(HIRING) What Were They Thinking?

3-21-2014

In my business, I hear a lot of horror stories. Below are real situations that have recently been shared with me by clients.

One station?s AE actually went on their personal Facebook account and bashed a local restaurant, who by the way was her client. Social media is viral, so of course it got back to the client. Guess whose schedule got canceled and what station is not getting any business from this local client, who by the way, was a good advertiser?

Or how about on-air personalities who bad-mouth certain businesses, which also spend a lot of money with their station? For example, a news director who went on air to bash an important client for an experience he had with the company.

A potential employer went online to research a possible new hire and found inappropriate post on his Twitter account. Really?

These situations can be a nightmare for a manager or a job seeker. While it is our prerogative as Americans to relish freedom of speech, shouldn?t your team understand the ramifications of when they go on attack or post rude comments?

If your company doesn?t have any social media policies, at least share some basic social media etiquette rules with them. We can?t assume that everyone knows and understands them. According to the Huffington Post, Diane Gottsman, a national etiquette expert, offers these tips on what to share:

? Eat it, think it, but please don't post it: Before hitting "post" or "tweet," ask yourself what value your comment offers and what your motivation might be as an end result. The information you share should ultimately be the type of content other people are interested in passing along to their own followers. Your tone should be interesting, informative, unique, and conversational.

? Take your complaint offline: While it may be tempting to tear into the particular company on Twitter, or slam them on their Facebook account, contact them privately instead to settle the issue. If you do tweet something that is truly bothering you in real time, don't step over the line into slanderous territory.

Often a concerned comment to a manager, who wants their clients to have a pleasant experience with their company, will want to know. Try the approach of letting them know you care about their business succeeding and wanted to share a poor experience. Don?t ?rip? into them by publically humiliating them as it will come back to bite you.

If you are looking for a job, go back and clear out any improper posts or pictures. It can stop you from progressing in your career.

In all cases, think before you post!

Laurie Kahn is Founder and President of Media Staffing Network and can be reached at 480-306-8930 or via e-mail at laurie@mediastaffingnetwork.com. Visit the Media Staffing Website www.mediastaffingnetwork.com

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(SALES) Big Thinking In Small Markets

7-10-2013

Just because you work in a small market doesn?t mean you have to think small.

Small market broadcasters have a significant advantage over their cousins at the large and medium stations. This is because a business? gross margin of profit remains about the same whether it?s operating in a small, medium, or large market. For example, grocery stores try to operate on about an 18 percent gross margin whether they?re located in Los Angeles, CA, Austin, TX, or Mitchell, SD. And, average sales for groceries don?t fluctuate much between large, medium, and small markets.

Funeral homes operate on a 55 percent gross margin (after the cost of labor), regardless of whether they are operating in Atlanta, GA, Cleveland, OH, or Bartlesville, OK. And, the average cost for a funeral ($6,000) is about the same regardless of market size.

Furniture stores in all sizes of markets operate on a 44 percent gross margin. The average sale at a furniture store, regardless of market size, is around $800.

I just spoke with a plastic surgeon who lives and works in a small Iowa market. His gross margin is 50 percent. His average sale for liposuction is $3500 per zone sucked (there are eight zones). His average sale and gross margin would be the same if he worked in Dallas or Pittsburg.

So, if gross margins of profit and average sales are similar regardless of market size, what?s the small market advantage? Media costs. Compared to the rates in bigger towns and cities, small market rates are obviously very low. That means a small-market business owner can afford to own significant media inventory, a schedule he?d probably never be able to afford if he were working in a bigger market.
Bigger schedules usually get better results. Unfortunately, the only thing keeping clients from running bigger schedules is us. We?re not asking for bigger orders. We?re used to asking for $500 per month, instead of $500 per week.

?Why run a commercial every hour on these stations?? I say to the client. ?Because they let you, Mrs. Independent Businessperson. In this town you can afford to own your category on these stations,? I continue. ?So, why wouldn?t you take advantage of that? Here, you could afford to run as much or more than your biggest national competitor. With that kind of schedule and a good creative idea, when people think about your category, they?ll only think about you.?

The plastic surgeon fully understood what I was saying. ?Your average sale is $3500 and your gross margin is 50 percent. So, how many $1750s have to come through your clinic per thousand a week spent on advertising? It looks like a good calculated risk to me,? I said. He agreed. With that kind of money, he could afford to run a massive schedule to educate people on the benefits of liposuction and, at the same time, teach people to trust him and to like him. Instead of going to a larger market for the procedure, they can have it done by a big-city doctor right here in town.

