Get Yourself in A Connected Car

12-12-13

By Dana Hall

Have you used a connected car yet? You need to. That's the number-one takeaway from Thursday's luncheon presentation at the Jacobs Media Summit during Nielsen's Audio Client Conference. Fred Jacobs, along with Roger Lanctot of Strategy Analytics and Nielsen's Ian Beavis, EVP of its Global Automotive Group, encourage broadcasters to buy, borrow, or rent a connected car to understand it better.

While they admit the space is still in transition, and some of the tools currently available are not so user friendly, Beavis stresses that everything is changing rapidly: "What you saw 90 days ago from manufacturers, is vastly different than what you are seeing today." He also predicts that connectivity in cars will be standard much sooner than some may think -- with the 2015 models being the tipping point.

Concerns that radio could be nudged out of the connected car dash seem to be unwarranted. At least if you talk with manufacturers, who agree that broadcast radio still has, and will likely continue to have, a very strong position with consumers. But they advise that radio needs to adapt in terms of how we look and function on the dash, as well as continue to capitalize on content, specifically local content.

Finally, Lanctot suggests that once the technical and consumer experience is fully worked out with the connected dash, we will move into the next phase of developing ways to measure in car usage. "In order to monetize what people are doing in the car, you have to have measurement." Beavis adds, "Radio needs to make sure it is on a level playing field with other online and in-car providers, so the question to ask is, "Is radio up to par with its online streaming services?"

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

(SALES) Stop Talking About Yourself

8-9-2013

Just last week I was talking to a general sales manager about the struggles his sales department is having with winning business and holding rate these days. After I asked just a few more questions, he revealed to me that in his market, it seems that the competition is simply lowering the rates, or even giving stuff away for free.

Does that sound familiar? Are you experiencing the same thing in your market? In fact, I hear the same complaint from sales departments all the time; big markets, small markets, and medium-sized markets all seem to be in the same situation. And the problem doesn?t seem to be related to ratings ? I hear this complaint from both top-ranked stations and stations that are struggling.

In digging more deeply into the conversation about stations dropping rates ? or, another way to say it, ?the race to the bottom? ? something has become obvious: In almost every case, when the discussion with a client gets down to just the rate, you?ll hear a rationale for getting the business that sounds something like this: ?My radio station has more listeners,? or ?more men,? or ?more women,? or ?more moms,? or more this or more that. The seller will talk about how the station is better because it has a better exclusive cume, or the format is a better fit, or the morning show has been around longer.

You get the drift, right?

A Client Who Doesn?t Understand Your Value Will Decide Based On Price

When clients start talking about price and pitting stations against each other, it?s usually because they don?t see any difference between the two or three choices they have been presented. While each station has come to the table with its best schedule and all of its best ?Why choose us? one-sheets, in the end it all looks the same to the client. In the client?s eyes, every single station says it?s number one and is the best-suited blah blah blah for them to use.

And as long as all the stations look the same, the client will just pit everyone against each other. And what occurs then is the classic race to the bottom. Everyone scrambles to get the business, and in the end the client may or may not have gotten what he really needs ? but he certainly got the best price.

Focus On Results For The Client, Not Just On Making The Sale

In order for you to break this cycle, you need to change the focus. Instead of doing all you can to win the business by proving to the client that your station or your format is perfect, take a step back and think about how the client could get the results they need to grow their business. Stop racing to prove why you?re the best place for a client to spend the third-quarter advertising budget and instead ask them questions about what type of return they need to see in order to know they made a good investment. You might ask them how they will decide in the end whether the money they spent produced a good return for them.

Change The Conversation From Why To How

?How selling? is where it?s at. In fact, if you looked back at most of the great sales that have been made at your station, you?d most likely notice that in those cases more time and energy was spent working with the client on how they could use the station?s resources to drive the needed results, as opposed to proving why the station and its ratings are the best.

You need to change the conversation from ?Why you should buy my radio station? to ?Here?s how you can use my station?s capabilities and resources to get the results you need to see.? Radio station salespeople who go around just talking about their stations will sometimes win, but they?re setting themselves up for a conversation that will lead to lower prices. On the other hand, the radio salesperson who focuses on showing how their resources can drive results for their clients will make price comparisons a non-issue.

