one side and the likes of Nexstar on the other.

Also, a 50% cap could affect Sinclair’s pending merger with Tribune. As now structured, the deal would put Sinclair’s coverage at 58%.

Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley was on the panel with Sook. Asked about a 50% cap, he said: “If that were to happen, I think there would be alternatives for restructuring the transaction.”

Will Higher TV Ads, Retrans Fees Meet Bottom-Line Expectations?

COMMENTARY

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 6 hours ago

After an expected drop in TV stations' advertising revenue in 2017 versus the year before, TV stations' prospects this year look better -- thanks to political advertising.

At the same time, non-advertising sources in the form of TV retransmission revenues will climb. That's also expected. The question is: What is the unexpected for TV stations?

With regard to TV advertising, programmatic systems in particular and new technologies/businesses, coming from new ATSC standards, have long been promised -- all to help stabilize and grow revenue.

In 2017, the top six TV station groups hovered around $1.20 billion to $1.63 billion dollars per year in advertising sales, with Sinclair Broadcast Group at the top ($1.6 billion) and Tegna at the bottom of this list ($1.2 billion), according to BIA Kelsey/TV NewsCheck.

Total local TV advertising revenues were down in 2017 versus the big 2016, which included the presidential election campaign and the Summer Olympics.

Mark Fratrik, senior vice president/chief economist for BIA/Kelsey, says the answer to more advertising growth in the near-term may just be to buy your way in.

When the Sinclair-Tribune Media deals get sorted out, expect more ‘buy in’ acquisitions by groups feeling competitive pressures from advertisers and audiences.

Even without raising the cap on owning TV stations, business executives expect more permutations -- akin to the earlier practice of local marketing agreements. That's when TV stations, while not owning TV stations outright, can make agreements to operate outlets, including ad sales, and other types of station functions.

Although TV stations have long adjusted to the ups and downs of two-year ad cycles -- big Olympic/political years versus low periods -- it’s getting tougher. For example, in 2016 Sinclair pulled in $2.9 billion, which was followed by a $1.62 billion take in 2017.

Even accounting for higher retrans fees and slowly rising digital advertising sales, this isn’t enough for TV station groups. They need much more stability. Thus, you can understand Sinclair’s dogged pursuit of Tribune -- making further concessions when it comes to divesting some TV stations.

So there is this attraction -- among others -- for Sinclair: Tribune's net core advertising sales were $1.14 billion in 2017 -- down 3% from 2016.

So count on retrans revenue for the consistency TV stations always love. The big question is: When will that source of funds start its own cycle?

Podcasting Is Generating How Much Revenue?

By

 Radio Ink

 -

June 11, 2018

0

 

U.S. podcast advertising captured $314 million in revenue in 2017, a rise of 86 percent over $169 million in 2016, according to the latest IAB/PwC Podcast Advertising Revenue Study for full-year 2017 released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau. The research predicts podcast revenue will surge to $659 million by 2020, a triple-digit 110 percent hike from 2017. Dan Franks, co-founder of Podcast Movement, tells Radio Ink, “This study confirms what many of us inside the industry already know: podcast advertising works, and revenues are on the rise.”

In self-reported revenues by top podcast companies, revenue continued to rise steadily, growing 94 percent between Q4 2016 and Q4 2017, yielding an 18 percent compound quarterly growth rate. IAB member companies Audioboom, Authentic, ESPN Radio, Gimlet Media, How Stuff Works, Market Enginuity, Midroll Media, National Public Media, Panoply, Podcast One, PMM, Turner Podcast Network, Westwood One, WNYC Studios, and Wondery, underwrote the IAB Podcast Advertising Revenue Study.

Host-read ads were cited as the preferred ad type, representing more than two-thirds of ads in 2017. Direct response ads transacted on a cost-per-thousand basis made up the majority of campaigns, followed by brand awareness ads (29%). In addition, ads integrated or edited into programming accounted for 58 percent of the podcast ad inventory in 2017.

Of the 14 podcast content genres measured, the top four generated more than half of the advertising revenue in 2017:
Arts/Entertainment (17%)
Technology (15%)
News/Politics/Current Events (13%)
Business (11%)

Drilling down into the category advertisers that are spending on podcasts, financial services took the top spot with an 18 percent share, followed by direct-to-consumer retailers, which accounted for 16 percent, and arts and entertainment at 13 percent.

