(VIDEO) Harsh Words From a Former Automotive Radio Advertiser

10/24/13

Barry Merrill (pictured, center, at the DASH conference) is the President and General Manager of Grand Ledge Ford Lincoln in Grand Ledge, MI. Unfortunately he is a lost radio advertiser and he blames the radio industry for his decision to turn all of his dollars over to TV. Merrill said there was too much turnover in sales reps, and they were just trying to hit their budgets -- there was no relationship-building. He went from spending all of his advertising dollars on radio to spending nothing. We asked Merrill to give the industry some advice on how to improve.

"When you call on us, use an all-around approach," he said. "Focus on new cars, used cars, promote our website and our Facebook page. Talk about what you can do to promote the dealership as a whole." Merrill says Ford is moving a lot of advertising to digital, including Pandora, and he says it's working."I like to advertise directly," he said. "I get more feedback."

Ford is now at 60% to 70% digital, up from 20T-30%. Merrill also asks, as radio sees technology evolving so fast, how radio is going to be engaged in that: "If it's a regular antenna connecting to the car and everyone else is digital, you are going to be left out of the game."

Here is our extended video interview from DASH with Barry Merrill.

(MANAGER'S PERSPECTIVE) While this may be true, there are always two sides to a story. It's doubtful that all the Detroit radio groups simply dropped the ball forcing this guy to abandon radio. There are too many good radio groups in that market. Would have loved to hear what they had to say about it.  
.... Major Market General Manager

What's your perspective? Leave your comments below.

(10/26/2013 9:35:57 AM)
Yet he is in the business of selling radios. One comes with every car.
(10/26/2013 9:07:26 AM)
Eric and Ed,

After considering all the comments (most of them, anyway), it appears to me that the car dealer you chose to offer his thoughts on media use was a poor choice. If the radio guys in the market who know him have him pegged as just a rate objector who relished the opportunity to get on stage and rip radio a new one, then he served no purpose in your intended forum.
RadioInk has made some questionable choices in their recent panel picks. Many of the tech "experts" are people looking for work and get some by opining that radio is nearly dead and only their services will save it. Others are agency reps who change their stance weekly as their ilk always has.
RadioInk is to be saluted for trying to get a conversation going that can be beneficial, but not if all the speakers have the same theme that the sky is falling, because the money people who are building and buying radio stations know that is not true.

(10/26/2013 12:13:13 AM)
"Live and local" is a phrase served with the Kool-Aid. And, like that famous (Jonestown) beverage, very few understand the implications of sucking it up.

Live and local can be programmed in the morning by anybody so inclined. And there isn't a reader here who doesn't know what a shambles and a sham that would be.

Anyway, "Ronnie's" next article deals with that very issue. It may be an opportunity to do something different - like: learn something new.

(10/25/2013 7:38:26 PM)
In Eric Rhoads impassioned separate message today detailing the far-reaching wisdom of his recent conference the ad director for Hyundai and Kia says unless radio maintains LIVE AND LOCAL they will be less of a factor.
Wanna eat your comments of late on LIVE AND LOCAL, Ronnie? We can start with this example of your nonsense.
(10/25/2013 6:45:17 PM)
Got it: It's the advertisers' fault and when it's not, it's the sales departments' fault. Anything to delay taking action on our own parts is acceptable.

So, here is the strategy: a.) Knock a series of homers out of the park for a half dozen different clients. b.) inform the desired advertisers of those results while asking them to drop by at their convenience.

Can't pull that off? Load up on personal supplies; get with station ownership and management; lock the doors; speak candidly and truthfully; participate in making decisions for drastic and dramatic improvements, and after that, determine if there is a personal future in this racket.

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(SALES) Best Time To Contact Any Advertiser

8-5-2013

When?s the best time to contact an advertiser? After you see their advertisement in the newspaper or hear them on a competitor?s station? Not anymore. It?s too late by then.

