1-25-2012
As a manager or salesperson, clearly, you want as much information about what you have to sell so you can professionally sell it to every client and prospect. Especially when you believe what you have is superior to what everyone else has. But you have to wonder if radio gets so bogged down in trying to beat down Pandora and provide the numbers, the listening hours, the percentages and hours spent with the medium we forget the only thing that really matters is getting results for clients. After all those highly touted numbers, we still only get scraps from an advertiser. For so long, radio has received about 7% of the advertising pie and yesterday Magnaglobal predicted pitiful growth for radio in 2012.
Now, from Arbitron, we have this quietly released 14.6 billion listening hours per month number which is a direct response to how Pandora has been attacking radio, touting its 2.1 billion listening hours (for Q3 of 2011). Pandora says it's redefining how consumers listen to radio and with research provided by Edison it releases monthly numbers claiming to make listening gains in major markets all over the country. Arbitron released the latest figures in its Radio Today package which is available to subscribers for use in sales presentations. The figures were put together by RADAR and states "with an ever-growing number of media choices, American' preference for and reliance on radio has endured year after year." But do advertisers really care?
Advertiser after advertiser, agency after agency we interview are consistent when we ask them the following question; What can radio improve upon to get on more of your buys? Bring more ideas is what they say. They never answer, tell me how many listener hours your industry has every month. They never say, figure out how to beat Pandora. Here is an example. Jennifer White is the President of White House Media. We recently interviewed White for an upcoming issue of Radio Ink. Here is an excerpt from that interview. It nearly contradicts what you just may be starting your sales meeting off with today, the newly touted 14.6 billion listener number.
What's your biggest pet peeve with Radio?
Radio reps need to know more about advertising and marketing, specifically, to understand why their clients are moving to online alternatives. Here is the challenge. Radio reps love to talk about audience size. But, why would an advertiser spend big bucks to reach the masses when only a small percentage of that audience has any desire for their product?
Radio?s efforts to adapt to new media have just been a series of fancy band-aids. At one point, a station group told me that it was launching a search capability through their stations? websites. Well, this was obviously not going to work. Why would anyone use a search engine on WXYZ when Google has so much more to offer? Other stations put their emphasis on social networking with listener clubs, Facebook fans and Twitter followers. While I agree that ?likes? are nice, these efforts are just jumping onto the back of the speedboat and trying to hang on. It?s a cluttered media world out there and it will take more than a ?me too? attitude to remain relevant.
My favorite reps are my favorites for old school reasons. They anticipate my needs. They build a relationship-- not by generically asking about the health of my family, but by proving that they are looking out for me and my clients. They provide unexpected services. They get creative. My least favorite reps sit back, wait for avails, and lead me to believe I?m secondary to their other clients.
Right now, the radio advantage is a local sales force, not a sheet of paper touting billions of listeners that does not translate to the advertiser. When customers walk through an advertisers door, it won't matter to them whether Pandora or the newspaper or the local television station has 100 billion listeners, viewers or readers. They could care less if you are the person that makes their register ring. They will really only care about you. Go out and BE that person.
Need some additional information?
Check out our Sales Meeting with Matt Sunshine HERE
Read and print out articles from Sean Luce HERE
Feedback on this article to edryan@radioink.com or leave your comments below.
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