9-24-2014
That new media is the original publisher of relevant audio content: radio.
Today's radio is alive, vibrant, evolving. Radio now creates compelling content, be it audio, video, pictures, written word, or user-generated. Radio is interactive with our audience through our digital platforms and on-site events. Radio has dedicated local street teams that can bring our audience face to face with our advertisers.
I preach to the choir, but all of us have felt the impact from smaller or non-existing budgets for radio from major national and regional accounts. Our industry must unite and tell this powerful story and tear down the perceptions our competitors have used to reposition us and try to shrink our image.
We have to reeducate how our medium has evolved, demonstrating that we are effective and efficient. We need to meet with the CMOs of the biggest companies and the presidents of the major agencies. iHeart Media CEO Bob Pittman has on behalf of his powerful platform. CBS Radio and Cumulus also possess the scale and are doing the same, speaking with national and regional advertisers.
The rest of us need to unite, aggregating our platforms under one umbrella. A possible working title: Independent Publishers of America (iPoA). We need a leader that will step up and help coordinate our efforts. The RAB could be the vehicle to facilitate our mission. Remember, working together ?all boats rise.? We do not compete with each other. We only compete on how well we can deliver on behalf of our audience, advertisers, employees, and the communities we serve.
Radio possesses tremendous scale, plus pinpoint targeting and engagement. The massive reach is a result of the entertaining and informative content we publish for the local markets we serve. Radio still creates ?Theater of the Mind? messaging, and now we can show our advertisers products and services online through video, pictures, and articles. We develop custom-content pages filled with relevant information for the consumer who is interested in a product or service, and provide that prospect a gateway to interact with the advertiser. Our local marketing teams allow our advertisers to touch prospective consumers through our events and custom promotions.
Consider:
? Massive reach: 92 percent of all Americans 12+ listen on-air every week.
? Millions more listen though our streaming and engage with our digital platforms.
? On-site we connect people with advertisers at our promotions, community events, and custom programs.
? Radio is extremely efficient and effective, delivering a $6 to $1 ROI
Radio is the new media publisher everyone is hearing about. Effective for advertisers through our massive reach and ability to deliver granular engagement on-air, online, on-demand, and on-site. That's the new media we need to re-introduce to the advertising community and proudly pound the doors down that are impacting our growth.
I love this medium and feel blessed to be working for the forward-thinking owner-operators at Connoisseur Media. Jeff Warshaw, Mike Driscoll, and David Bevins get it. They are investing in the resources to provide live and local premium content delivered on the device the end-user is most comfortable with; tools to help our sales organization understand the sector and businesses they work with so they can be a valuable resource to ensure our advertisers reach and engage their target consumer; a digital platform that expands the reach and engagement of the audience; and marketing teams that create fun and compelling events. Many of the great companies of our industry are doing the same thing. We need to unite and enlighten advertisers and their agencies about the new media publisher that delivers massive reach and granular engagement?radio!
Please allow me some poetic license when I paraphrase, in closing, the immortal words of JFK: Ask not what your station(s) can do for you, rather, ask what you can do to spread the word about our industry and the value it provides its audience, community, advertisers, and employees.
Time to stop preaching to the choir and to get out and proudly position our powerful medium. Brothers and sisters, can I get an Amen!?
Andrew Rosen is general manager of the Connoisseur NJ|PA properties. To share your thoughts, comments or sarcastic comments, he can be reached at arosen@connoisseurnjpa.com
(9/25/2014 8:25:59 AM)
So long as the outside world perceives radio to be a medium run by incompetent, greedy-guts, corporate sows-at-the-trough that refuse to upgrade their products and services, there will be no congruent story that will serve to turn this hulk around.
There isn't a corporate radio executive around - who isn't already lost in a morass of delusion - who can, clearly and with confidence, say they are doing everything they can to improve radio's lot.
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