The reporting methodology includes compiling a database of the largest podcast advertising revenue generators which are believed to make up a significant portion of the overall market, followed by a quantitative mailing survey with leading industry players, including podcast publishers and ad networks. Specific data items are requested and compiled, including quarterly net commissionable advertising revenue by delivery mechanism, advertisement type, campaign type, buy type, pricing model, podcast content genre, and advertising industry category. In addition, a podcast advertising market sizing is performed to deliver a reasonable estimate of the market in the United States, inclusive of non-survey participating companies.

The IAB is hosting a panel at Podcast Movement in July regarding its study: Sizing Up the Opportunity – A Look At Podcast Revenues and Trends. The panel will discuss findings from the IAB/PwC Podcast Revenue study. Four IAB members will discuss the podcast marketplace and cover everything from ad types and advertiser categories to revenue growth and future trends. The panel will be moderated by IAB Audio Industry Expert Jennifer Lane, and include Tyler Moody, Turner Podcasts; Mark McCrery, Authentic and Podtrac; Kelli Hurley, Westwood One; and Bryan Moffett, NPR/NPM.

Pain Plus Reflection Equals Progress

FS Farnam Street

READING TIME: 3 MINUTES

Our most painful moments are also our most important. Rather than run from pain, we need to identify it, accept it, and learn how to use it to better ourselves.

***

Our images of learning are filled with positive thoughts about how we learn from others. We read memoirs from the titans of industry, read op-ed pieces from thought leaders, and generally try to soak up as much as we can. With all this attention placed on learning and improving and knowing, it might surprise you that we’re missing one of the most obvious sources of learning: ourselves.

Pain is something we all try to avoid, both instinctively and consciously. But if you want to do amazing things in life, you need to change your relationship with pain. Ray Dalio, the longtime leader of Bridgewater, the largest hedge fund in the world, argues that pain “is a signal that you need to find solutions so you can progress.” Only by exploring it and reflecting on it can we start to learn and evolve. “After seeing how much more effective it is to face the painful realities that are caused by your problems, mistakes, and weaknesses, I believe you won’t want to operate any other way,” Dalio writes in his book Principles.

There is an adage that says if you’re not failing, then you’re not really pushing the limits of what’s possible. Sometimes when we push, we fall, and sometimes we break through. When we fall, the key is to reflect on the failures. Doing that in the moment, however, is often a very painful process that goes against our human operating system.

Our painful moments are important moments. When we confront something painful, we are left with a choice between an ugly and painful truth or a beautiful delusion. Many of us opt for the latter and it slows our progress.

We’ve known about this problem for a long time: We’ve watched others make mistakes and fail to learn from them. They are blind to the mistakes that are so clear to us. They run from the pain that could be the source of learning. They become comfortable operating without pain. They become comfortable protecting the version of themselves that existed yesterday, not the version of themselves that’s better than they were yesterday.

Rather than run from pain, we need to identify it, accept it, and learn how to use it to better ourselves. For us to adapt, we need to learn from the uncomfortable moments. We need to value a tough-love approach, where people show us what we’re missing and help us get better.

You have a choice: You can prefer that the people around you fail to point out your blind spots, or you can prefer that they do. If you want them to, it’s going to be uncomfortable. It’s going to be awkward. It’s going to hurt. Embracing this approach, however, means that you will learn faster and go further. It’s a great example of first-order negative, subsequent positive. That means the first step is the hardest and it hurts, but after that, you reap the benefits.

Of course, many of us prefer to tell ourselves that we have no weaknesses. That the world is wrong, and we are right. We hide our weaknesses not only from others but also from ourselves. Being open about weaknesses means being open about who we are in the moment. It doesn’t mean that’s who we are forever. But we can’t improve what we can’t see.

Many the people I talk to on our podcast have endured setbacks that seemed catastrophic at the time. Ray Dalio punched his boss in the face. Annie Duke lost millions. Countless others have been divorced, fired, or otherwise in a position where they felt unable to go on. I’ve been there too. It’s in these moments, however, that a meaningful part of life happens. Life is about what you do in the painful moments. The choices you make. The path you choose.

The easy path means being the same person you were yesterday. It’s easy and comfortable to convince yourself that the world should work differently than it does, that you have nothing to learn from the pain. The harder path is to embrace the pain and ask yourself what you could have done differently or better or what your blind spot was. It’s harder because you stop living in the bubble of your own creation and start living in reality.

