Monthly Archives: August 2012

Oh, No! Not Another ‘Secret’

Oh, No! Not Another ‘Secret’

I counted no less than 11 emails I received this past Monday offering to reveal ‘secrets’ to me. I’m well aware that there are words like ‘free’ or ‘new’ or perhaps ‘secrets’ that are proven to capture attention.
Here’s my big ‘secret’. The words you choose have to be the truth if your claims are to be believed and sustainable.

So I looked up ‘secret’;

Se-cret (se’-krit)

Adjective – Kept hidden from knowledge or view something kept, or to be kept, hidden

Noun – Something kept hidden from others or only known by one’s self or a few

One of the emails I received was from a ‘business coach’ who claimed his ‘secret’ has helped thousands of upstart businesses to succeed. Is it really a secret if thousands know about it?
Another email claimed, "This secret is so big it won’t be revealed until after you join my webinar." Wow! It’s not just a secret, it’s a BIG secret.
In sales and in advertising, building trust is paramount, and making false claims or exaggerated claims, simply compounds the skepticism for your message.
I know of one station that changed its format two years ago and still promotes itself as ‘the new 103." Don’t you think listeners who’ve been tuned to that station for 730 days know it’s no longer ‘new’? And doesn’t this claim cast a doubt on the validity of other claims made by that station or their reps?
In a world of hype and exaggeration, maybe the secret magic words used to capture attention should be replaced with honesty and integrity. Being real is so unusual that just telling the truth stands out amidst all the hype today.

[email protected]

Business Is Booming!

Business Is Booming!

Remember when your prospects agreed with the emotional power of the human voice, music and sound, but insisted they needed print for pictures in their advertising and to laundry-list details and features? Of course we told them about the intrusive nature of radio and better pictures via ‘the theatre of the mind’, but not everyone bought in and they still insisted they needed longer copy than we could accommodate in a 30 second commercial.
Well those days are gone. Thanks to the internet and your website, radio now has pictures and lots of room for more details and copy! And those pictures do not have the high production, printing and delivery costs of print (remember when advertisers paid extra for color in their pictures?). Color is free on your website, and those pictures can move, just like on TV!
Using the ENS Media strategy of ‘broadcast inspires, internet informs’, stations are increasing their sales and advertisers are achieving greater results.
We say, ‘broadcast’ because admittedly, radio’s TV brothers and sisters also inspire because they have the emotional power of sound as well, and frankly, it’s just not credible to suggest that radio is the only intrusive or emotional media.
TV is NOT radio’s enemy, nor vice versa. Print, including glossy brochures, colored flyers, Yellow Pages, coupon envelopes, newspaper ads, catalogues and more, still collectively capture the lion’s share of local ad budgets, even though it’s the electronic age.
In the electronic age, local advertisers can be much more successful dropping dated print in favor of a broadcast/internet combo. When you sell your clients on an integrated multi-media campaign (broadcast and digital), you can scoop those print dollars, and your clients will get better results!

Our Winning in the New Media Economy advertiser seminars are helping stations across the continent to convert local advertisers from print to TV or radio everyday. Click here if you would like to arrange an appointment to discuss how to bring us to your market to tell your clients and prospects the "broadcast inspires, internet informs" story.

A Look in the Mirror

A Look in the Mirror

I’m frustrated and annoyed with many of the managers in the broadcast industry. We manage the most powerful and persuasive media in the world and we don’t use it to market ourselves!
When was the last time you heard anything on a newscast about new research outlining broadcast’s continuing dominance in the new media landscape?
Let me answer; "Probably never"!
And yet, the news of our strength is often important enough for other media to report.
Look at this excerpt from a recent article in USA Today;"The digital revolution may not be as revolutionary as believed according to a Nielsen 360 Music Study that found listeners more in tune with friend’s tips and radio, than blogs and social networking. Results indicate that the airwaves remain a dominant influence; 43% discover music most often through radio, while 13% are alerted to new tunes and acts via friends and relatives and 8% by watching YouTube".
If this kind of news is important enough for other media to publish, shouldn’t it be important enough for the benefactors of this news; radio, to publish?
And I seldom see or hear any ads on the air about the power of radio or TV advertising.
Yet daily, I’ll pass signs and billboards that say something like, "You just proved signs work".
I guess it’s because the outdoor folks have avails and we’re sold out.
If you search most station websites, you wouldn’t believe they sell advertising. Most sites have nothing about advertising, how to use our media, or even who to contact if you want to advertise.
I’ve actually had sales managers tell me, "We can’t budget for branding or advertiser education. We need immediate, measurable results that branding can’t give us" (I hope their advertisers never hear them say that!).
Then they claim ‘accountability’ by ‘measuring’ and taking credit for a package blitz to known advertisers who were already going to buy. Seldom do they actually convert non-advertisers to their stations.
Based upon what I hear, or should I say, "don’t hear", around the country about broadcast advertising, I can only surmise we’re all happy with the old system of churning through poorly-trained reps as our
only means of marketing and new business development.
The irony is, there are a few stations around the continent that actually do brand and market themselves very successfully. And even though they face increased competition, they do experience growth, and more importantly, maintain profit margins that would be the envy of almost any other business category.
The catch words in marketing today are ‘accountable’ and ‘measureable’.
In our business, the only sustainable ‘measure’ is
annual sales increases and profit margins. Annual sales are a combination of renewal increases and new business development, and sustainable margins can be as much a function of rate integrity as cost control.
And as for ‘accountable’? That’s what mirrors are for!

