3-19-14
Lincoln Financial Media announced the hiring of sports radio programming veteran Len Weiner who will take over as PD at Sports Talk FM 104.3/AM 790 The Ticket (WAXY-AM/FM). Weiner joins Lincoln from Genesis Communications, where he has been VP of Programming in Tampa, Orlando, and Melbourne. His extensive career also includes management and programming positions at WGN-AM, Chicago; KMPC-AM, Los Angeles; the ESPN Radio Network; and ESPN Radio outlets in Boston and Chicago.
3-19-14
Many believe radio's big growth spurts will come from the digital side of the business. Quarter after quarter, the Radio Advertising Bureau reports how digital revenue for radio is exploding as over-the-air revenue remains mostly flat until another political ad bonanza comes along to give it a jolt. If you want to learn how to increase your digital revenue, consider attending Radio Ink's Digital Audio Conference, Convergence, June 4 and 5 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in the heart of Silicon Valley. Our 2014 agenda has been posted HERE. If you would like to be considered to speak on a panel and help radio generate digital revenue GO HERE. REGISTER HERE
3-19-2014
It?s 2014, and for at least three years now, we?ve been waiting for the tipping point. When will marketers really sit up and take notice that the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population is Hispanic? It should have been in 2011, when the latest census was released. Or maybe it should have been 2013, following a year when it became clear that no one will be elected president without connecting to the Hispanic segment of the population.
Or maybe it?ll be this year, if marketers pay attention to their competitors who are using Hispanic radio to enhance their success. Don?t take my word for it ? listen to Jason Matt, management supervisor at Saatchi + Saatchi, after a Hispanic initiative he launched with the assistance of Adelante Media Group for the Toyota Dealers Association in and around Salt Lake City: ?Marketers are excited about the growing purchasing power and cultural influence of Hispanics, and as such, the Toyota Dealer Association is committed to this emerging segment. Latinos love Toyotas, and the explosive growth of the Hispanic population will be key to our continued success.?
And it?s more than a quote: Toyota sales across the Wasatch Front were up 25 percent in 2013 over the previous year. And this client has increased spending with us significantly in 2014; they got out in front of the wave and now have an advantage over their competitors.
The migration to making Hispanic radio a part of every advertiser?s radio budget will start with stories like Toyota as competitors notice a decrease in market share and make the decision to incorporate our audience into their target. As an example, a few years ago our Yakima market closed its first dental clinic client. Dental clinics have found Hispanics to be a prime segment for new client growth, and we developed a program for one clinic to reach out to our audience. The program was so successful that they soon opened a second clinic down the road in Tri-Cities, where Adelante also owns stations, and used us again as a marketing arm to great success. Now others have followed, and dental clinics are a large category for us in Eastern Washington.
In another market, the Frozen and Refrigerated Foods Council noticed in their data that Hispanic families were big users of frozen foods. They partnered with Adelante three years ago to reach out into the Hispanic community with their message. The result was increased sales in local grocery stores and a rise in the number of Hispanics using the stores. Residually, Adelante has been able to add a number of the local general-market grocery stores who are members of the council as clients.
In yet another market, a company that specializes in bingo nights noticed that though they have a large Hispanic population around their venue, they drew virtually no Hispanics to the hall despite advertising on general-market radio stations with large Hispanic listenership. We talked with them about using Spanish radio with Spanishlanguage spots, first educating the audience on electronic bingo and then encouraging attendance. Their business increased 20 percent overall due to the attendance of the Hispanic population.
The last example shows one of the true misconceptions among many marketers: There is a belief that you can reach Hispanics using general-market radio stations because they show a strong percentage of their cume is Hispanic. But the fact is that it isn?t about hearing a commercial, it?s about listening to the commercial ? and it is on Hispanic radio and in Spanish that a marketer?s message is truly listened to.
Here?s the example we use to explain: Put a World Cup soccer game on two TVs in a bar that caters to Englishspeaking Hispanics, one showing the English-language broadcast and the other the Spanish-language broadcast. Then observe. Before long, the crowd will be three or four deep around the Spanish broadcast while two or three people will be around the English broadcast.
Once marketers learn to reach this audience in their language and through their culture, the cash register will begin to ring, as the examples above show. Maybe then we will have reached the tipping point
Jay Meyers is CEO of Adelante Media Group.
(3/19/2014 3:13:33 PM)
This is assuming we are talking about targeting a first or perhaps even a second generation Latino segmentation, right?