Matt Sunshine is EVP of the Center for Sales Strategy.
E-mail: mattsunshine@csscenter.com

(8/9/2013 10:40:57 PM)
If the station is unable to produce effective and listenable spots, that hole in the hull will continue to take on water and the race to the bottom will continue.

There are, after all, only so many ways to re-frame (read: bamboozle) a client or justify a situation that needs to be solved - at our end.

If a rep cannot repeat the following, they are doomed to playing the same game as everybody else - ratings or no ratings: "The commercial content we produce and which is exclusive to our station generates results for all our clients. In other words, our ROI is significantly higher."

It's a good thing that Matt is a Pro because most radio reps enter the game sporting a limp - and have to play "hurt".

(8/9/2013 10:06:38 AM)
I would say "Here is how you can use our radio station" Let them feel part of the station, and emphasize your local and community involvement.

Add a Comment | View All Comments Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

(LEGAL) FCC Protects You From Yourself April 1st

3-29-13
Broadcasting is a unique business.  After all, in what other business would it be deemed funny to play April Fools jokes on customers.  Think if you were the butt of the joke while eating a restaurant meal (surprise, it?s not really edible - barf!), or fueling your car (boom!). 

Yet radio stations in the past on April 1st have treated their listeners to pranks that have caused significant distress, diverted police resources from legitimate crises, and posed a substantial threat to public safety. 

The FCC?s broadcast hoax rule (Section 73.1217) prohibits the broadcast of false information concerning a crime or a catastrophe when: (1) the broadcaster knows the information is false; (2) it is foreseeable that the broadcast of the information will cause substantial public harm; and (3) the broadcast of the information does, in fact, directly cause substantial public harm.

Rather than writing the usual ?Groundhog Day? type of column that appears every year at this time from communications attorneys warning against April Fools Day stunts that violate the FCC?s broadcast hoax rule, I would rather take the approach of what is allowed on April 1st.  Such an approach, however, is difficult.  Even if the broadcast hoax rule itself, which is paraphrased above, is not specifically violated, there are many other April 1st stunts such as joke contests, or use of EAS tones even if to warn of sunshine and blue skies, that would violate FCC rule sections and policies. 

The FCC?s broadcast hoax rule, adopted in 1992, is specific.  The prohibited ?public harm? that occurs as a result of the broadcast of false information concerning a crime or catastrophe must begin immediately.  Further, it must cause direct and actual damage to property or to the health or safety of the general public, or diversion of law enforcement or other public health and safety authorities from their duties. 

The FCC says that ?the public harm will be deemed foreseeable if the licensee could expect with a significant degree of certainty that public harm would occur.?  Further, the FCC states that a ?crime? is any act or omission that makes the offender subject to criminal punishment by law, and a ?catastrophe? is a disaster or imminent disaster involving a violent or sudden event. 

The broadcast hoax rule was adopted expressly to prohibit broadcast hoaxes that are harmful to the public.   A radio broadcast that is harmful to the public also invariably exposes the station to potential civil and criminal liability. 

Interestingly, the FCC, in adopting the prohibition against broadcast hoaxes, gave as an example of a broadcast that would not be covered under the rule, a broadcast about amoebas invading the city, stating that this was an ?obvious hoax?.  On the other hand, the FCC noted that the broadcast of a mock nuclear attack on the United States with a siren sounder, was not an obvious hoax and merited a $25K fine.  Likewise, a false report of a nearby volcanic eruption merited an admonishment to a radio station prior to the adoption of the actual hoax rule (this was a Los Angeles station ? perhaps if the station had been in the middle of Kansas it would have been obvious?). 

In adopting its hoax rule, the FCC stated that it was not its intent to ?restrict harmless pranks, or to deter broadcasts that might upset some listeners but do not pose a substantial threat to public health or safety?.  Unfortunately, these words of the FCC come as close as anyone can come to saying in today?s regulatory environment what is acceptable for a radio station April Fools Day prank.  If a station is wrong and receives an Enforcement Bureau inquiry letter as a result of a broadcast hoax, the joke will be upon it.  

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.

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

(SALES) Selling Yourself

3-6-2013

Selling yourself is said to be the oldest profession in the world. But that?s not the kind of ?selling yourself? I?m talking about.

I?m talking about salespeople who try to sell themselves in pursuit of career opportunities.

We are in the midst of recruiting for a station group that is looking for a new marketing executive. I can?t believe that differentiation, the single most important and pivotal point in marketing, is being ignored by these ?marketing professionals.?  

