Which Advertisers Love Radio the Most?

11-21-13

Digging deep into the RAB report we find the advertisers that understand the power of radio and use it to bring in customers. The following top ten listing of radio advertisers is lead by Comcast Xfinity Cable Services which increased spending by 7% over last year. Seven out of the top ten advertisers increased their budgets on radio this year.

1. Comcast Xfinity Cable Service +7%
2. AT&T +56%
3. T-Mobile +62%
4. McDonald?s -7%
5. GEICO +11%
6. Verizon -10%
7. Safeway +10%
8. Ford Dealer Association +14%
9. Toyota Dealer Association -11%
10. Walmart +6%

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Which Advertisers Love You The Most?

11-12-13

According to the new BIA/Kelsey report, the five biggest local advertising categories for radio are: retail (18.0 percent of total radio industry revenue), financial/Insurance (17.0 percent), restaurants (14.5 percent), automotive (14.0 percent) and technology (10.0 percent). BIA/Kelsey says local radio generates over 10 percent of its advertising from these five different groups of advertisers. And, the report says local radio receives 14.3 percent of all advertising spent by finance and insurance companies and 12.1 percent of all advertising spending by restaurants.

?Local Radio Stations Profiles and Trends for 2014 and Beyond? is presented as a 65-plus-page report and a companion presentation.
The report includes the following analysis and information:
? Revenue history of local radio stations
? Overall industry growth
? Competitive threats to local radio stations
? Revenue share by format
? Radio's position in the new media marketplace
? Radio advertisers and competition for advertisers
? Radio's share with advertiser and business categories
? Technology changes in radio Industry
? Consolidation in the industry
? Digital sales transformation playbook

The report is available for purchase ($1,095 for the report and companion presentation, or $2,500 for the report, presentation and one-hour custom analyst briefing).
For more information on how to purchase the report go HERE or email sales@biakelsey.com.

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(SALES) Groups or Communities -- Which Are you Attracting?

9-25-2013

Twice in the last five days I've had very positive experiences at Starbucks. Oddly, neither of them had to do with the product or service.

I placed my order at the drive-thru, pulled up to pay, and discovered my order was paid for by the person in front of me. Instinctively I wanted to return the favor so I tried to pay for the person behind me but was told that as many as five cars back were all paid for. Luckily there was a sixth car and I paid.

The second incidence happened at a Starbucks in O'Hare airport in Chicago when the man in front me turned around handed me a voucher. He said, "I've used as much as I can, they gave me this yesterday because of a flight delay, it would be a shame to let it go to waste, why don't you take it?" The $14 voucher covered our coffee.

Random acts of kindness; both at Starbucks. Coincidence or Brand Affinity? Did I just get lucky this week, or is Starbucks doing something to encourage such behavior? I was moved by both experiences. I tweeted, I LinkedIn, and I posted on Facebook. Now I'm writing about it here. Free advertising for Starbucks; an unsolicited testimonial and positive feelings tied to an experience they really had nothing to do with -- or did they?

Howard Schultz is the CEO of Starbucks. He was interviewed by USA Today. The article was about Schultz not changing the health insurance coverage for Starbucks employees despite greater costs due to the change in laws, and the fact that most other companies are making changes to "protect" their profitability.

The quote from Howard Schultz that resonated most with me was, "I think we have a greater responsibility beyond just the profit and loss of our business, to do the right thing not only for our employees, but the communities we serve... I say this through the lens of being a CEO of a public company, recognizing that I have a significant fiduciary responsibility to make a profit and build shareholder value. But after 30 years, what I've learned is that we can make a profit and perhaps do even greater by also demonstrating that we mean well in the world."

As a salesperson, you have a personal "brand identity." Are you seen as a person who means well in the world, cares about your clients, or is just out to make a buck? What actions do you take daily, weekly, and consistently to strengthen "your brand"?

Thomas Knoll is the Community Architect at Zappos. He talks about the difference between brands developing loyal crowds that follow them and communities of people that interact. "Crowds don't have a purpose" he said, "Communities do. Crowds show up and get stuff, communities like giving. Where crowds want benefits, communities want to belong. Crowds are powered by inspiration, communities are powered by influence. Crowds are sustained by service, communities are sustained by the story."

In a sales world, measuring dials, contacts, and appointments; presentations, packages, and closes, it can sometimes be difficult to keep the "long view" of your sales career. Intoxicating, and pleasing to the boss, is the package of the day or the short sale that gets immediate revenue on the books.