The people who choose the easy path have a very hard life, whereas those who choose the harder path have an easier life. If we don’t learn to embrace being uncomfortable, we will need to learn how to embrace irrelevance, and that will be much harder.

An Ad Agency’s Perception Of Radio

Just one reason why System 21, a national media sales training  education is so important to radio!
Call Michael Guld, President of System 21 for details 804356-7006

 

By

 Radio Ink

 -

June 7, 2018

14

 

Robert Christy, who worked in radio for 44 years, took notice of our Nielsen/CMO story Thursday and gave us some interesting feedback. His wife Jan (pictured here with Robert) owns a 38-client agency in California. Unfortunately her perception of our industry is not the best, and hopefully this is an isolated incident. Every once in awhile we find out our baby is ugly and it’s not always daffodils and roses.

We asked Robert to speak to Jan and give us an inside look at how radio reps call on her, her perception of radio salespeople and managers, and what she’d like to see from the radio industry.

(By Robert Christy) Two weeks ago my wife handed me a presentation from the GSM and AE from one of the largest radio groups. They were asking for $31K over two months for a promotional campaign on four of their stations. There was no breakdown of where and when the commercials and promos would run or which of their stations would be carrying them. The presentation made no sense.

Not only that, the in-person portion of the presentation they made was weak and confusing. She said the GSM had difficulty answering any of her questions in any detail. The AE, her rep, said nothing except hello and goodbye.

My wife has spent a lot of money on radio over the years, especially when she was the VP of Marketing for one of the largest furniture retailers in Southern California. She knows radio (she began her career as a radio sales rep). She’s watched and experienced the decline in the quality of radio salespeople, the massive turnover in sales at stations (one major LA station had four different reps call on her in a nine-month period). She says that whenever radio sends out a manager with the reps, the manager is one of two things: arrogant or soaked in flop sweat.

What she says about radio reps in general:

1. They don’t listen. They ask questions that aren’t relevant to the discussion or to her client’s wants, needs, and desires.
2. She says this is especially true when the rep is accompanied by one of the big guns. The manager types she encounters listen even less and blow off legitimate questions. She feels they are trying to push a one-siz-fits-all program, no matter what the client is trying to accomplish.
3. If she makes a radio buy, she gets inundated by radio reps from the competition and some (especially managers) go as far as denigrating her judgment and expect her to justify to them why she made the decision she made. Or they whine that if she doesn’t spend a few bucks with them they’ll lose the account or worse yet get fired. Radio is the only medium she works with that does this.
4. She is never swayed by an offer of concert tickets, etc. Her interest is only in what will work for her client.
5. Radio is virtually the only medium that always denigrates other radio stations and other media platforms. One of her clients, a family practice law firm, owned by a woman, uses the slick local magazines on a regular basis. It works for her firm. My wife can predict almost to the minute when the calls from radio reps will start after each new issue comes out.

She knows how radio works, she knows how it fits into her client’s marketing strategy and that’s how she operates.

What she would like to see from radio:

1) More community involvement. One of her restaurant clients hosted a community forum a few days after the huge Thomas Fire (the largest in California history). Residents could ask questions of fire, police, relief, and emergency leaders. Half the food and bar receipts went to help people most affected by the fire, the wait staff even donated their tips. The restaurant was a drop-off point for clothing, food, and cash donations. TV and print were there, NPR was there, commercial radio didn’t bother.
2) She’d like to see sales reps take the time to learn about her clients or, at minimum, seem curious beyond size of the budget.
3) She’d like to see managers who make calls with sales reps either support the rep or make the call themselves.
4) Radio managers believe they are good negotiators; they’re not.

The last radio campaign she ran for one of her clients, she did the research, planned the buy, wrote the copy, called the stations, and bought the schedule. She ran 35 units on each station per week for three weeks. She paid full rate card for 6a-6p, one unit per daypart, Monday through Friday. She asked for and got 20 units a week as a bonus. She ran 10 of them like this one unit, 7-12 and one overnight M-F; the other 10 bonus units ran midday on Saturday and Sunday. Did the campaign work? It did, and worked well, because she understands radio better than the people who sell it.