The furniture store owner absolutely gets the concept. By spending $500 per week on his small-town station, he now owns his category. He has plenty of minute-long opportunities to teach people about his bistro tables, tilting armchairs, and indoor/outdoor furniture. He is now aware that to break even on his campaign, he only needs to catch one new fish per week.

Previously never a big advertiser, the funeral home director now sees the benefit of running a very competitive marketing campaign. Per thousand dollars per week spent, he only needs one or two new customers a month and he?s more than paid back for his advertising investment. Unscripted, he talks about the kinds of services that people request. He gives people ideas they can use when planning their own funerals. He lets the people know that he is a real human being with real emotions. This is important, if he is to survive his battle with a price-cutting corporate competitor.
The grocer now has a better way to deal with his biggest competitor, Wal-Mart. He can use vignettes of unscripted conversation to remind listeners that, unlike his competitor, all of his meat is cut fresh each day right there at his store. Unlike his competitor, he buys almost all of his produce locally. Unlike his corporate competitor, he participates in virtually every single local charitable event.

Even in small markets, big ideas deserve bigger budgets. Do the client?s marketing and advertising thinking for them. Then, ask them for real money. If you ask for more budget and back it up with calculated risk based on gross margins and average sales, you?ll find far less rate resistance than you think.

Paul Weyland helps broadcast stations bring in more long-term local direct business. Read his book Successful Local Broadcast Sales. Contact Paul at www.paulweyland.com or call him at 512 236 1222.

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(SOCIAL) How To Get Management Thinking Social

4-30-2013

The people in our business ? radio ? want to build a big ?following? on platforms like Facebook and Twitter and they want to be a popular choice for their content and for engaging listeners, but I do hear from radio all the time about how difficult it is to get management or ownership or others to push past simply ?having a Facebook page? and being ?on Twitter.? These great employees are hungry for motivating the rest of their team, management, or ownership to truly embrace social media for the value of the radio stations. They ask me, ?How do I get them motivated to take social media seriously?? 

Well it's a matter of overcoming the natural resistance to change. One of my favorite quotes explains why people don?t like change:

?Faced with the choice between changing one?s mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.? ? John Kenneth Galbraith

So, here are some steps you can take to truly engage your team on the valuable ground of social media and what it can do for your local radio station.

1. Recognize that most adults ? especially in management roles are ?20th century people.? Most of what they accept as ?truth? is stuff they learned before 2001. So, if you want to engage them and get them to see social media value, you must draw the similarity lines between the social ?activity? things that they HAVE done for years and years ? remotes, station appearances, hosting events in the local market, interaction with listeners at concerts ? and the new environments of ?social media? dominating American attention in 2013. If you took out the name ?Facebook? and replaced it with ?that new arena that is opening in September downtown,? the ?old guys? would not miss an opportunity to be a part of it. They would have ideas out the butt. So, you have to show them the local participation numbers on the different social media sites and compare it to what they consider ?real world things? they would not miss. Make it obvious by relating to their principles of understanding.

2. You?ve heard everyone say content is king. That?s a lie. Money is king. Focus on the money. Nothing gets attention like money. If you are in a radio station today and you take a paycheck from the company, you are there to make life easier for the managers and owners. Otherwise, they would get rid of you. That is a better description of our real jobs in 2013 than any job title you may have today. These radio stations are revenue-generating businesses. Debt, economy, and other factors have ? as you know ? made everyone focus more on profit. That means that part of your job is to help managers make profit AND make their lives easier. So, think about everything you want to do in social media, what you think your station or stations should be doing, think about the radio business, and work hard to apply revenue generating principles to what you want them to ?sign off on? so you bring forth social media ideas that bring value (money) to the table. The more times you do this, the more social media oriented your company will become I assure you.

3. As you develop engagement, don?t leave out the sales department. In no radio cluster in America should there be a zero activity social media lane for the sales team. Business owners are social and need help too. Please see number 2 above. If you are in sales, you are there to make their job easier (the client is the boss). Shouldn?t your team have an overall social media strategy that goes with your sales effort to get every dollar out of the local market? Of course you should. Do you? If not, get busy writing the plan and then execute with passion. Here is a hint: You should be offering help to these local business owners. They have real problems related to your expertise. Don?t just pitch advertising buys. Show them you care about them and validate them. If you need more than that, I am afraid you should talk to someone who can help you develop a social media strategy for your sales team.