Do you want to assemble crowds looking for deals and stuff, or do you want to cultivate communities that have common beliefs, common values, and common interests? Ironically, both strategies work. The question is, "Which one is more appealing to you?"  Maybe it's true that nice guys finish last. However, they finish as winners, and most importantly they get to the finish line.

Howard Schultz's approach to health care for his employees is indicative of a company culture, a "brand consistency" whose purpose is to mean well in the world. Somehow paying $3.47 for my Venti Americano rather than $1.00 somewhere else, makes perfect sense.

When you mean well in the world, when you provide a business advantage to your customers, price doesn't seem to be an issue. You will also earn more referrals through word of mouth, and you will be creating communities of customers based on value.

The results are clear. Companies that take the "long view" approach, sellers who develop their "brand identity" around giving and being a "business advantage" to their clients, are ultimately more sustainable, profitable, and certainly more fulfilled than companies or sellers that take the short-term approach. I haven't figured out why companies take the short-view despite the evidence to support the long view. Maybe you have some thoughts on that. Comments encouraged.

Think Big, Make Big Things Happen.

Jeff Schmidt is EVP and Partner with Chris Lytle at Sparque, Inc. You can reach him at, Jeff.Schmidt@Sparque.biz, follow him on Twitter @JeffreyASchmidt, or connect via LinkedIn

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(SALES) Which 50% of Advertising is Wasted?

11-14-2012 

John Wannamaker, of retail fame, is credited with that jewel of a statement ?I know that 50 percent of my advertising is wasted, I just don?t know which 50 percent.? Being a business owner myself, quite frankly, that statement scares the heck out of me just to think that half of my marketing efforts are going to waste. I am sure that if any of your clients are thinking this way, it?s pretty tough to convince them how effective electronic media works or, more aptly, how effective electronic media is.
Let?s start with radio. Does it work? It works very well if used properly. Just recently a sales rep whom I work with in one of our markets was dejected after having just come back from a auto dealer where the station did a remote and five people showed up. I would be dejected as well in that scenario. I asked how long the client had been using the station before the remote? Response, ?Not as much as they should have -- a little here and there.? In my seminars, I tell sales reps, especially in radio, that you have to make sure there is some ?Top of Mind Awareness? built in with your audience before you break a promotion on them -- and doing a remote is a promotion. TOMA in this case, with the station's audience, would have been a minimum schedule of three months, considering that the National Auto Dealers Association says it's 3.2 months that the consumer is in the ?thought process" before they walk into their first showroom.
Let?s look at some keys to effective radio advertising.

1)      Schedule: Small-medium market-minimum of 40 commercials per week. I would bunch them up in four days running 10 units per day. Large to major market-minimum of a 3.29 frequency schedule of what is called OES or Optimum Effective Schedule (which can be figured up on your computer with the latest Arbitron software)

Remember, you first have to define the objectives and the expectations. If you are advertising for a bank, and they are looking for long-term Top of Mind Awareness and their expectations are to build their brand in the mind of the consumer, then use a horizontal schedule with some sponsorships to complement the schedule and attach themselves to a fixed position rotating every three months.

2)      Creative Strategy: This goes for all size markets. Here is a list of eight key components of selling copy. You should try to get all eight in your copy but don?t settle for less than six.
?         Hook -- first 10 seconds
?         Offer
?         Call to action
?         Price points not % off
?         Unique selling proposition
?         Urgency -- limited time
?         Name -- at least 3 Xs
?         Location (not address) at least twice

3)      Client responsibility: In many cases we leave this all-too-important element out of our quest for success. Can the client close the people you bring in? Can they answer the phone without running off potential customers? Recently, I attended a behind-doors meeting with an unnamed automotive dealer at one of their corporate meetings. With 60 of their dealers from around their region, their No. 1 problem was employee turnover, which limited their closing ratio. In some cases, they have to fix their own problems before you can fix their ?walk in? problems.
If we focus on what we do best, which is the above, and don?t short-sell our stations, I happen to believe that we?ll do much better than John Wannamaker?s statistics of only having 50 percent of our advertising dollar pay off.

Sean Luce is the Head International Instructor for the Luce Performance Group and can be reached at sean@luceperformancegroup.com.

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(SALES) Radio 2012. Which Way Is Up?