Countless local advertisers have complained to me that once their advertising campaign starts, their voicemail and email inbox fills up with advertising pitches from other local media reps. We?re like a bunch of sharks who smell blood in the water.

The old sales tactic of ?selling against other media? is worn out. It was once an indication that a business had money to spend on advertising and all you had to do was convince them to shift part of their marketing budget to your station.

In today?s fragmented local media landscape, that approach shows you don?t know much about that advertiser?s business other than they might have money to spend. The new and more effective sales tactic is ?insight selling.? You want to anticipate their advertising needs well in advance of all the other local media reps in your market.

The best time to call an advertiser is approximately three to four months in advance of the ?optimum moment? when they should be marketing their product or service. That optimum moment is different for every advertiser, so how can you find that information? Glad you asked.

Each year, the geek website Lifehacker.com releases their annual guide, ?The Best Time to Buy Anything During the Year.? They break down each month into all the products and services offering the best deals during that month or ones introducing new versions. Insights about how and when people are most likely or not likely to buy those products or services during that time are also included.

Sounds great for consumers, but how do you use this information in radio advertising sales? Another great question!

The ?best time to buy anything? moments identified by Lifehacker.com correspond with the ?optimum marketing? moment of advertisers. Either peak interest in the product or service of an advertiser or the moment when they have excess supply are both perfect moments for an advertiser to get the most bang for their marketing buck.

For example, according to Lifehacker.com?s guide, January is a great time to buy furniture on sale because furniture retailers are making room for their new lineup of furniture in February.  There are two optimum marketing moments here for furniture retailers. One is promoting their sales in January and the second is promoting their new lineup of furniture in February.

Using this information, you should be calling furniture retailers in September or October. Even if you encounter a furniture retailer not ready to discuss their winter marketing plans, you are giving yourself time to build a relationship and to ingratiate yourself into their sales cycle.

You know what else I love about this insight sales approach? The pressure to close the advertising sale shifts from you toward your prospect. They know there is an optimum moment to spend their marketing dollars, which serves as a deadline for them to pull the trigger on your advertising proposal.

Now don?t get me wrong, I?m not saying advertisers should wait to spend all their marketing dollars during their optimum marketing moment, but this approach creates a great conversation starter and provides a path for you to gain their trust over the long term.

At the time of writing of this article it?s August, so that means you should be approaching advertisers with an optimum marketing moment in November. Here are some ideas. Good luck!

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.

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GEICO Remains Radio's Top Advertiser

2-24-2013

With nearly 59,000 spots aired, GEICO was once again the number one radio advertiser for the week (2/18-2/24) according to Media Monitors. McDonalds holds the number two spot (28,181) and The Home Depot moves up from number four to three (27, 024). Rounding out the top five are two big movers, Wal-Mart (22,332) and State Farm (21,301). Wal-Mart was number fourteen last week and State Farm was number twelve.

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Rush Says Media Lying About Advertiser Revolt

by Ed Ryan

Yesterday there were several reports stating The Rush Limbaugh program had lost up to 3 dozen advertisers. While several well known advertisers such as Carbonite, AOL, ProFlowers and others did make it clear they were canceling their advertising, Rush told his audience he has not lost 28 advertisers. In fact, he says, he has three brand-new sponsors that will be starting in the next two weeks. He did not say who they were, perhaps to save them from social media protests. The reporting got so bad, according to Rush, that he addressed the issue on his program Wednesday. "Two of the sponsors who have canceled have asked to return.  Not gonna give you any names here. One of them is practically begging to come back."

Rush said everything is fine on the business side. "Everything's cool. There is not a thing to worry about.  What you're seeing on television about this program and sponsors and advertisers is just incorrect. And let me try to explain how this works. Let's take the claim that we've lost 28 sponsors.  Sponsors on this program are both local and national. We deal with the national sponsors on this program. We have 600-plus stations. They sell their own commercials.  We don't have anything to do with those sponsors. We don't get paid by those sponsors. We have no idea who those sponsors are."