It?s as if someone said ?Ignore the rules of marketing when marketing yourself and make your resume look like everybody else?s.?

Virtually every application we have received follows the same boring format:  name, address, contact info, workplace experience, education, and cover letter. Each followed the sterile format with clinical similarity and credentials. There hasn?t been a single cover letter that made me stop in my tracks and say, ?Wow, I need to call this applicant right away before someone else scoops them!?

To me, marketing is just plain common sense: Do something to differentiate yourself from the crowd, tell me why I should choose you, and always under-promise and over-deliver. That?s it, no rocket science here.

You would think a creative marketing professional would find a memorable way of making their resume rise to the top of the pile of the hundreds of resumes we?ve received so far, and that at least one would be eager enough to convince me why they would be my best choice.

Can?t anyone tell me how they will increase my sales or present an amazing success story to differentiate themselves from the crowd? Can?t any of these would-be marketing and sales geniuses demonstrate their creative ability to deliver results?   

In a fast-paced marketing world, where salespeople have less face-time with their prospects, it?s those who can utilize the written word, the Internet and e-marketing, who will get the appointment So you might as well start by demonstrating your marketing and sales ability in your application for a sales position.

Wayne Ens is president of ENS Media Inc. and a principal with Noll & Associates. He can be reached at 705-484-9993 or wayne@wensmedia.com.

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

(DIGITAL) Expose Yourself! With Facebook Interest Lists

3-22-2012

By Mike Stiles

Have you discovered Facebook Interest Lists yet? There are times when Facebook adds something and your reaction is, "Why would anyone ever need that?" And then there are other times when they add something and you say, "I can't believe it took them so long to do this."

Private users (not brand pages -- yet) can now group brand pages they like into Interest Lists. For instance, if one of your listeners wants to see posts from radio stations together in their news feed, they would create a list called "radio stations," and include your page (yay!) and your competitors' pages (boo!). They can create their own lists, or they can subscribe to lists that other people have constructed. The great news about people subscribing to other users' lists is it exposes them to content in their news feed from brand pages they may not have "liked" yet. That could include you!

Most of the talk so far has been about how journalists, bloggers, anyone who follows a particular beat are using Interest Lists to better organize and keep track of the topics they cover. So here's your takeaway item No. 1: Make sure your jocks and producers know about Interest Lists, because it can be a time-saving show prep godsend. Now they can fly through their Facebook account, list by list, and quickly see headlines for the specific kind of content they're looking for without having to go to individual pages or scroll endlessly through their news feed looking for that content amidst pictures of their friends' puppies.

Takeaway item No. 2: Whether or not you're a news station, whether or not you have a dedicated news person, you're going to want your page's content to show up in the news feeds of potential new fans. You do that by being included in as many Interest Lists as you can, and news/information is one of the most popular kinds of pages users like to add to their lists. Sadly, you can't force or manipulate your way in.

Your fans will only add your page to the Interest Lists they create IF your content is relevant to the list they're making (if it's music news, you should have a better-than- average shot at it), and IF they feel your content has been consistently worthwhile enough to be worthy of inclusion. It keeps going back to the drum I'm always beating on: giving the creation of quality content the level of priority and resources it deserves. It's an awkward time to be beating that drum, because at the same time radio managers are on a crusade to squeak by with as little content as they can get away with on-air, the demand for engaging, original content on the digital side is absolutely exploding.

If you try to make your social presence an automated, effortless, low priority, your odds of showing up on Interest Lists is mighty slim because, well ... you're not interesting.

Mike Stiles is a brand content specialist with the social marketing tech platform Vitrue. Check out his monologue blog, The Stiles Files & follow him @mikestiles

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

SALES - 6 Ways to Brand Yourself on Linkedin

12-14-2011

LinkedIn is free advertising for your favorite brand?YOU!  As the world?s largest professional network, it provides a platform for sales executives to build  relationships with potential customers, clients and colleagues. A dynamic audience for you to engage, influence and leverage connections.  Your LinkedIn Profile is the equivalent of a digital ?first impression??often the first thing people come across when ?Googling? you.  Start controlling your online identity with these six steps to brand yourself on LinkedIn.

1. Build a relevant profile, not a resume.
Don?t list each job you?ve had, but the ones most pertinent to your current business goals. You?re promoting a brand, make your text compelling using language that speaks to your audience; keeping your points powerful and succinct.  Don?t skip the summary, but use it to highlight what makes you unique?and in the skill section list your strengths/talents. Your profile should read like an ad for why someone should buy you!

