Dave GIff GiffordRe: How Many Listeners Does Radio Really Have? by Ed Ryan.
Ed?s blog was a rebuttal to Consumer Electronics Association CEO Gary Shapiro?s T-boning Radio?s ability to compete with Digital media based on a study contending Radio listenership is crashing and burning. Not so fast, Ed boomeranged, what about the 6/11/12 Arbitron RADAR report documenting a slight year to year increase in Radio listenership? Check out these results. Radio reaches?
93% of 12+ population
93% of Adults, 18-34 with $75K or more Household Income.92% of Adults, 18-49 with %75K or more Household Income.Not competitive? If we can?t sell the significance of those stats, Radio might as well padlock the doors and pack it in, right? Yet if Radio were introduced today as a NEW ad medium, advertisers couldn?t resist that coverage. Radio's greatest problem is NOT Radio listenership!
FACT: Excluding the new initiatives Erica Farber continues to install at RAB, Radio does a lousy job selling Radio! Yes, "lousy"! How else to explain why Radio gets only 5% of advertising?s "total" spend (includes Unmeasured Media most traditional sources do not report)?
Today, Interactive Media is to advertising what the sun is to the earth. The problem is, nationally, in joining the party Radio and print come into the discussion mostly as ad mediums advertisers "borrow" from to buy more Interactive. Never mind General Motors dropped facebook because "it didn?t work".
In 2012, Selling Interactive is Radio's "Gold Rush". Parenthetically, if your stations are,
1. indispensable to your listeners and website visitors,
2. indispensible to your advertisers, and
3. indispensible to the communities you serve, Radio IS Social Media! Onward?
As some of you know, I have been an exponent for Selling Media Mix for years. But the feedback I'm getting lately is that, "most" stations have been and continue to use Interactive primarily to up-sell regular accounts. As in Radio Accounts = Same Accounts!
Problem: That is a Station Mix Sell, not a Media Mix Sell. What's the difference? Selling Media-Mix to Non-Radio Accounts (schedules that include Interactive)?gives Radio an immeasurably greater opportunity to go after the 95% of the money Radio isn't getting! Bottom Line: Radio needs a Station Mix Sell & Media Mix Sell! Sell MORE Advertisers, Sell Advertisers MORE! Since the advent of TV, like Phantom of the Opera, Radio's longest-running show continues to play on: selling too much of one thing at the expense of selling too little of another thing. As in we're better at selling "things" than what we should be selling best: Radio, the "advertising' medium. Need help? RAB is the HOW-TO-SELL-RADIO GOOGLE of our industry!
My turn to put my money where my mouth is?
A couple years ago I conducted a training exercise for a Southern California radio group, challenging its sales staff (among other objectives) to sell Radio?Radio the ?advertising? medium?to a mythical Non-Radio account. I was a participant. What follows are nine "colorful" Radio Talking Points that should be useful to you, the wording on seven of which I created. WHAT IS YOUR REAL #1 MARKETING PROBLEM?WHEELS is OVER-BUDGETED in an UNDER-PERFORMING MEDIUM!According to its own ABC audited figures,out of a county population of 2,310,741 18+ Adults,THE DOMINANT NEWSPAPER TODAY MISSED 1,894,808 ADULTS 18+?82% OF ADULTS 18+41.6% decline in circulation, non stop, over the past five years alone!Sources: Audit Bureau of Circulations 2010 (Circulation) and Claritas 2010 (Households & Population) Even with the RIGHT MESSAGE?if WHEELS ADS fail to speak to ENOUGH PEOPLE
ENOUGH of the RIGHT PEOPLE,ENOUGH TIMES, at the RIGHT TIMES, WHEELS ADVERTISING WILL NOT WORK!THAT IS WHEELS' REAL #1 MARKETING PROBLEM!SOLUTION: RADIO! WHAT WHEELS SAYS IN ITS ADVERTISING,TIMES HOW MANY TIMES WHEELS SAYS IT,IS THE ONLY THING THAT WORKS IN ADVERTISING TODAY! Repetition Builds Reputation Repetition Builds Reputation Repetition Builds Reputation FREQUENCY!1. Registration!2. Retention!3. Recall!? Radio Is Advertising's #1 Mobile Medium For Reaching Consumers Wherever They Go!When ads appear in "HIDE & SEEK" ad mediums like Newspapers, Yellow Pagers, TV and Cable, CONSUMERS have to FIND WHEELS ADS, Whereas the "Effective Frequency" of Radio ads FIND WHEELS CONSUMERS!It's time your Marketing Plan included RADIO: THE "SHOPPING HOURS" AD MEDIUM! Radio targets LifeStyle consumers, advertising's most in-demand but most-difficult-to-reach consumers ?on the move, involved, engaged, interacting, activity-driven consumers withMULTIPLE PURCHASE NEEDS!Radio takes pictures faster than a Digital Camera!imagine?a Diamondback Rattlesnake coiled to strike you stepping into your shower..You didn't need a picture, did you?"Share of Mind = Share of Business!""This is the Power of Radio"! --Al RiesGiven that almost everything in the world is sold by the HUMAN VOICE, Radio is uncontested as theBEST WORD-OF-MOUTH ADVERTISING IN ADVERTISING!CLOSING ARGUMENTS to a JURY are HEARD, not READ.Radio's Envied Reputation for TRAFFIC BUILDING Talk Of The Town Promotions!Inarguably, Radio is Advertising's most COST EFFICIENT & COST EFFECTIVE Ad Medium!Whereas NO advertiser, not even Proctor & Gamble, can afford to dominate Newspapers, Magazines, Yellow Pages, Direct Mail, TV, Cable or InteractiveRadio is the ONLY ad medium even the smallest advertiser can afford toDOMINATE!With only 12 ads a day?at one (1) commercial hourly?any advertiser can be THE DOMINATE PLAYER for theirBUSINESS CATEGORY!Who's responsibility is it to sell Radio? We're not in the Radio business, gang, we're in the Advertising business!The only people who can make sure Radio, the advertising medium, is sold proactively are Radio Owners! Dave Gifford/DGI ? 2012
Dave Gifford can be reached via e-mail at giff@talkgiff.com or by telephone 505-989-7007
Giff's new website is www.saleshowto.net
(7/12/2012 7:40:37 AM)
These words are a great example of why radio is behind the curve. Instead of taking what is available and understanding how to use it properly, the author appears to have recently learned the and
I've been around radio advertising for a lot of years and can't get close to understanding his message.
There are more than 2 miscues here, but all that's needed is to point to these:
1) "Never mind General Motors dropped facebook because 'it didn’t work'." Please, Mr. Gifford, research what happened with GM and FB - you'll discover that this is not the case at all. GM is considering a return to FB advertising - http://bit.ly/PmDw8x
2) As for "In 2012, Selling Interactive is Radio's 'Gold Rush'." The Gold Rush happened in 1999 - http://bit.ly/Lbzgme - and radio missed it.
Mixing radio with interactive advertising isn't as easy as is being portrayed; which is the problem that folks like Mr. Gifford don't understand, and the reasons why his style of selling radio advertising continues to diminish in value.
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