4-29-2013
One of the biggest frustrations in radio sales today is the lack of creative production resources.
An AE can?t get a spec spot made unless they think the sale is practically a sure thing. It can take upwards of two weeks to turn around something as simple as an online banner ad.
Here are a few online production tools to empower radio sales reps to create their own spec spots and online ads, helping them save time and get more sales.
Audio Spec Spots in a Snap
Don?t you wish you could have a spec spot made for each one of your new prospects? It would help accelerate the sales process by getting the prospect to share what they like and don?t like about the spot. Discussing something as tangible as a spec spot will help reveal their key objections more quickly, as well as how ready they are to buy advertising from you.
Unfortunately, most radio stations don?t have the resources to create a spec spot each time an AE lands a meeting with a new prospect . . . until now. Online production tools from CashByCreative.com enable an AE to create spec spots on their own. They can search over 2,000 spec spots by submitting a keyword or selecting an advertising category, and then customize it for their client. Your customized spot will be turned around in under three hours.
CashByCreative is market exclusive and is definitely a sales tool that will make your station stand apart from the crowd.
Create Your Own Display Ads
The process of creating banner, display, or rich media ads can be excruciatingly slow. Your station might only have one in-house Web designer, unreliable freelance designers, or a centralized corporate development team that is chronically overwhelmed. BannerSnack.com can instantly eliminate this production bottleneck.
Any AE can create display ads for free on BannerSnack.com. Not only can you create standard online display ads in a variety of sizes, but interactive ads, flash headers, and Web intros too. You only pay when you want to publish the ad, so this is a great free tool to use for creating online spec ads.
Design Online Contest Forms
Need to create an online form for a contest, event, or survey? There?s no longer any need to bug your Web staff to build it for you, just use WuFoo.com.
AEs can now create a variety of beautiful online registration forms all by themselves. Build forms for contests in real time with your clients. Once the form is complete, just copy and paste the code provided by WuFoo to add to your station?s website.
Each month you can create up to three forms with less 100 entries per month for free. Obviously, most radio stations collect thousands of entries each month, but the cost is still pretty affordable. You can collect 15,000 entries per month for $70. Compare that cost to the hourly rate you pay your Web developer every time you want to create a new contest!
If your station is facing other production bottlenecks, please email me at stephen@inboundarts.com and I?ll see if I can find a tool for you.
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 is also the founded of LocalBroadcastSales.com in 2008. Have a question for Stephen? Email him at stephen@inboundarts.com or connect with him on LinkedIn.