2. Think SEO and add Google keywords to your profile.
If you?re already on LinkedIn, go to the Home page and look at ?Who?s Viewed Your Profile? then ?Top Keywords Appear? to see not only who is finding you, but how they?re finding you.  Check to see if these keywords match up with how your target clients would search for you.  If not, you need to insert the appropriate keywords throughout your profile:  in the heading, summary, skills, and experience sections.

3. Upload a photo. 
In this digital age of transparency, a blank photo is suspect.  It says you?re trying to hide something?even when you?re not.  Use a current professional photo, and keep it to a head shot.  Save the golf shots for Facebook.

4. Give access to everyone. 
Why be on LinkedIn if you don?t want people to view your profile?  It?s designed not to keep people out, but to encourage collaboration. Click on your name in the upper right corner of any page and pull down ?Settings.?  Under the Profile tab go to ?Privacy Controls? and choose to maintain a public profile, on as many fronts as possible. Don?t choose to have your identity ?Anonymous? when viewing other profiles.  Some of my best business connections came about when I reached out to individuals who viewed my profile, but didn?t message me. Don?t limit your connections by making it necessary for people to include your email address in the ?invite? if they don?t know you. You can always decline an ?invite??why miss out on an opportunity to connect with a potential customer?

5. Import email contacts and start inviting people to join your network. 
Go to ?Contacts?, then ?Connections? and click on ?Import Connections.?  You'll receive suggestions from LinkedIn as to people you might know.  One trick I use is to study the connections of my network to see who else I want to reach out to.  Then you can ask for an introduction or send an InMail.  Introduce like-minded professionals within your network to each other.  Reciprocity drives a successful LinkedIn networker. 

6. Ask for and give recommendations. 
Even with good intentions, former employers and clients often neglect getting that recommendation off to you.  Offer to assist by providing them with a brief outline of what you did to benefit their firm.  Then send them this along with a recommendation of them for their Profile. I guarantee this will increase your response rate.

Theresa Merrill is the Director of Business Development for Anovick Associates. She has more than 20 years of sales and marketing experience in NY, Boston and Atlanta working for Katz Communications, CBS, Tribune and Cablevision and can be reached at 201.444.2991 or by e-mail merrill.theresa@gmail.com

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

GM's: Lose Your Fear or Lose Yourself

The popular General Manager lament of the last sixteen years has been, ?Things were different before consolidation.  Those were the days!?  And so things were different. Things were different before the copier.  Why would we ever need an expensive thing like that? Things were different before the fax machine.  Wow!  What?s wrong with  Federal Express?  Isn?t it hard to use that fax thing?

Things were different before email.  Who needs email?  Faxes are great.  And this Internet thing is such a fad.  Who can understand it? So, yes, things were different before consolidation, for many a frightening event in a timeline of events that set in motion events that changed our lives.  Like copy machines, faxes and emails, consolidation raised fear. Remember how you couldn?t figure out what a domain name was?  What did we need all this techy stuff for, anyway?  The principle of change through consolidation often conjures the same specter. 

Employees worry about losing their jobs, their self-respect, and the esteem of their colleagues.  The rules change, too.  So does interaction with superiors and subordinates.  Our colleagues often become our new bosses. The whole world turns upside down with the stroke of Acquisition?s pen.   Your email has old acquaintances reaching out again, in fear of the unknown after years of acceptance of consolidation. 

Looking back, those early days of consolidation were frightening to many of us.  Today, conditioned by years of operating in an atmosphere of ?Am I next?? many of the GMs who survived the first wave fear being the men and women they once were.  In today?s business world, regardless of industry or application, strong managers must set aside their reservations and remember it is their responsibility to lead, to grow, and to create value.

One of the best radio stories that demonstrates this notion involves a General Manager in Baltimore, Maryland in the early days of consolidation.  This GM was known for his management prowess, leadership, and decisiveness.  Some of the most skilled managers and talent in the country moved to Market #19 just to work for him. On the fateful day that he learned that his facility had been bought by a large broadcaster bent on consolidation, this GM called together his staff and promised that things would change for the better, providing that each employee remain confident and fearless, while performing just as he or she had for years before consolidation. ?Let?s achieve new heights based on the benefits of consolidation,? he said.  ?Have no fear.  I?m going to be the same guy tomorrow that I am today.?  He was, too. 