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3-19-14
The NAB Education Foundation, in partnership with the Broadcast Education Association, announced the addition of a Military Veteran Resource Center to NAB Show's Career Day, Wednesday, April 9, in Las Vegas, NV. Located in the Las Vegas Hotel and Casino Pavilion, Career Day is an annual event that provides college students, entry-level job seekers, and experienced professionals with the opportunity to interact with media industry recruiters. NAB Show is the world's largest annual conference and expo for professionals who create, manage, and distribute entertainment across all platforms.
This year, NABEF has partnered with representatives from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Hiring Our Heroes program, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Quaestor Federal Consulting to offer resources for veterans and employers. Immediately prior to the Career Fair, employers can attend a free session from 9-10:00 a.m. focusing on the business case for hiring military veterans and skill sets veterans possess that can be applied to the broadcast industry. During the Career Fair, the Military Veterans Resource Center booth will provide advice and opportunities for training related to a successful job search as well as information for both recruiters and job seekers.
Job seekers can attend sessions throughout the day on personal brand management, dressing for success, and information on jobs in broadcasting. Career Day will offer the popular one-on-one career coaching sessions that include resume critiques and interview strategies. Recruiters include Beasley Broadcast Group, CNN/Turner Broadcasting, ESPN, Gannett, NEP Broadcasting, PBS Las Vegas, Radionomy, and Univision Radio.
3-19-2014
People always seem to want to know how to get regular people to spread their content. Of course, they want supernatural answers instead of: Have great content. So, I thought we would take a closer look at sharing and ?going viral.?
What does it take to go viral? What does it take to get local listeners to share, share, share?
1. Listeners Want To Feel/Seem Smart To Family, Friends, and Co-Workers. Social media is really all about validation. You can bet listeners make decisions about what to share based on how it may make them look to the people they care about. This includes making them look smart or even funny. Keeping these things in mind with your content can make your sharing go sky high.
2. Using the familiar allows listeners to focus quickly on content and encourages sharing. This can be content that is related to stars in your format, something local that is specifically in the news or the now, or something else that is creating buzz while being familiar to be safe to share. Make your content hyper-familiar and it?s like being in the fast lane for sharing.
3. Use Funny. Yes, people are much more likely to share something that is purely funny. This is essentially the value of mixing the percentage of content in your strategy. You do have an overall strategic plan for what you are sharing in social media, right? If not, I suggest you develop a social media plan with real strategy to help you define how much and what kind of sharing you want to see on the social media platforms you are using, how you drive people back to your website and on-air, and how you focus on what listeners want, all while highlighting your station by ?association.?
As a final note, sharing or ?going viral? often starts with the visual and the headline. You want a visual that looks like it belongs to a quick story that won?t waste your time. And you want to have a headline that truly grabs. You can look for examples related to your subject ahead of time and try to make sure you have a headline that will truly move the needle in sampling the story behind the headline. This gives you the opportunity for sharing and going ?viral.?
In the end, it all comes down to what you?ve known all along: Great content wins. Now, I won?t go as far as most will and say ?content is king.? It isn?t. Money is king, but everyone knows that on some level content leads to money. And money and profit are the goals of broadcasters today.
Marketing and has programmed very successful radio brands in markets of all sizes, including KRMD AM & FM in Shreveport, and 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.
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3-20-14
CMT All Access with Cody Alan kicks off this weekend on more than 100 affiliates. The one-hour, Country music and entertainment program will welcome six-time Grammy Award winning Country artist Carrie Underwood. Among the stations debuting the program this weekend are: WSIX-FM in Nashville, WMZQ-FM in Washington, D.C., WUBL-FM in Atlanta, KNIX-FM in Phoenix, KEEY-FM in Minneapolis, and WFUS-FM in Tampa.
3-19-2014
A rule of thumb as a sales manager is you should know, within about 90 days of hiring a sales rep, if they?re going to work out for you.
The exact timeframe varies depending on their sales experience, or their lack thereof. My belief is that with ?no experience? sales reps, you hire slow and fire fast. If you have your finger on the pulse of your department, you should know if your new rep is going to make it or not. What about the Henry Petersons of the world? The reps that are not going to be your top billers -- maybe ever. The reps that just comes in daily and gives it their best. How do we treat them? Are we always giving praise to the top billers and somehow leave the Henry Petersons to feel left out? I know coaching football and being a sales manager are two totally different professions. However, the parallels of sports and business -- especially sales -- are obvious.
