3-4-2013
There?s nothing more frustrating in radio sales than spending most of your day cranking out cold calls and blasting out emails only to get little or no response from prospects. What does it take to get the attention of local advertisers these days?
The default conversation starter typically used in radio sales has always been to ?sell? the station, its programming, its demos, its ratings, and its brand. We?ve all been told before that many local advertisers just don?t care, but we still don?t like hearing it do we?
We really need to put ourselves in their shoes.
There isn?t a local business today that isn?t overwhelmed by all the different online, mobile, and social media marketing options made available to them. If you really want to get the attention of a business owner, you need to recognize their marketing needs and how you can help them.
They are desperate for a trusted local marketing adviser. Who better to help them than a marketing expert from a local radio station with an established reputation in their community?
To get your foot in the door, meet them where they?re at. They might not understand how radio promotion can help them with their online or social media marketing out of the gate, but you can make your case once you?ve established your credibility and earned their trust.
In today?s marketplace, the fastest way to get the attention of any local advertiser is to offer them some free digital marketing consultation. Change your approach to your cold calls, emails, and voicemails to prospects. Don?t sell your station off the bat. Show how you can solve one of their digital marketing problems first. You have to give to receive. Try one of these sales conversation starter ideas:
1. Assess Their Online Marketing
Many local businesses don?t even realize they are losing sales because of basic mistakes on their website and how they manage their online presence. HubSpot?s Web marketing assessment tool Marketing Grader points out areas for improvement. Share these recommendations with your prospect, so they can generate even more sales leads from their website.
Run the Web address of each of your prospects through Marketing Grader. It will generate a score between 1 and 100. The higher the score, the more optimized your prospect?s website is for generating sales leads.
You?ll be perceived as a local media rep looking out for their best interests and not just asking them for money. The best part, it?s free and takes just seconds to do. The third-party recommendations from HubSpot are rooted in widely recognized best practices for online marketing lending you additional credibility.
2. Fix Mistakes on Local Directory Listings
Data from the directory service yext.com shows that over half of small businesses have an error in their name in at least one major online business directory. One-third had an incorrect phone number in at least one of their online listings. Another recent survey by ConstantContact shows that 70 percent of small businesses said they don't have time to manage their online directory listings.
Submit the name of your prospect?s business and their zip code on GetListed.org. This free service shows where your prospect doesn?t have a listing and enables them to quickly check for errors in directories where they are already listed.
As more and more people search for information on mobile phones, something as simple as an incorrect phone number or wrong address in an online directory listing could cost a business a sale. Show your prospects which errors to fix and which directory listings they should create.
3. Set Up a Google Places Account
Probably the most important directory to any local business right now is Google Places. After hearing a business mentioned on the radio or seeking local business information online, most consumers do a search on Google, either on their desktop or mobile phone.
Search for your prospect on Google to see if they have their Google Places listing set up. If they have one already, see if they have it completely filled out. They can include their hours of operation, types of payments accepted, map of their location, contact information, photos, and reviews.
If your prospect doesn?t have an account, offer to create one for them. It?s free to create. If they do have one, but you noticed an error or if they are missing information, point it out to them. Show you are looking for ways to improve all aspects of their marketing.
4. Monitor Yelp Reviews
If you aren?t familiar with Yelp or have used it as a consumer, think of it as the new local focus group in radio sales. Get real-time feedback from customers about your prospect?s business.
Read the reviews for each prospect you call on to see what consumers are saying about them. Look for trends whether the reviews are good or bad. Is there a particular reason people are recommending the business? If people aren?t happy with the business, why is it?
Use this information to develop a unique radio campaign. Share your ideas with your prospect and let them know it was inspired by their customers? feedback on Yelp. Remind them that radio can share their customers? insights with a much larger audience than those who find it on Yelp.
5. Compare Web Traffic
Show your prospect how their Web traffic stacks up against their direct competition using Compete.com?s Graph Buzz. No business likes to know they aren?t doing as well as their competitors. Their Web traffic is an indication of how interested prospective consumers are in learning more about their business.
As with any Web traffic reporting, people will always challenge you on the numbers. Use Graphic Buzz to give your prospect an overall visualization of how their Web traffic stacks up against its competitors.
You can also perform a simple Google search for other businesses in your prospect's category to estimate its popularity. It might be pet stores, auto dealers, or pizza shops. See how high your prospect ranks in the search compared to its competitors.
Use your research to generate a conversation starter about how you can use radio and digital advertising to increase their Web traffic, search engine ranking, and their sales to beat their competition!
Each of these conversation starters will definitely grab the attention of your prospects because it shows you understand something about their business and you truly want to help them get more sales. Your voicemail or email is the one they?ll return because they?ll want your help to solve the marketing problem you?ve identified for them. Once you?ve earned their trust, then you can show how radio can drive even more traffic to their website, generating more sales for their business.
Stephen Warley is the founder of inboundarts.com, a research and training firm dedicated to helping radio broadcasters use digital tools to generate more qualified sales leads. He also founded LocalBroadcastSales.com in 2008, an archive of over 600 video sales trainings. Have a question for Stephen? Email him at stephen@inboundarts.com or connect with him on LinkedIn.
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