Dave GIff Gifford

Re: 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 with

MULTIPLE  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 Ries

Given that almost everything in the world is sold by the HUMAN VOICE,

Radio is uncontested as the

BEST 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 Interactive

Radio is the ONLY ad medium even the smallest advertiser can afford to

DOMINATE!

With only 12 ads  a day?at one (1) commercial hourly?any advertiser

  can be THE  DOMINATE  PLAYER for their

BUSINESS 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

attributes for HTML and overdoses in its use.

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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(DIGITAL) Which Social Media Sites Make Sense For Radio?

6-1-2012

A potential client told me that his biggest social media goal was "to be on all possible social media sites." Unfortunately, there are dozens of them, and if you don't have a good reason for being on any given site, it probably won't help you at all. So, what makes sense for radio?

Obviously, Facebook is the 800-pound social media gorilla. It makes sense for almost all radio brands to be on Facebook. What do you do when you get there? Give your heaviest listeners specific, insider info you might not say on the air to get them to listen more often and visit your website. You can also post content that fits what you think makes your brand unique and have mass appeal. Lots of brands focus too much on how many "Likes" they get. The hidden power in Facebook for all brands is an ability to move your biggest fans to take more action.

Twitter is the second-most used social network. It's great for getting attention, and terrible for producing results (like getting people to listen or follow a link). Twitter is a great bulletin service, which makes it useful for information-heavy news/talk and sports talk stations. It can also be a valuable one-to-one customer service channel.

Pinterest, the hottest social media story so far this year, is different ? because it's a very visually oriented site that's been building a passionate fan base with a lot of adult women. There are some brands that have had a lot of success growing their business on Pinterest, but it's not easy. Pinterest is really about creating a visual experience for your fans with the graphic content that you curate or share. As a radio brand, if you can't do Pinterest really well, don't do it at all.

Google+ sure debuted last year with a ton of fanfare, but has turned into the radio station that everyone listens to once and then forgets about. Every now and then, I'll see a piece in the Web trade press about why Google+ is superior to Facebook, and mostly it has to do with the quality of the technical experience Google has designed. Unfortunately for Google, people are using social media to communicate with friends, not for the technical experience. For radio brands, Google+ has some cool applications, but the entire site is a waste of time because so few people make any repeat visits there.

LinkedIn has created a niche as a professional social networking site, and some folks have built their personal business or found a new job there. I tried to figure out a way for it to make sense for stations that got a lot of listening from workplace environments, but they have a bit of the Google+ problem. Lots of people visit, just not all that often, and they're not thinking about radio.

My Space, which has turned into the punchline of jokes, actually makes sense if you're a band or a musician. If not, forget it.

Tumblr, like Pinterest, is a very graphics-heavy social media site. Tumblr tends to skew very young, and it also moves very fast. While a Facebook post might get seen for a couple of hours after it gets posted, Tumblr posts can be too far down the page after just several minutes, if you follow a lot of active posters. Personally, I would stay away from Tumblr for your radio brand.

YouTube is often considered a social network, but it makes more sense as a place to store any videos that you may create. YouTube videos just work so well and are so easy to embed on your website or on you Facebook Timeline. It's great to have really good quality videos to share with your fans, but I wouldn't send them to YouTube. I'd store those videos at YouTube and then just link to them while you send people to your website and your Facebook page. If you need a place to store photos, I recommend Flickr.

There are plenty of other sites, like Tagged, MyYearbook, and many others. But I wouldn't waste time with them for your radio station.

Chris Miller has been a major-market PD in Atlanta, Portland and Cleveland. He now operates Chris Miller Digital, which he launched. Visit his website at www.chrismillerdigital.com.
Contact Chris via e-mail, chris@chrismillerdigital.com or 216-236-3955.

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(AUDIO) Which CBS Stations Goodman Plans to Spin Off

4-10-2012

He tried once before, about a year ago, and CBS walked away from him. For whatever reason, they came back to Goodman and the $50 million deal was finalized last Friday. The CBS cluster and WRMF will give Goodman a strong cluster in West Palm Beach. He says when the deal is closed he'll move the WRMF studio over to the new, plush, recently built CBS studios. His plan is to keep WMBX-FM, WIRK-FM and WPPZ-FM and spin-off WEAT and WHFS. Yesterday, Goodman spoke to Radio Ink about his wheeling and dealing with CBS.

Listen to our interview with Goodman HERE

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(AUDIO) Pandora or iHeart. Which is a Better Consumer Experience?