A few weeks later, the Baltimore Orioles placed concurrent calls to every major radio and television GM, to offer tickets on the field to witness Cal Ripken?s record-breaking Game 2131 at Camden Yards.  One catch:  The tickets were ten thousand dollars. First come, first served. 

Greatness is born of courage and leadership.  Without courage, rarely can one lead.  At that moment, this General Manager could have considered the political ramifications of asking his new boss for unbudgeted marketing money. He could have quietly thanked the caller and asked for some time to think about it.  He could have put his own skin before the success of his station.  Instead, he saw those tickets as a way to show his courage and his leadership and grasp an opportunity to make a statement to his new consolidation masters.  It was a gargantuan risk. He committed to the tickets.  Then he called his new boss.

Fearless.

The next evening, the ticket winners wore the station?s sport shirts to that special game.  You can see them as Cal runs by the winners, sees the shirts, and stops and runs back to shakes the hands of those winners.  In front of the whole world.  In front of every potential listener.  In front of every meaningful buyer of advertising.  It?s all on the ESPN tape.

The station?  It scored a 9.2 share of Persons 25-54 that book to go to #1.

The GM later moved to another company in a top five market.  He remained fearless, left that company after awhile, and started his own.  He is still fearless. In this round of consolidation, step up and be fearless.  The copier is waiting.

Bill Pasha is President of MultiBrand Media International, LLC and MBMI Cover America.  The companies provide hands-on business solutions to a wide scope of international and domestic media concerns andcreates value for media client-partners on four continents.  Contact:  bpasha@multibrandmedia.com

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Social Media Database Questions To Ask Yourself

by Loyd Ford

Since I get asked about database and social media a lot, I thought I would lay out some simple questions to make it easy for anyone to use self-assessment to see how they are doing with these amazing tools right now.  These two items have a lot more in common if you do a good job of using both to draw important listeners closer to your brand.

Are you taking advantage of the right opportunities with your database and your social media efforts to maximize relationship growth with the listeners that are most likely to move the needle in the most meaningful ways for your radio station? Let?s see.

Database
- Do you know about the listening habits of those people in your database today?
- When you look at emails sent to listeners in your database, are those emails about items that your core target is interested in?  (They are not simply about your desire to have listeners listen more, right?)
- Do you know where the listeners in your database work? 
- Do you know anything about those at work environments?
- Do you have a plan to find out who the most influential listeners are in your database and how to engage them separately from the mass database?
- Do your emails to listeners in your database have any depth to them or are they shallow advertisements often not even about the radio station (but sold or given away to a client as added value)?

Social Media
- Are your postings on Facebook about much more than contesting on your radio station?
- Do you have a plan about what percentage of each type of content your personalities post on Facebook?
- Are you engaging listeners in multiple social media platforms?
- Are you posting unique video footage using good content with your best talent?
- Is your brand visible with pictures and content in social media that relates to your format and radio station?
- Are you allowing and encouraging listeners to post pictures on Facebook that reflect well on your format and your radio brand?
- Does your company put any real and consistent effort into relationship building in social media?

I very purposefully avoided answering any of these questions because these questions are really for you if you want to help determine real value in your efforts in social media and database.  Spend a little time with these questions today and you will know for sure how you are really doing. If your answers are all ?yes? to the questions listed above, you are probably having a good time with listeners and there is probably already payoff.  If you answered ?no? to these questions, you will have some work to do and some philosophy to think about in relationship to how database and social media really fit into your work. 

It's amazing how little most people put into the real work that can be so beneficial for a radio brand with a little attention to detail.  So, if you are off course, this is a great time to do what most people won?t to experience great progress and real world results that will actually matter to your success.   Look at the work being done and you will know if you have an actual plan or if your team is flying by the seat of their pants. If you don?t have a plan or roadmap, you will probably end up somewhere other than your original destination of intent.  That would be a shame in an era where so many free tools are at our fingertips to engage and grow closer to those most likely to help us experience more success.  If you have a plan and are working it with consistency, that is wonderful for your brand.  Reviewing these questions is a great start to strengthening your designed path for continued success.

Loyd Ford programmed very successful radio brands in markets of all sizes for years, 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.  Reach out to Loyd via e-mail HERE

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here