I think sometimes we overlook the Henrys in our sales departments. We do play favorites a lot with those up-and-coming sales reps who dominate starting out, while someone like Henry gets lost in the shuffle because maybe they don?t fit ?the eye test.? Often the Henrys leave your sales team and show up somewhere else doing an exceptional job, when we counted them out or left them on the bench long ago. Often we overlook the value that a Henry Peterson brings outside of just his billing numbers. There are reps that play the role like a Director of Mirth -- a person who keeps things lively and entertaining in the sales bull pen with some well-conceived jokes. Are there any reps in your sales department that kind of act as the glue that holds everything together? In many sales departments, they are not the top biller. We need to make sure we recognize these reps.
In my sales seminars, I use the story of Henry Peterson to illustrate that there are important people to the overall health and wealth of a sales team beyond their individual numbers.
Decades ago, Henry Peterson was a high school football player in Virginia. Henry was a very fine athlete and a good student. Henry wanted to go to college, and he wanted to play college football for a coach he really respected. He wanted to go to Georgetown and play for Coach Lou Little. The equivalent today of a high school player wanting to go play for Nick Saban at Alabama. Coach Little would later go on to fame coaching at Columbia University. Henry enrolled at Georgetown and tried out (walked on) for the football team. He wasn?t a star anymore because he was surrounded by so many high school scholarship athletes. Henry just barely made the team.
Henry Peterson sat on Coach Little?s bench for four years. Yet, Coach Little described Henry this way: ?Henry, he?s a special guy; he doesn?t play much because his talent level isn?t up to the other guys. But Henry, he?s the glue that holds this team together. He?s the spirit of the team.? Coach Little went on to describe what the glue that holds the team together means: ?The spirit of it all in every system, family systems, sports teams, company teams. There are people whose function is not to be brilliant, not to be the Einstein, but (to be) the collaborators in the best sense of the word, the people who keep the team going and motivated. That?s what Henry?s role was on our Georgetown team.?
In Henry Peterson?s senior year, one week before Georgetown?s biggest game of the year, his father died. Henry was thrust into a conflict situation. He knew he had to go home to see his mother, brothers, and sisters. Yes, in his mind he was abandoning the team. Coach Lou Little had no misgivings; he knew where Henry should be. He said, ?You go home kid, you go home and be with your mother, brothers, and sisters.? Henry responded, ?But coach, what about the team?? Coach Little said, ?You go home and on game day we?ll say a prayer for you.?
During the middle of the week, Coach Little called Henry. ?How you doing son?? Henry said, ?It?s terrible coach; this is the worst thing that has ever happened to me. I don?t know what to do.? Coach Little exhorts, ?You stay where you are kid, and take care of your mother, brothers, and sisters.? Henry did take care of his family and he buried his father.
Game day arrived and who walked into the Georgetown locker room? None other than Henry Peterson in full gear. Coach Little hit the roof. ?What are you doing here? I thought I told you to go home and take care of your family!? Henry responded, ?I did take care of them coach, but I had to come. And coach, can you do me a favor??
?Anything,? was Coach Little?s response, ?anything you want.?
?Coach, I want to start.? Henry said.
?Well, not anything Henry. This game?s more important than you and me,? was Coach Little?s reply. ?You?ve been sitting on my bench for four years, I just can?t put you in -- a lot?s riding on this game.? Henry pleaded, ?Just this once coach.?
Lou Little finally gave in, but with a stipulation. ?The first time you make an error of any sort that compromises this team?s effort, you?re coming out! Understand??
Henry got his wish and they shook hands on it.
Henry Peterson started that Georgetown vs. Fordham game and proceeded to run for 171 yards and three touchdowns. If you follow football, you know that?s as close to single-handedly winning the game as it ever gets. Henry was not off the field for more than 30 seconds when Coach Little came rushing over to him half furious and half amazed and asked Henry, ?Why didn?t you tell me you could do that? You?ve been sitting on my bench for four years!?
Henry said, ?Coach, did you ever meet my father?? ?No,? said Coach Little. Henry continued, ?Did you ever see us in the springtime walking hand in arm, around the campus, and I would be pointing things out and talking to him??
?Yes, a couple times. What?s your point?? asked Coach Little.
?Coach,? said Henry, ?my father was blind, and today was the first time he could ever see me play.?
Henry Peterson went on to a great career in sales. His determination to be a part of his team?s effort in the biggest game of the year set the tone for the game. Henry called that moment his ?sweet spot in time.? All of us have that sweet spot Henry talked about, that time when he knew that his potential was far greater than anything he ever had accomplished or considered before.
(For Kimberly "Liquid Fire" Futrell)
Sean Luce is the Head Instructor for the Luce Performance Group International and can be reached at Sean@luceperformancegroup.com or www.luceperformancegroup.com. Sean?s new book The Liquid Fire can be found on Amazon.com.
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