4. Don?t make social media confusing or complicated. Show the benefits by showing that there should be an actual strategic plan. How do you do that? You showcase what is currently being done, show how you would do it differently, and how your strategy has real-world benefits that lead to higher engagement, listening loyalty, and revenue. Show details. Include money-making ideas as a regular part of the local social media strategy (see number 2 above) and volunteer to head the project/strategy and show results. This will be ? as they say ? a feather in your cap when you add revenue and improve connectivity, engagement and participation with your local brands.

The world is changing. How in the world can anyone in the radio business sit back and say that the disruptions we have seen in a wide variety of businesses such as records, auto, retail, and newspapers won?t impact the revenue-based world of radio. It will. It is. That is the number one reason to become aggressive in building local value for your clients in all areas, including social media platforms and your own digital products.

Loyd Ford is the direct marketing, ratings and social media strategist for Americalist and has programmed very successful radio brands in markets of all sizes, including KRMD AM & FM in Shreveport, WSSL and WMYI in Greenville, WKKT in Charlotte and WBEE in Rochester, NY. Learn more about Loyd here:  http://about.me/loydford. Get his radio-social media content sent directly to your smart phone or email for free here:  www.rainmakerpathway.wordpress.com. Reach out to Loyd via e-mail HERE.  Visit his Facebook radio social media page HERE

(5/30/2013 8:13:48 AM)
Thank you, Jay.

Sometimes the best way to attack a problem is to focus on the biggest motivating factors for power and responsibility. Managers today are working harder than ever at profit, profit, profit. All of us are responsible for that profit. Showing that social and digital can be big contributors to that profit will move radio in general closer to these assets and opportunities.

Thanks again.

(5/30/2013 7:18:34 AM)
This is good stuff and will work if applied.

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(PROGRAMMING) What Was I Thinking?

3-3-2012
(by Buzz Knight) A friend of mine some time ago recommended the book ?Confessions of an Advertising Man? by David Ogilvy (pictured) as a timeless masterpiece that had implications for us today in a crowded media world. Unfortunately, I didn?t immediately react to his recommendation and I?m kicking myself for not doing it sooner. At the age of 37, with a staff of 2 and no clients he founded his New York based agency, which later merged to form the international company now known as Ogilvy and Mather. If you don?t pick up your own copy of the book first issued in 1963 I?ll give you a summary of some key takeaways.

1) How to Manage
Ogilvy actually in Chapter One refers to ?How to Manage an Advertising Agency? but the chapter can be called ?How to Manage a Radio Station.? Every year he would assemble his troops and give them a candid report on the operations along with the kind of behavior he admired. One of his great lines in this chapter is ?I admire people who work with gusto. If you don?t enjoy what you are doing, I beg you to find another job. Remember the Scottish proverb, ? Be happy while you?re living, for you?re a long time dead.?

Another great line in his speech to the brigade which greatly sums up what we would all admire in our radio stations is ? I admire self- confident professionals, the craftsman who do their jobs with superlative excellence. They always seem to respect the expertise of their colleagues. They don?t poach.? Besides telling his staff what he expects of them he also speaks about what he expects of himself:
?I try to be fair and firm.?
?I try to sustain the momentum of the agency.?
?I plan our policies well into the future.?
?I try to recruit people of the highest quality.?
?I try to get the best out of every man and women in the agency.?

What a great collection of inspiring thoughts to take back to our radio stations.

2) How to Build Great Campaigns
Ogilvy spends a ton of time talking in the book about the craftsmanship needed to make great campaigns, write ?potent copy?, and rise to the ?top of the tier.?His first premise regarding great campaigns that is so beautifully simplistic yet many times we don?t practice this in radio is ?What you say is more important than how you say it.?

Ogilvy goes on to say that ?your most important job is to decide what you are going to say about the product and what benefit you are going to promise.?
His other key ?Great Campaign? messages are:
?Unless your campaign is built around a great idea it will flop?
?Give the facts.?
?You cannot bore people into buying?
?Make your advertising contemporary?
?If you are lucky enough to write a good advertisement, repeat it until it stops pulling.?

The entire section on ?Potent Copy? should be weaved into the fabric of every one of our production departments at our radio stations. When Ogilvy discusses the ?Body Copy? he advises: ?When you sit down to write your body copy, pretend that you are talking to the women on your right at a dinner party. She has asked you ?I?m thinking of buying a new car: Which would you recommend?? Write your copy as if you were answering the question.?

I love this book and it?s so easy to refer to it on a regular basis for inspiration.

We should strive for that inspiration every day in our radio experience.

As Ogilvy says: ?tell the truth but make the truth fascinating.?