Rush went on to detail how local stations and advertising agencies place advertisers in the show and that could be where the media is coming up with their 3 dozen number. "Let's say that ABC Widget Company says, "We are no longer going to appear on the Rush Limbaugh Show."  Well, ABC Widget Company isn't on the Rush Limbaugh Show. What happens is, advertising agencies order advertising buys on a series of local stations from market to market to market.  A controversy like this erupts. They put out a notice to the stations, "By the way, for the time being we don't want our commercials run when Limbaugh is on."  But they are not canceling their advertising on the station.  They're just saying they don't want it running on my program during the local affiliate's commercial time, not ours. And let me tell you, this happens every day.  It's been happening for 23-plus years.  And it's not just to me.  There are clients, advertisers, that tell stations, "I don't want this to run in Beck's show. I don't want it to run in Hannity's. I don't want it to run in Howard Stern's."  It's all part of the business."

"As I say, we're going to be debuting three (and maybe more) new sponsors in the coming days and weeks. And I'm sure that our affiliate stations are going to be replacing advertisers with new ones. It's the cycle. Nothing stays the same. It's all dynamic; nothing is static. All you need to know is there are no losses. There is only growth. There are only gains; we're moving forward. There is good in everything that happens. You look for it, you find it, you build on it, and you expand it. They have not taken this program out. They have not taken me out. They're the ones who are frustrated. They're the ones who are angry. They're the ones who are gonna be blowing gaskets in the next couple of weeks. I hope I've made this clear."

Ed Ryan is Editor-in-Chief of Radio Ink magazine and can be reached HERE.
You can also leave your comments below.

(3/9/2012 4:13:12 PM)
This blowhard has been "stirring up" trouble for years. It's not entertainment it's fanning a flame that contributes to the partisan noncooperation we've seen.
Limbaugh is not a "all knowing pumba" of political science. He's a former top 40 jock that couldn't make it to the major markets...so after a brief hiatus...he returned to the air waves just as the Talk Radio movement began to jell. It was all timing...not talent that got him where is is today.
(3/8/2012 9:17:53 PM)
@Jack Murphy "Now, thanks to the media, more folks are tuning into Rush than were on the day his slip of the tongue occured."

"Slip of the tongue?" Really?

This was no slip of the tongue.

A slip of the tongue is when you make an unintentional mistake.

Mr Limbaugh's words were highly intentional and I suspect premeditated.

Sadly, you're right in one thing. . . the complicity of the media in this circus has given Mr Limbaugh precisely what he craves: attention.

(3/8/2012 4:11:54 PM)
Slip of the tongue?

That is as vile a characterization as
was Limbaugh's characterization!

(3/8/2012 2:33:54 PM)
Too bad that some people believe what they hear with no checking. Too bad that in order to sell ad space, and make money, some people will say anything. Too bad that its OK to call a young woman a Slut on a national stage, without her having 'equal time'. Too bad NAB members think first about corporate profits and very rarely about the community's that are destroyed by violent programming, by hate spewing ignorant or deliberately lying fear mongers. Yes I do blame 'the media'
(3/8/2012 1:01:30 PM)
Shameless a good word to describe Rush Limbaugh..
Professional Broadcasters don't do thinks like he does.

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Rush Says Media Lying About Advertiser Revolt

by Ed Ryan

Yesterday there were several reports stating The Rush Limbaugh program had lost up to 3 dozen advertisers. While several well known advertisers such as Carbonite, AOL, ProFlowers and others did make it clear they were canceling their advertising, Rush told his audience he has not lost 28 advertisers. In fact, he says, he has three brand-new sponsors that will be starting in the next two weeks. He did not say who they were, perhaps to save them from social media protests. The reporting got so bad, according to Rush, that he addressed the issue on his program Wednesday. "Two of the sponsors who have canceled have asked to return.  Not gonna give you any names here. One of them is practically begging to come back."