 

If you want to increase your local-direct sales in 2013 and beyond contact Wayne Ens , of ENS Media Inc. at [email protected].

Read the Newspaper?

Read the Newspaper?

I was visiting my daughter and son-in-law yesterday when I asked if I could borrow a newspaper.My son-in-law said, "This is the 21st Century, old man. We’re environmentally conscious and we certainly don’t waste money on newspapers." He then said, "Here, you can borrow my iPad." I did, and I can tell you that bloody fly never knew what hit it! His iPad really made an impact, but I’m not sure it will work as well as a newspaper to line their bird cage. I still can’t believe my son-in-law thought I wanted to read the paper.
Who does that anymore?

When It Feels Like Christmas

When It Feels Like Christmas

You know, "the early bird gets the worm." You probably also can guess what date you can expect Christmas this year.
Yet many media account executives will be panicked and running around like frantic last-minute Christmas shoppers, trying to pick up the crumbs left by more professional account executives who captured their prospects’ Christmas budgets while they were still in the planning stages.
I can still recall my rookie days when I called on my prospects with our newly-released ‘Christmas package’ only to hear, "Sorry, we gave our entire budget to the newspaper just last week."
While it might no longer be "the newspaper", you can bet there are countless traditional and new media reps who will be pounding the pavement around mid-October in the hopes of capturing lucrative Christmas advertising dollars.
If you want your competitors to hear you’ve already captured their prospects’ Christmas budgets, you need to begin planning your Christmas sales meeting NOW.
I know it’s hard to think Christmas when thermometers are at their peak, but Christmas advertising is like Christmas shopping….it’s all about mood and awareness.
A properly planned Christmas sales meeting can put your sales team in the mood to be the early bird, to be the first in the door to talk to their prospects about the important Christmas selling season.
You need to plan now, for your Christmas sales meeting the first week after Labor Day. And it needs to feel like Christmas!
Here are some of the tactics we encourage the stations we consult to utilize during their early-September Christmas sales meeting;

  • Hold it off-premise. And like Christmas gifts, make it a surprise. Forewarn your team you are holding a special off-premise sales meeting right after Labor Day, but don’t let them know the theme.
  • Surprise your attendees with Christmas music, seasonal décor, and of course, wrap up your meeting with a traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings.
  • While your team is at the sales meeting, have someone back at the office post the appropriate notices, packages, and visuals to maintain their Christmas focus upon their return.
  • Identify the most high potential Christmas prospects and categories, traditional and non-traditional, complete with category research, and some sample Christmas campaigns.
  • While I’m not a fan of `packages,’ I’m well aware that there are clients, and some radio sales people, who need packages to motivate them. If you’re releasing station Christmas packages do so at this meeting, and gift wrap each package as your gift to the team.
  • Get in the spirit. Ask your creative and production people to keep it a secret, and produce something that will bring a laugh. Last year, one of our clients Creative Directors produced a custom version of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’, poking fun at each of the sales reps by name.
  • Recognition and incentives should be part of your Christmas Sales Meeting. Posting a results board where each sales person can proudly post each Christmas sale for all to see can keep the Christmas spirit and momentum moving forward.
  • And don’t forget how empty your logs can be in January February. When preparing your Christmas packages, try to include schedules for January clear-outs and February sales in those packages.
  • Many stations offer discounts during those cold winter months. Extrapolating those discounts over four months, November through February can make your Christmas package more appealing to those hard-to-please transactional buyers, without effectively reducing your average rate of return over that period. For example, if you discount your $100 rate to $80 in January/February, offering a $90 rate across the board, can be appealing. It’s also easier to sell your Christmas/New Year’s Greetings as part of the overall Christmas presentation, than to try to sell it last minute, independent of the overall campaign.
  • Sell, sell, sell. Look for data and research with positive spending indicators about the pending 2012 Christmas selling season. This data will bolster sales rep confidence, and also be great ammunition in your client presentations.
  • Most stations have a great personality on board who’d love to poke fun at the sales reps. Have them show up at your meeting dressed as Santa. They can present a personalized gag gift to each account executive to further that Christmas spirit.
  • Be creative, have fun, and make money!
  •  

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a great year!!