3-20-2013
Even if you are not selling digital media yourself, digital can be a radio account executive?s greatest friend.
Of course, it is easy to assume digital is your enemy when your prospects tell you they have no faith in "traditional media" and are going to invest in the latest shiny new thing, be that social media, search engine optimization, daily deal sites, online directories, or a long list of other new digital media.
But the reality is that even the forecasters who are the most pessimistic about traditional media are forecasting traditional media will still capture the lion?s share of local advertising budgets far into the future.
The opportunity some broadcast account executives miss in these forecasts is in the lion?s share of this graph. By far, the lion?s share of local advertising spend has historically gone to print: flyers, mailers, newspapers, yellow pages, catalogues, brochures, coupons, and more.
Virtually all printed advertising can now be strategically replaced by much cheaper online applications.
Think about the old-fashioned way of local businesses promoting a preferred customer sale or event as an example. Prior to the Age of Electronic Media, advertisers had to pay to print the invitation, buy and stuff envelopes, pay the post office for delivery, and affix stamps and addresses to every envelope.
Today, thanks to electronic media, the preferred customer sale can be promoted via email at virtually no cost! And remember when advertisers had to pay extra for color in their printed ads? How much extra do they pay for color in their online ads?
Anything online today is a cheaper, faster, and better alternative to old print product; this leaves more money for radio advertising at the expense of print when we embrace a strategic mix of broadcast to inspire, Internet to inform.
Radio can now legitimately claim the lion?s share of the traditional media share of local budgets.
So here are the 10 reasons you need to embrace digital media:
1.) You will look like a dinosaur if you don?t embrace digital. Your advertisers are hearing about, and reading about, the latest, greatest shiny new media daily. You?ll be swimming upstream to claim you are better than digital media. It will be far more productive to teach clients how compatible we are with new media.
2.) Digital media are free or cheap, relative to their print alternatives. When advertisers can have their flyers or coupons online without the expense of lumberjacks, pulp and paper mills, truckers, printing press operators, and delivery people, there is more money left in the budget for radio. Newspapers that used to charge $5,000 for a full-page printed ad, are finding it difficult to get $1,000 for their online page.
3.) It is the Age of Electronic Media. A strategic mix of radio to inspire and Internet to inform is a powerful combination in any marketer?s toolbox.
4.) Digital media need ?drivers? to succeed. Using radio to create a pre-need preference for a business, and to drive more prospects to their online media, makes radio the new must-have medium.
5.) SOM (Share of Mind) is proven to be the best SEO (Search Engine Optimization). An ENS Media study of more than 12,000 consumers reveals that the overwhelming majority do not click on the first name at the top of a search engine page if they?ve never heard of the business. Rather, they scan ahead and prefer to click on the first name they are familiar with.
6.) You can now capture two budgets in one call; you can claim a larger share of the traditional media budget, as well as a share of the growing digital media budget on the same call.
7.) Telling an integrated radio/online story is our foot in the door to advertisers who were previously comfortable placing the bulk of their budgets in print and would not listen to our radio story. Now, they are not so comfortable. One recent study revealed that 69 percent of advertisers are seeking ?new? marketing solutions. They know the world is rapidly changing and are desperately seeking new solutions. A broadcast/Internet mix can be the "new" solution for businesses that previously did not invest in radio.
8.) We are the targeting kings! In a world that has begun to focus on geographic, demographic, and psychographic targeting, old print account executives who claimed their newspaper or coupon envelope ?reached everybody? are having difficulty wrapping their heads around targeting. The best radio account executives have always understood, and have been able to sell, more narrowly targeted audiences.
9.) Fragmentation and confusion are rampant. Knowledgeable, integrated media account executives who understand how to articulate the strategic radio/Internet media mix can help confused business decision-makers sort through the long and growing list of media, trying to capture their share of the pie. Advertisers who previously thought radio was ?fragmented? now realize the competition for radio audiences is minor compared to the list of competitive websites, Web directories, search engines, social media, mobile applications, and more.
10.) Digital has killed the yellow pages. Yellow pages historically captured more money from the services and professional sectors in every market; more than all of the retail radio budgets combined. These sectors understand the yellow pages demise and can be sold on placing their huge budgets on radio to drive more traffic to their websites. Send this video link to your heavy yellow pages advertisers and you are almost guaranteed to get an appointment when you promise to drive more traffic to their sites.
Wayne Ens is the president of ENS Media Inc. Go to www.wensmedia.com to subscribe to your free ENS on Sales weekly 30-second radio sales tips.
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