Buzz Knight is the Vice President of Program Development for Greater Media and he can be reached at bknight@greatermediaboston.com. Knight was named among ?Best Programmers? by Radio Ink Magazine in 2007 and 2010. He has served on the programming subcommittee of the National Association of Broadcasters(NAB) and is currently a member of the Arbitron Radio Advisory Council and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) COLRAM Committee.

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What Was he Thinking?

12-22-11

Here's one we are not going to play the audio for. Bruce Jacobs hosts a show on the Townsquare owned sports station (ESPN affiliate) in Albany. He may be in a bit of trouble after he made very disturbing remarks during a discussion about the WNBA. Jacobs called two pro women?s teams the ?Los Angeles Lesbians? and the ?Phoenix Dyke-ury? during his show, ?Game on With Bruce Jacobs." And as he tries to apologize and explain his way out of the situation, it gets even wackier.

Jacobs apologized on the air for ten minutes yesterday and he told the Albany Times Union he did not think he should be fired. ?We live in a society today where no matter what you say, you?re a bigot or you?re a racist,? he said. ?I don?t like it, but it comes with the territory. So obviously I think that?s ridiculous.?
Really? The teams? actual names are the Los Angeles Sparks and the Phoenix Mercury.

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Thinking About Firing A Salesperson. Read This First

June 17, 2011

This weeks "Ask The Attorney" segment involves something all of us hate to do. Fire an emplyee. The scenario. "There is a 10-year radio salesperson at your station. The policy of the company is, miss a goal one month, it's a warning. 3 more consecutive misses - termination. We recently followed the station policy to the letter with a green salesperson. My 10-year salesperson just missed 4 months in a row. Sales can be especially sticky since they are usually commission based. What is the typical severance for a sale rep who has been on board for multiple years - and how should that be spelled out in a contract - to protect both sides and clarify all nuances?

John Garziglia says:  If there is one area of law concerning broadcast stations that is particular, and many times different from state to state, that area is employment law.  Stations must contend with Federal employment regulations, of course.  But, on top of the Federal regulations are local laws and regulations which can often vary dramatically from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. 

Your question is illustrative of why it is good for radio stations to have a local lawyer well versed in employment law advising on the drafting of employee contracts, employee manuals and workplace policies, and available when a sticky employment termination situation presents itself.  Radio stations have a variety of different compensation and severance schemes for salespeople.  I certainly cannot offer advice as to what is typical or proper, or whether any general compensation scheme comports with the law as the law varies from state to state. 

There are many questions that can arise with respect to commissioned sales people. The questions include questions such as whether a salesperson can be required to attend lengthy meetings before or after employment hours, what employee expenses must be reimbursed, whether salespeople are exempt from payments for overtime, whether a written document describing compensation must be signed by the employee and employer, whether there is an obligation to pay severance payments, whether the level of commissions or bonuses affect amounts of overtime that must be paid, what commissions must be paid upon termination, how quickly commissions must be paid after termination, what rights if any a salesperson has upon termination to pursue a former employer?s advertising clients at new employment, whether a non-compete is enforceable against a terminated salesperson, and so on.  In many instances, the oil filter marketing slogan of "You can pay me now, or pay me later" is equally applicable to a lawyer?s services advising on employment law. 

From the FCC?s perspective, a full-time salesperson vacancy is subject to the same FCC EEO outreach and wide dissemination requirements as any other vacancy at a radio station that has five or more full-time employees.  Be certain that upon any full-time salesperson job vacancy, a notification of the vacancy is sent to each employee recruitment source requesting notifications, and that a wide dissemination is made of the vacancy with records being kept of that wide dissemination, the number of interviewees from each source and the source of the actual hire.  The FCC has stated that simply posting a job opening on the internet, or running generic employment ads on the station itself, is insufficient to fulfill a radio station?s obligation to widely disseminate information on a job vacancy.  A station?s license renewal application, when filed, must contain a copy of the past two years of the station?s Annual EEO Public File Reports in a related filing.  Therefore,  special attention to full and complete EEO compliance now with license renewal applications being imminent for many stations is especially prudent. 

Good radio salespeople are tough to find.  Do not add to the inherent difficulties in employing good salespeople by ignoring either employment law, or the FCC?s wide outreach EEO requirements, in your salespeople hiring and retention activities. 

John F. Garziglia is a Communications Law Attorney with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice in Washington, DC and can be reached at (202) 857-4455 or jgarziglia@wcsr.com. Have a question for our "Ask The Attorney" feature? Send to edryan@radioink.com.

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