This week Pandora executives will speak at the RAIN conference in Chicago and they, for sure, will reiterate how the Pandora experience is exactly what consumers want. The Pandora curation model is built on the employment of real people to help consumers create playlists. The iHeartradio model is a combination of computer automation incorporated into the product by a company called The Echo Nest and real programmers, according to Brian Lakamp who is the head of digital for Clear Channel. Lakamp tells Radio Ink the iHeartRadio app will be released in beta today. We spoke to Lakamp about the app and why he believes it will be better than Pandora.

Radio Ink Editor Ed Ryan Interview Brian Lakamp HERE

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Ask Billboard: Which Superstars Have Yet To Hit No. 1? Readers Respond, Continued

Ask Billboard is updated every Friday. As always, submit your questions about Billboard charts, sales and airplay, as well as general music musings, to askbb@billboard.com. Please include your first and last name, as well as your city, state and country, if outside the U.S.

WHICH SUPERSTARS HAVE YET TO REACH NO. 1? READERS RESPOND, CONTINUED

Dear Gary,

I thought of yet more artists that fit the "Ask Billboard" discussion about star acts haven't topped both the Billboard Hot 100 song chart and the Billboard 200 album chart. In fact, the following five acts, amazingly, never hit No. 1 on either chart.

How about the English group that impacted the world from the "generation" of the British Invasion to the generation currently watching "C.S.I." ... Who is this act? the Who.

If you think "My Generation," "Who Are You" (the "C.S.I." theme), "Won't Get Fooled Again" ("C.S.I.: Miami") or "Baba O'Riley" ("C.S.I.: New York") were Hot 100 No. 1s, think again. None is even the Who's highest-charting song.

The band's top-peaking title remains "I Can See for Miles," which reached No. 9 in 1967. The song marks the first and only top 10 for the group from Shepherd Bush, London.

On the Billboard 200, two albums from the Who reached No. 2: "Quadrophenia" in 1973 and "Who Are You" in 1978.

How about another group that helped lead the British Invasion yet never hit No. 1 on both the Hot 100 and Billboard 200: the Kinks.

If you believe that "You Really Got Me" was this band's greatest Hot 100 hit, you'd be incorrect (and could fittingly repeat the song's title upon being stumped). Two other songs peaked higher, but again, not at No. 1: "Tired of Waiting for You" in 1965 and "Come Dancing" in 1982, both at No. 6.

On the Billboard 200, the Kinks' only top 10 album - among 33 visits - was "Greatest Hits!," which peaked at No. 9 in 1966.

A legendary American band that never topped the Hot 100 and Billboard 200? the Grateful Dead. On the Hot 100, "Touch of Grey" became the group's only top 10 (No. 6, 1987), while parent album "In the Dark" (also No. 6) is its only top 10 among a whopping 49 chart entries.

Two more: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' highest-charting Hot 100 single is "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," with Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks (No. 3, 1981). On the Billboard 200, "Damn the Torpedoes" in 1979 and "Mojo" in 2010 each peaked at No. 2.

And, the Pretenders' best showing on the Hot 100 remains "Back on the Chain Gang" (No. 5, 1983). On the Billboard 200, their highest-ranking album is "Learning to Crawl." In 1984, it climbed to No. 5.

Despite not topping the Hot 100 and Billboard 200, the Who, Kinks, Grateful Dead, Petty & the Heartbreakers and the Pretenders share a more important trait. All have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, music's number one honor.

Sincerely,

Mackenzie (Mac) Scott,
Fajardo, Puerto Rico

Hi Gary,

I think that Bruce Springsteen requires an asterisk when listing major artists that haven't scored Hot 100 and Billboard 200 No. 1 hits.

As a songwriter, the Boss has done quite well on the Hot 100, notching a No. 1 back in 1977 with Manfred Mann's Earth Band's "Blinded by the Light."

Springsteen also wrote Hot 100 top fives for the Pointer Sisters ("Fire," No. 2, 1979; coincidentally, the closest that he group would come to No. 1, along with "Slow Hand" two years later) and Natalie Cole's "Pink Cadillac " (No. 5, 1988, again, tying the legendary R&B singer's best chart placement).

Springsteen also penned "Because the Night," the highest-charting Hot 100 singles for two acts: Patti Smith (No. 13, 1978) and 10,000 Maniacs (No. 11, 1994).

Best,

Brad Lyman

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