Robery Christy can be reached at rjc4th@gmail.com

Boomers Driving New Wave Of Cord-Cutting

COMMENTARY

• by Mario Carrasco , Columnist, Yesterday

Millennials have been ruining everything for the past five years. From the workplace to grocery stores, Millennials have been blamed for every marketers’ woes imaginable in the past decade. However, there’s a new disruptor in town, and they’re older: Boomers. Millennials have blamed them for almost everything as well but let’s not get into that. 

In our 2018 Total Market Media report, we found that Boomers are disrupting something that they aren’t typically credited for, live TV. An audience that marketers have relied on for tuning in for their regularly scheduled programs are now taking the leap into streaming like their younger counterparts: 

While Millennial Live TV viewing habits are continuing to decline from 2017 (-16 points), Boomers’ decline in live TV viewing habits are significantly higher with a 21-point decline from 2017.

So, what’s driving this? The answer is clear — Netflix. No longer does the stereotype of the binge-viewing Millennial hold true, Boomers are getting into the non-action action of binge viewing with a 13-point jump in Netflix viewing over 2017. To say that this is a significant increase over Millennials in the same time is an understatement as Millennial adoption of Netflix saw a slight decrease in 2018 from 2017 with a drop of 2 points. Now we know who the almost 2 million new U.S. Netflix subscribers in Q1 of 2018 are. 

Boomers are moving from Live TV to streaming, so what are the implications for marketers? 

1. OTT Advertising No Longer Just For Millennials – with the significant increase of OTT services like Netflix by boomers, OTT advertising is no longer relegated to just targeting millennials. Boomers are a growing audience in the OTT advertising space and present a first-to-market opportunity for marketers to engage in this medium.

2. Audience Classification Becomes More Complex – The formula of Live TV = Older audiences, OTT = Younger audiences is rapidly becoming antiquated. With Boomers driving cord-cutting and OTT adoption, all bets are off in terms of marketers classifying certain mediums for certain age cohorts. Audience classification will increasingly become a multidimensional practice, going beyond standard demos and assumptions.

3. OTT Needs To Go Beyond Impressions – As OTT audiences grow in scope and reach, OTT operators will need to move beyond the standard television model of impressions and adopt other metrics such as user interactions, leads, and acquisitions. 

OTT is here to stay, and live TV is experiencing an existential crisis as even their tried and true audience is favoring streaming services such as Netflix. Marketers must adapt yet again to not only changing technologies but changing demographics on said technologies. Netflix eclipsing Disney’s market cap doesn’t sound so absurd now, right?

In-App Mobile Video Ads Drive Display Dollars

COMMENTARY

• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, 11 hours ago

Over the next five years, count on in-app mobile video ads to increasingly drive display dollars.

That’s one big takeaway from a fresh Forrester Research forecast.

From 2018 to 2023, video will account for 93% of incremental display ad dollars -- and within video, mobile will be the primary driver.

To be precise, mobile will account for 72% of incremental online video ad dollars, and its share of the online video ad market will grow from 50% to 59%, during the period.

The growth of in-app mobile video ads is being driven by two key trends in consumer technology, according to Brandon Verblow, associate forecast analyst at Forrester.

“Given the high share of mobile time spent in apps and the growth in online video consumption, in-app mobile video ads are a natural driver of online display ad spending,” says Verblow.

Yet the strength of in-app ads isn’t likely to overshadow marketers’ love of banner ads on the mobile web, Verblow noted. That’s thanks to the greater reach they offer, he said.

In-app or otherwise, mobile is increasingly driving ad spending, Verblow says.

Indeed, the share of consumers streaming ad-supported content on mobile gadgets has been trending upward over the past three years, while PC viewership is trending downward, Forrester finds.

Additionally, long-form content’s expanding share of mobile viewing is boosting higher ad rates.

Long-form content viewing on smartphones as a share of online video time grew from 29% in the first quarter of 2016 to 55% in the first quarter of 2017.

Of course, more long-form mobile video is a good thing, because it’s more likely to fetch higher ad rates.

Viewers are also likely to be more engaged with long-form content, and it’s likely to be of higher quality -- both of which are attractive to brands.

Also of note, better smartphones equate to a better mobile video experience -- which, in turn, is driving viewing.

Among other changes, the average U.S. smartphone screen size continues to grow, with the share of users owning a smartphone with a screen 4.5 inches or larger increasing from 60% in 2016 to 66% in 2017.

Cellular providers are also making it more affordable to watch mobile video on the go. In February 2017, for example, Verizon brought back its unlimited data plan option for the first time since 2011, and the other major carriers followed suit.