Rush said everything is fine on the business side. "Everything's cool. There is not a thing to worry about.  What you're seeing on television about this program and sponsors and advertisers is just incorrect. And let me try to explain how this works. Let's take the claim that we've lost 28 sponsors.  Sponsors on this program are both local and national. We deal with the national sponsors on this program. We have 600-plus stations. They sell their own commercials.  We don't have anything to do with those sponsors. We don't get paid by those sponsors. We have no idea who those sponsors are."

Rush went on to detail how local stations and advertising agencies place advertisers in the show and that could be where the media is coming up with their 3 dozen number. "Let's say that ABC Widget Company says, "We are no longer going to appear on the Rush Limbaugh Show."  Well, ABC Widget Company isn't on the Rush Limbaugh Show. What happens is, advertising agencies order advertising buys on a series of local stations from market to market to market.  A controversy like this erupts. They put out a notice to the stations, "By the way, for the time being we don't want our commercials run when Limbaugh is on."  But they are not canceling their advertising on the station.  They're just saying they don't want it running on my program during the local affiliate's commercial time, not ours. And let me tell you, this happens every day.  It's been happening for 23-plus years.  And it's not just to me.  There are clients, advertisers, that tell stations, "I don't want this to run in Beck's show. I don't want it to run in Hannity's. I don't want it to run in Howard Stern's."  It's all part of the business."

"As I say, we're going to be debuting three (and maybe more) new sponsors in the coming days and weeks. And I'm sure that our affiliate stations are going to be replacing advertisers with new ones. It's the cycle. Nothing stays the same. It's all dynamic; nothing is static. All you need to know is there are no losses. There is only growth. There are only gains; we're moving forward. There is good in everything that happens. You look for it, you find it, you build on it, and you expand it. They have not taken this program out. They have not taken me out. They're the ones who are frustrated. They're the ones who are angry. They're the ones who are gonna be blowing gaskets in the next couple of weeks. I hope I've made this clear."

Ed Ryan is Editor-in-Chief of Radio Ink magazine and can be reached HERE.
You can also leave your comments below.

(3/8/2012 7:14:49 AM)
I worked for a pair of radio stations and his description is exactly right. I used to sell local spots to local businesses to "sponsor" talk shows. We had a certain amount of slots in each day open to us to sell. These talk shows have no idea who the local sponsors are. It isn't sent in to them. Radio and TV has 24 hours of time slots for local and national advertising. The local is sold by people such as myself to local businesses and organizations.

(3/8/2012 6:11:07 AM)
Rush's response to this controvery has been nothing short of disastrous. The last thing you want a talent to do is go on the air and berate your clients for making a conscientious decision. Likening the objectors to "french fries falling out of a bag" or essentially saying "Good riddence, we have new ones lined up to get on" serves to boost his multi-million dollar ego, but deflates the talk radio brand and puts those at Premiere who rep the departed accounts in a horrendous position. Having been in similar situation at an AOR early in my career, I still have the scars to show for it. Some accounts will get over it and some won't.
(3/7/2012 7:41:06 PM)
See your illustration? Rush is just blowin'smoke.Frankly . . . who would trust the word of this blowhard?

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ProFlowers Latest 7th Advertiser to Drop Rush

3-3-2012

ProFlowers became the 7th company to pull its ads from The Rush Limbaugh Program. Social Media has played yet another role in how consumers give and take information. ProFlowers customers were giving the company instant feedback about what Rush said and their choice to advertise on his program. And, the company responded Sunday by ending its relationship with Rush and did it by posting a statement on Facebook. Here is what they posted...

"At ProFlowers, our mission is to delight our customers with fresh and long lasting flowers, and that is our singular focus each and every day. We do not base our advertising decisions to align with any particular political view or opinion as our employees and customers are as diverse as the USA. Mr. Limbaugh?s recent comments went beyond political discourse to a personal attack and do not reflect our values as a company. As such, ProFlowers has suspended advertising on The Rush Limbaugh radio program."

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